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independence4 unconnected · 1 more author in those circles
applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

confidence

high

evidence

6 claims · 5 articles · 4 receipts

window

2020-10-05 → 2025-06-05

4 builders who never spoke to each other

Own the route people reach you by

Publish through something you control, an open protocol, your own domain, a name people type directly, so being thrown off a platform costs you the channel and not the audience. When a platform removes the tracking your campaigns depended on, move the effort to marketing that never needed to identify anyone rather than hunting for a workaround, and where you do want a platform's reach, wrap it so your own audience gets your version of it.

The method

  1. 01

    Publish through an open protocol you control, so you can move hosts, survive being thrown off a platform, keep the audience and choose your own monetisation.

  2. 02

    Design the business so most people arrive by typing your name or opening your app, and search disruption stops being an existential risk.

  3. 03

    When a platform removes the tracking your campaigns depend on, move the effort to marketing that never needed to identify anyone rather than hunting for a workaround.

  4. 04

    Assemble a course on your own domain out of separate tools rather than renting a course platform, when controlling the experience matters more than the monthly saving.

  5. 05

    If a distribution platform tracks the people you send to it, build a wrapper that lets your audience choose a tracking-free view of the same content.

What it returned

  • 2005

    Apple built podcasting on RSS in 2005 rather than a closed store, which is why creators can host audio anywhere and no single company owns the category.

  • 9

    Auto Trader holds over 9 million monthly unique visitors with 80% direct, 13% organic search, 4% paid and under 1% from AI chatbots, even with monthly LLM users near 4 billion globally. Pinterest says 85% of its users come straight to the mobile app and 100% are logged in.

  • $23

    Webflow at $23, Outseta at $39, Bold Video at $29, Zapier at $19 and MailerLite at $30 come to roughly $190 a month for Show Them, and Rob Hope says he would not swap it for a cheaper packaged product.

  • Paul Jarvis expects LTP to cut attribution sharply for advertising-led programmes, since Facebook and Google click identifiers are now blocked on many devices, and recommends long-term channels that do not rely on retargeting.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.

More in other

all other plays

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.