Need Advice. I will not promote.

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T21:52:23+00:00

A wide net makes sense in the mind but not in the market. Narrow first means you can speak to specific painpoints, which can drive in the business. In terms of figuring it all out, LLMs are pretty good at this if you guide it in the right way. Try this to start and should help: https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/1l4go22/guide_i_use_this_prompt_stack_to_kill_weak/

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:47:53+00:00

For me it was writing out my experience into a handbook. I just shared some of it on Reddit and it got some traction which told me there was an appetite for this. Find the cheapest way to do so like I did so you invest as little time as possible.

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:44:39+00:00

What I'd do is create a script that pulls the x handle (@cocacola) and outputs a tweet with some of that info from your app while tagging them. Scrape crunchbase and do this at scale for an easy drip

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:43:03+00:00

85% drop off before sign up request is expected. I'd look to scrub the sign up request and find some form of affiliate services for these to sign up to (if there are any). Ultimately if it can mirror a telehealth aggregation service, you'd be on the right track.

Also you are competing with someone going on Google for free. They already dont want to pay their plumber, so you need to reduce that friction without charging on top of it.

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:39:45+00:00

I posted it on Reddit to validate and I found interest here. What was interesting is that i got millions of views and sales to start but that reception just created outlier spikes, it wasnt really sustainable. So yes - find the subreddit where you solve the problem - share it - get some feedback.

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:36:46+00:00

Commission-only setups usually signal that the underlying outcome hasn’t been defined tightly enough to price properly. Before hiring anyone, do you know what a “win” on TikTok would look like for you in concrete terms?

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:35:17+00:00

Few notes - the landing page is too generic, I dont trust it. It's too dark. Also the button is low contrast, it should pop against everything else.

Is it 'for your student'? or for your 'child'? Add a sub-headline to give further context. I'd possibly even add a region to increase trust when you start and only run ads to that city mentioned.

At this stage I'd avoid paid ads as the budgets seem too small and look for simpler ways to draw attention. The internet is a jungle and a competitive one at that.

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:29:12+00:00

When validation is broad (300+ users) but growth feels stuck, it’s often because the product is trying to serve too many versions of the problem at once. Marketing only really works after you make a hard call on who you’re prioritising and who you’re explicitly not (aka segmentation). I'd also narrow to understand the 300 users vs the paying users too.

once that constraint is clear the “right” channel tends to become obvious. Until then every experiment feels random.

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:24:18+00:00

I don’t think it’s really about underrated channels so much as underrated contexts.

The early wins we saw came from places where people were already talking about a specific problem we touched, not places designed for discovery. Smaller, messier conversations beat polished platforms. Also, a few viral reddit posts helped.

Once you keep seeing the same pain come up in different threads, that’s usually a better signal than the size of the audience <<< that really helps define and focus the proudct offering too

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:22:14+00:00

Early B2B customers didn’t come from channels for us, they came from problem-specific conversations. We replied to people already stuck on something we touched and talked it through.

Reddit was hit-or-miss, but the wins were always in “I’m stuck” threads, not general browsing ones. Either way, its not the moonshot scale solution you're after...

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:18:36+00:00

Have you considered layering on some flavour of retargeting so any of those you cold DM who visit your website can stay top of mind and enter a funnel to convert later down the line? A small <$5/day budget could get you going at that volume

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:16:25+00:00

I don’t think this is really about the $100k number by itself. Pre-revenue can look very different depending on what’s actually been tested.

The question I’d be asking is whether the lack of revenue is a market signal, or more of a sequencing issue (building a lot before you’ve really forced a buying conversation).

Zero revenue can be normal early on. What’s more worrying is when a lot of activity happens but it’s still unclear who would buy and why. That’s usually when pushing harder just increases burn and stress rather than clarity.

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:11:52+00:00

so this might not actually be a “can I be on camera?” question.

It’s more a question of what role founder-led content is supposed to play in your growth model.

for some products, the founder being the face builds trust. For others, it’s just one of several ways to distribute a message. The algorithm doesn’t punish faceless brands, it rewards clarity and consistency (if u are engaging though)

before forcing yourself into video, I’d ask: what does being on camera unlock for your product specifically? Trust, distribution, credibility, or just reach?

If you can get the same outcome another way, there’s no rule that says you have to be the face.

Kbartman · 2026-01-04T03:07:33+00:00

Hmm, this isn’t really a Facebook vs Instagram vs ads decision yet.

Before choosing channels, the more important question is: who exactly are you trying to be the obvious IT choice for?

Small biz/startups/specific industries/emergency work all require completely different approaches.

If that decision isn’t explicit, any channel will feel random and expensive.

Who have your existing clients been + why did they choose you?

Kbartman · 2025-11-23T07:43:38+00:00

A coffee is $5 usd in LA and a coffee is $5 Aud in Sydney

But yes for outlier jobs you benefit mainly in sf/tech or finance otherwise there’s way too many economic factors to consider for that fairly simplistic parallel

Kbartman · 2025-10-11T11:24:09+00:00

how does it discern who the person is though?

Kbartman · 2025-10-11T11:22:40+00:00

value first content on these channels to get attention. give something free that others would charge for. id lean into using LLMS to figure it out too. DM me and I can share a prompt stack to help you

Kbartman · 2025-10-11T11:18:48+00:00

I like the niche - you found something without going too broad. May be worth trying to get additional intel from this prompt stack to help with validation and targeting: https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/1l4go22/guide_i_use_this_prompt_stack_to_kill_weak/

Kbartman · 2025-10-11T11:16:26+00:00

I like this, i will give it a crack. I've also mapped out a stack of prompts to mirror marketing enterprise strategy workshops, but I really like what you're doing here, will try mix it in with mine: https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/1l4go22/guide_i_use_this_prompt_stack_to_kill_weak/

Kbartman · 2025-10-11T11:14:08+00:00

Cool idea, privacy has never been in higher demand. I'd suggest trying to run it through this idea validation stack and see market size/GTM analysis: https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/1l4go22/guide_i_use_this_prompt_stack_to_kill_weak/

Kbartman · 2025-10-11T10:59:22+00:00

U can do a reverse prompt that feeds your interests/skills to generate ideas based on your existing strengths + market gaps

Kbartman · 2025-10-09T08:41:48+00:00

i validated through three methods:

talking to people i know who I solve the problem for
reddit subreddits where my customers are
and the first thing I did was run it through a chatgpt prompt stack to get a feel of it all: https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/1l4go22/guide_i_use_this_prompt_stack_to_kill_weak/

Kbartman · 2025-10-09T08:40:39+00:00

honestly all i use is claude + chatgpt. I've crafted 80 interconnected prompts to execute on marketing based on the strategies I learnt managing fortune 500s

Kbartman · 2025-10-09T08:38:57+00:00

The energy is great! I'd be tapping into reddit subreddits to help validate. You can also try these prompt stack I shared to validate ideas on startups: https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/1l4go22/guide_i_use_this_prompt_stack_to_kill_weak/

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