DistroFitExisting platforms
Borrow someone else’s audience: app stores, marketplaces, the places customers already gather.
What it is
One of the 19 traction channels. S3 It is often the fastest one to work, and also the one that can be removed without notice. S22
When it works
Early and often. Going where customers already gather was one of the three strategies behind the first ten customers at Shopify, Airtable and Figma. S19 Come-for-the-tool-stay-for-the-network is a named tipping-point tactic, and Dixon’s Instagram example started by sharing to other networks. S9 S10
What it needs from the product
A listing. Marketplace listings are free on most platforms, so the only requirement is that a listing exists.
How it decays
Stripe’s five categories of platform risk: account bans, algorithm changes, policy and fee changes, the platform ceasing to exist, and payment holds. S22 The resolution in the research is to use platform channels to build owned ones, not to avoid them. S22
What the report checks
The structure gate looks for links to the Chrome Web Store, the App Store, Google Play, the Shopify App Store or the GitHub Marketplace on your homepage. Two or more platforms with no email capture raises a concentration risk flag.
Sources
- S3 Growth Method, "19 traction channels for growth marketers" secondary source
- S22 Stripe, "Platform risk: how to identify it, assess it, and build a more resilient business"
- S19 Lenny Rachitsky, "How today’s fastest growing B2B businesses found their first ten customers"
- S9 Sachin Rekhi, primer on The Cold Start Problem (Chen) secondary source
- S10 Chris Dixon, "Come for the tool, stay for the network"