DistributionProven Pattern

Build in public on the platform where your target users already spend time

Use your target platform as both your product and distribution channel. Share your journey, wins, and losses consistently where your ideal customers already gather. This creates organic discovery without paid ads.

When to use

When your product serves users of a specific platform or community. Most effective for tools, SaaS, or products that solve problems for that platform's users.

Don't do this

Building for one platform but marketing on another, or posting sporadically without consistency.

15 Founders Who Did This

1
SuperXby Rob Hallum

Built SuperX (X growth tool) by posting daily about building it on X itself, sharing journey from 0 to 34K followers in 1 year

Result:95% of traffic came organically from X, grew to $13K MRR in 4 months without paid ads
Read full story →
2
Scrape Creatorsby Adrian

Built Twitter presence over time, posted scraping demos publicly. First customer came when a CTO commented on a demo post. Continued posting technical content to attract developer audience.

Result:First customer came organically from Twitter, ongoing presence generates awareness
Read full story →
3
Design Agencyby Mark

Created free redesigns for trending brands and posted them on X where target clients spend time, generating 25M+ views in one year

Result:First viral post generated 110K views and 10-12 client calls; grew from $0 to $80K MRR in 10 months
Read full story →
4
NextJS Directoryby Pauline

Built in public on Twitter where her audience (developers and indie hackers) already spend time

Result:Twitter became main marketing channel for NextJS Directory
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5
Van Manby Jeremy (Van Man)

Posted health content and product experiments on Twitter where his animal-based health community was already active

Result:Audience immediately understood eggshell tooth powder value prop and bought on launch day
Read full story →
6
NoteFormsby Julien Nahum

Posted to all Notion-related subreddits, Facebook groups, and Slack channels immediately after launch while product was free

Result:Communities accepted promotion because product was free; Facebook post got 111 likes, Reddit ranked top-5 for key search term
Read full story →
7
PostBridgeby Jack Friks

Focused primarily on Twitter/X for building in public, where indie hackers and creators (his target users) already spend time. Used Twitter as personal journal, posting raw thoughts.

Result:40K+ followers, word-of-mouth referrals driving PostBridge growth
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8
CodeGuideby CJ (Sajila Mazafir)

Built in public on X exclusively, creating educational AI coding content, grew to 51K+ followers

Result:All 4,800+ users and $42K MRR came organically from X with zero paid marketing
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9
ShipFast, CodeFast, DataFast (all products)by Marc Lou

Routes all product promotion through personal brand (@marc_louvion) rather than product-specific accounts. 215K+ Twitter followers, 133K+ YouTube subscribers, 42K+ newsletter subscribers serve as unified distribution channel

Result:Every new product launch benefits from cumulative audience. CodeFast launched to $92K in 2 days leveraging same audience that bought ShipFast. Cross-promotion through unified footers creates ecosystem effect
10
Copycopterby Kamil Zowczak

Posted about Copycopter on Twitter/X as build-in-public content, which unexpectedly went viral among Chinese Douyin users

Result:Gained surprisingly large user base in China from organic virality, validating market potential of the product
11
The Danny Miranda Podcastby Danny Miranda

Tweeted open invitations for phone calls with followers and recorded those conversations as podcast episodes, converting his Twitter following into podcast content and audience

Result:Built initial podcast listenership from existing 7,000 Twitter followers and created first episodes from genuine conversations
12
Outrankby Tibo Louis-Lucas

Built his audience on X/Twitter while running Tweet Hunter and Taplio, then used that same audience to launch and grow Outrank and four other products simultaneously

Result:Grew Outrank from $400 MRR to $200K MRR leveraging existing audience as primary distribution channel
See Outrank growth story →
13
IACreaby Pauline Clavelloux

Completed Tibo Maker's 100-day tweeting challenge, consistently building in public on Twitter/X where indie hackers and SaaS founders gather

Result:Grew Twitter following significantly, which amplified product launches and community trust
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14
SuperXby Rob Hallam

Posted daily on X/Twitter with screenshots and screen recordings of SuperX features, sharing his personal founder journey publicly. Built 38K followers on the same platform where his target users live.

Result:All first users came from X posting. Reached $10K MRR without any paid marketing or formal go-to-market strategy.
See SuperX growth story →
15
Vimcalby John Li

Got significant signup spikes from Twitter shoutouts in the tech/VC community for their productivity calendar tool

Result:Significant upticks in signups each time someone with a following mentioned the product
Read full story →