Research how comparable companies achieved distribution before building your own strategy
Most founders don't spend enough time studying how similar companies that serve the same customer base got distribution. Look for businesses in your space or adjacent markets, identify their primary channels (affiliates, SEO, partnerships), and map out how they built those systems. This research provides a proven blueprint rather than guessing.
When to use
When building your distribution strategy, especially if you're entering a market where others have already found traction. Most valuable for B2B SaaS or tools serving specific niches.
Don't do this
Building distribution from scratch without researching what already works in your market. Spending months on channels that competitors already proved don't work.
4 Founders Who Did This
Researched businesses similar to Cast Magic that serve the same customer base (content creators) and identified that they grew primarily through affiliate partnerships
Applied the exact open-source growth playbook he developed at Novu (Dev.to content, Reddit engagement, community building) to grow Postiz, having previously grown Novu to 31K stars in 2 years
Studied how Atlassian, Microsoft, and Shopify achieved distribution rather than following standard Silicon Valley playbooks. Applied multi-product architecture and embedded GTM from these models.
Studied GoRails making $15K+/month with Rails tutorials on Indie Hackers, then replicated the exact same business model for no-code education