| name | indie-distribution |
| description | Use when planning a launch, picking distribution channels, or answering "where do my first users come from?" Synthesizes seven distribution lessons plus two related mindset lessons from indie founders: distribution beats product, ride existing platform waves, stack authority backlinks from Blogger and Wikipedia and YouTube, publish to app stores for link juice, tell stories on Reddit instead of sales pitches, and when to prefer influencers over ads. Includes the "Twitter and ProductHunt are slow for unknown founders" warning so you stop waiting on channels that will not work for you yet. Do not use for retention, pricing, or paid-search bidding. |
indie-distribution
A first-user playbook for founders who do not have an audience yet. Optimized for the solo builder who has shipped a product and is staring at zero traffic.
When to use
- The user is prepping a launch.
- The user is choosing which distribution channel to invest in first.
- The user is asking "why isn't ProductHunt/Twitter working".
- The user is about to spend on ads without having tried cheaper channels.
When not to use
- Retention optimization (different discipline, different skills).
- Pricing decisions (see
indie-pricing).
- Paid-search campaign setup (different craft).
Reframe before you pick a channel
Distribution beats product, every time. A worse product with better distribution wins the early market. Stop polishing, start asking where the users are.
Source: Vlad, https://indie.md/advice/distribution-beats-product/
Twitter and ProductHunt are slow for unknown founders. They work for founders who already have an audience. If you do not, a PH launch and three viral tweets is not a distribution strategy, it is a gamble. Treat them as secondary, not primary.
Source: Vlad, https://indie.md/advice/mindset-traditional-marketing-slow/
The seven lessons
Ride platforms that already have your users
Platform-led growth. Pick one platform your users are already on (a marketplace, a community, a keyword-addressable search engine) and go deep. One platform you understand beats five you skim.
Source: Vlad, https://indie.md/advice/distribution-platform-led-growth/
Stack authority backlinks
Blogger, Wikipedia, YouTube. High-authority domains pass trust to yours. Claim a Blogger profile, maintain a Wikipedia-eligible reference, publish one YouTube video per month. These links compound even when the individual traffic is small.
Source: Raul, https://indie.md/advice/content-platform-backlinks/
Get listed on no-code platforms. Directories like IndieHackers, Launchrock, and vertical no-code galleries accept submissions. Each listing is a dofollow backlink and a passive referral source.
Source: Vlad, https://indie.md/advice/nocode-platform-backlinks/
Publish to app stores for authority backlinks. Even a wrapper app on the Mac App Store or a Chrome extension earns a high-authority inbound link. The app does not have to be your primary surface to be valuable.
Source: Mircea, https://indie.md/advice/app-store-backlinks/
Post where your users hang out, in their voice
Stories on Reddit, not sales pitches. Subreddit moderators nuke promotional posts. A story ("here's how I solved X for myself"), with the product mentioned once at the bottom, outperforms a pitch by an order of magnitude.
Source: Zoltan, https://indie.md/advice/story-driven-reddit/
When you are ready to spend money
Prefer influencers over ads. For most indie products, a $500 sponsorship from a creator whose audience overlaps with your category beats $500 of Meta or Google spend. Easier to measure, higher trust, often reusable content.
Source: Zoltan, https://indie.md/advice/influencer-over-ads/
Workflow
- Ask where the user thinks their users are. If the answer is "Twitter" or "ProductHunt" and they do not have an audience, challenge that first.
- Pick one platform-led bet (step 1 of the lessons) they will commit to for 60 days.
- Stack three compounding backlink plays in parallel (Blogger or YouTube, a relevant no-code directory, app store or extension listing).
- If they already post on Reddit, audit for story-vs-pitch ratio.
- Only after the above is running, consider paid: recommend an influencer test before a paid-search test.
- Put the plan on a 60-day review cadence. Do not let them abandon a channel after two weeks.
Anti-patterns
- Defaulting to ProductHunt + Twitter as the plan.
- Running paid ads before the organic channels have been tried.
- Pitching on Reddit with a product link in the title.
- Spreading thin across ten platforms instead of committing to one.
- Treating a PR hit as distribution. It is a spike, not a system.
Source
Distribution corpus: https://indie.md/advice/distribution/. Mindset corpus (which shapes channel selection): https://indie.md/advice/mindset/.
