Long before I was building companies, I was writing songs. One of them went on to pass 35 million views. That number still surprises me, but the lesson behind it shaped how I think about every product since.
Great work does not spread on its own. How something travels is designed, or it is left to luck.
The "build it and they will come" myth
Founders love the idea that a good enough product markets itself. Sometimes it does. Usually it sits quietly on a landing page while a worse product with a better story wins the market.
If you did not design how it spreads, you designed it not to.
Three questions before you build
- Who already gathers the people who need this? Communities, channels, creators, search terms.
- Why would someone share it without being asked? A result worth showing, a format worth sending.
- What is the smallest version that proves people want it? A post, a waitlist, a demo video.
Build the spread into the thing
The best distribution is not a campaign bolted on at the end. It is a feature: output people want to post, a template people pass around, a result that is visible to others by default. Songs have hooks for a reason.
And then, patience
Distribution compounds slowly and then suddenly. Most things that "blew up overnight" had months or years of quiet work underneath. Keep shipping, keep sharing, and make sure every burst of attention has a home to land in.
- #Marketing
- #Music