What kind of startup are you building?

Product vs distribution

Welcome back to Greg Isenberg’s weekly newsletter where I give you high-quality insights on building businesses powered by community. Free ideas that get you thinking.

There are no ads on this newsletter or my podcast to make this an A+ experience for you. All I ask is you enjoy and share. Seems reasonable, right?

New podcast is live with Phil Toronto who is Gary Vaynerchuk’s investing partner. We talked about why networking events are a waste of time and why hosting your own small events is the ultimate unlock.

Spotify, Apple, YouTube

Now let’s dive into this week’s post

---

What kind of startup are you building?

I had a realization yesterday over coffee with a friend.

The topic? The age-old debate: product vs. distribution - what’s more important?

But as we delved deeper, it became clear—there's a seismic shift in the startup playbook that many aren't noticing.

I described to him the two classic schools of thought:

1. Product First, Audience Second: This is the Apple way. Build something so beautiful, so powerful, that people will crawl through glass to get it. Then you just have to tell 'em it exists.

2. Audience First, Product Second: Think Instagram influencers turning into fashion moguls. You've got the eyes; now show them something shiny to buy.

Legendary companies have been born from these paths. But, lean in... because they're yesterday's playbook. The game's changed while we were picking teams.

The New Blueprint: Symbiotic Growth

The heavy-hitters of the last few years? They shattered the traditional dichotomy. They embedded distribution into the very fabric of their product.

It isn’t one at a time. It isn’t product then distribution. It isn’t distribution then product. It’s both.

How I’ve been thinking about it:

Symbiotic Growth—A concept where your product's value proposition and its distribution channel are not just connected; they're conjoined twins. One can't breathe without the other.

Examples:

• Ecosia - The Search Engine that Plants Trees:

  • A search engine, but every query plants trees. As users championed the environmental cause, they also inadvertently championed Ecosia. Awareness spread not through ads, but through user advocacy.

  • Insight: Align product growth with a noble cause and it’s a multiple on word-of-mouth

• Audible’s Shared Clips:

  • Users share profound or interesting audio snippets on social. The curious ones? They want the whole book.

  • Insight: Give a taste, sell the meal.

• Notion’s Template Universe:

  • Notion didn't just stop at creating an efficient workspace. They allowed users to craft their own universe - with templates. What’s clever… every shared template wasn't just productivity; it was a siren call, drawing more to the platform.

  • Insight: Product goal is to make users your advertisers.

• Capcut Showing Off:

  • Picture this. A Reel, edited with Capcut, hits big on Instagram. Viewers go nuts not just for the content, but for the slick, unique editing. And they wonder, “How?” That's Capcut’s silent A+ audition on every platform.

  • Insight: Embed your signature in user creations.

• Airtable’s Public Bases:

  • Organizations share intricate, public bases as showcases. Others, looking for inspiration, end up on Airtable. It’s not just a database, it's a bait.

  • Insight: Public showcases pull in admirers.

Frameworks to internalize

1. Distribution by Demonstration: Your product becomes visible during normal use—obvious but often ignored. Think AirPods. They're not just earphones; they're a fashion statement.

2. Decentralized Sales Team: Your users should be so satisfied that they are willing to convince others to join. Make your users your unpaid salesforce.

3. Product as Network: Each user adds value to all other users, creating a magnetic pull. Think Facebook, Instagram, Snap. This is community + network effects.

4. Community-Evolved Product: Let your user base dictate the evolution of your product through feedback loops, open forums, and beta testing. Instead of you pushing changes onto them, pull ideas and refinements from their actual needs and desires. This not only ensures your product remains relevant but also fosters a sense of ownership and loyalty amongst your user base. Think about the way games like Minecraft evolved with its community's input. Shared ownership amplifies advocacy and retention.

So the next time you’re hunched over your laptop, the coffee’s gone cold, and you’re plugging away, ask yourself: "Is my product serving its current user, or is it built to also attract the next 1000?"

This is not 1+1=2; this is 1+1=11. Symbiotic Growth changes the game. A different state of mind. It's a viral loop that doesn’t rely on network effects for scale—it creates its own network effect.

As CEOs, product mangers, product designers…thinking about symbiotic growth is a worthwhile endeavor. Definitely something I’m doing more of especially to reduce dependency on ad platforms and paying Zuckerberg the big bucks.

A product isn't great because it’s great. It's great because people can't help but bring others to it. That's when you know you’ve got something. That's when you're not just playing the game, but changing it.

Small mindset shift, big difference.

---

❤️ Greg’s bookmarks:

1. 1/3 of all 2023 Q3 consumption growth was related to Barbie/Oppenheimer movies and Taylor Swift/Beyoncé tours. Link

2. The rise of faceless AI brands is mind-blowing. There's now 100% AI accounts posting fully AI generated tweets with AI YouTube channels They have videos made by AI about AI with real AI voices and almost credible as human content and it’s getting major views. Link

3. Tesla owners park next to each other usually. The power of community? Link

4. Adventures > beach vacations. I agree. The reasoning why in the Link

5. Everything you see below has been built in the last thirty years. Goes to show you that we don’t necessarily need to build soulless, sterile cookie-cutter condo buildings in the sky. Link

This is the historical centre of Dresden, ruined during WW2 and recently rebuilt

👋 Ways to work together?

1. Do you believe in symbiotic growth? Well, my agency Late Checkout is the leader in the model. We help design and your favorite apps & websites with this approach. Learn more here and fill out the form to get in touch.

2. Work with Boring Marketers. I’m astonished how they can drive revenue using SEO. Free call and you might learn a thing or two about using AI-assisted SEO to bring revenue for your business. The Boring twitter is a must follow.

3. I’m posting more on YouTube and Instagram lately with high quality insights. It’s free to subscribe and follow. Say hi and enjoy.

See you next week!

Be well,

Greg