The document discusses the challenges of gaining initial traction for a new product or company. It emphasizes that lack of product distribution, not the product itself, is often the main cause of failure. It recommends conducting traction experiments to test potential customer acquisition channels, focusing resources on the top-performing channel, gathering user feedback to improve the product, and continually searching for new traction channels to sustain growth.

1. Find Secrets, Build, Ship Repeat
The hard road to initial traction
Bjoern Zinssmeister
CEO & Co-founder of Templarbit

2. Where I have learned my lessons

3. Finding traction is hard
but without it you have
no company

4. Poor distribution, not
product is the number
one cause of failure ☠

5. 50% 50%
Product Development Distribution

6. You have to find a
traction channel that is
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

7. You can’t find secrets
without looking for
them

8. Overcome your
traction channel biases

9. Run traction experiments

10. BTW this is the part
where you measure
EVERYTHING

11. Focus on the winner

12. Spent all your efforts on
this core channel

13. Uncover additional
strategies in your core
channel

14. Phase I
Examples

15. Offline Events

16. Micro Apps

17. Phase II
Examples

18. YouTube

19. Community Building

20. OMG
we are
growing~!

21. Talk to users and shape
your product with their
feedback

22. Set new traction
milestones and find a
critical path to hit them

23. Eventually you need to
start over and find a
new traction channel

24. Finding traction is hard
but you can make it
easier with traction
experiments