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independence4 unconnected · 3 more authors in those circles
applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

confidence

high

evidence

16 claims · 15 articles · 4 receipts

window

2017-06-19 → 2025-01-14

4 builders who never spoke to each other

Hold the split between building and being seen

Track where the hours go and keep them roughly even between the product and getting it in front of people, whether by alternating whole weeks or by counting the split after the fact. Product work is the more enjoyable trap, so a stretch where all the work feels good is a warning, and revenue falling month on month after you stop promoting is the clearest evidence of what was carrying it.

The method

  1. 01

    Split your hours roughly evenly between building the product and getting it in front of people, and hold the ratio deliberately because product work is the more enjoyable trap.

  2. 02

    Alternate entire weeks between building and marketing, so neither one quietly disappears.

  3. 03

    Treat a stretch where all your work is enjoyable as a warning sign, because the developer's version of that is building product while never talking to customers or doing sales and marketing.

  4. 04

    A month spent only on features, with no time given to marketing, shows up in the revenue line.

  5. 05

    Revenue falls when you stop marketing, and it falls month on month, which is the clearest evidence that the marketing was doing the work.

What it returned

  • 210

    Of the 210 tracked hours before his first sale, 111 went to product and 98 to traction, a split Zue took from the book Traction and maintained into maintenance mode.

  • $171

    July: $171 revenue against $612 of expenses, and just $6 of new MRR from a single yearly subscription, after a month he spent building.

  • $25k

    $25k of total revenue by May, with monthly revenue declining after a full-time job started in April.

  • Zue took the half-of-your-time split from the book Traction and treats marketing days as a chore he does before the fun work

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.

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More in product

all product 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.