What kind of products does the "Pre-Sell Before You Build" tactic work for?

It is a good fit for B2B SaaS, Dev tools / technical, and Newsletters / media — pick it when your product looks like one of those, since the play is shaped around how those users find new tools.

How is the "Pre-Sell Before You Build" tactic verified?

It is drawn from 5 primary sources — real founder write-ups and interviews, not generic advice. They are linked in the Sources section above so you can read the original accounts yourself.

How much effort is it and how fast are results?

It is low effort, and results tend to be fast.

Where can I see the exact step-by-step?

The full step-by-step a founder ran, documented via First 100 SaaS customers and Bootstrapping to $2M, is in the paid library.

Pre-Sell Before You Build — first-user tactic (First users & traction)

Frequently asked

What kind of products does the "Pre-Sell Before You Build" tactic work for?: It is a good fit for B2B SaaS, Dev tools / technical, and Newsletters / media — pick it when your product looks like one of those, since the play is shaped around how those users find new tools.
How is the "Pre-Sell Before You Build" tactic verified?: It is drawn from 5 primary sources — real founder write-ups and interviews, not generic advice. They are linked in the Sources section above so you can read the original accounts yourself.
How much effort is it and how fast are results?: It is low effort, and results tend to be fast.
Where can I see the exact step-by-step?: The full step-by-step a founder ran, documented via First 100 SaaS customers and Bootstrapping to $2M, is in the paid library.

Positioning Is Step Zero

Before you spend a dollar on any channel, you decide who you serve, how you're segmented, and what makes you the only sane choice — then express it in a sharp message.

Read the steps →

First users & tractionHigh effort· Slow

One Master Account List Feeds Every Channel

Account-based targeting: instead of chasing scattered individual leads, you identify the exact companies that fit, then concentrate every effort on the people inside them.

Read the steps →

First users & tractionLow effort· Fast

Cross-Post the Same Share to Reddit and Indie Hackers at Once

Publish the same value-first resource on both a niche subreddit and Indie Hackers within the same window to stack traffic from two communities simultaneously.

Read the steps →

First users & tractionMedium effort· Fast

Deliver the Service By Hand Before Building the Software

Instead of coding first, the founder ran a manual MVP, fulfilling the work personally like a freelancer, and landed a first customer at $800/mo writing their LinkedIn posts by hand.

Read the steps →

First users & tractionMedium effort· Slow

Treat First Users as a Search, Then Obsess Over Them

Finding early adopters is about searching for the rare people with a burning need, then making a tiny set of them ecstatic and mining them for feedback, rather than chasing big vanity counts.

Read the steps →

First users & tractionLow effort· Fast