From someone who's been there and done that, the above statement is 100% true. As a first time founder I really did just expect that if I built a good product people would show up and use it. This, of course, was not the case. Many months and a perfect product later, I had 0 users and had to figure out what my distribution channel was going to be. 😥
This is a poor approach and is one that many first time founders take. Some advice I've received from very successful entrepreneurs is that you should be figuring out your distribution strategy at the same time that you're figuring out your product. 😯
At the end of the day - you are solving a problem. You are solving this problem for a specific market niche, not everyone. That specific market niche has specific demographics. Are these people typically male, female? How old are they? What are their interests? What does their life look like? And so on. 🤔
Having as tight of an understanding as possible about your market niche is extremely important because it helps to inform how you should be solving your problem AND how you should be distributing it. Distribution should be built into your product, and if you understand your target audience really well then you will understand what you need to try to figure out your distribution channel. As an early stage startup, you will typically have a single distribution channel that works super well and you'll need to focus on that. 💎
Never forsake thinking about your go-to-market strategy. Always seek to find the best way to distribute your product into the hands of those you want as customers. 🙏
This post was originally shared by Andrew Gunderman on Linkedin.