Test the Money-Path Before You Chase Traffic

Test the Money-Path Before You Chase Traffic is a product-led growth tactic for getting your first users: A visitor discovered the product's 'save image' button silently threw a JavaScript error and froze, which was likely killing paid conversions without the founder ever noticing.

It's a strong fit for teams of almost any kind, and works especially well for any self-serve product. As a product-led growth play, plan for low effort and expect results to show up quickly, all grounded in 1 linked primary source.

Product-led growthLow effortFast

Why does product-led growth work for this?

Driving traffic into a funnel with a broken final step wastes every single visitor you earn.

The exact steps (4)

The full step-by-step this founder ran, what they posted, where, and in what order, plus the watch-outs, is part of the library.

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Sources

Works for
Any / universal

Frequently asked

How is the "Test the Money-Path Before You Chase Traffic" tactic verified?
It is drawn from 1 primary source — a real founder write-up or interview, not generic advice. It is linked in the Sources section above so you can read the original account 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 Source — IndieHackers, is in the paid library.

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