

Distribution. Distribution. Distribution. - jasonlbaptiste
http://jasonlbaptiste.com/startups/distribution-distribution-distribution/

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byrneseyeview
The title sounds like what Reid Hoffman says:

 _In real estate the wisdom says “location, location, location.” In consumer
Internet, think “distribution, distribution, distribution.” Thousands of
products launch every month on hundreds of thousands of new Web pages. How
does a company rise above the noise to attract massive discovery and adoption?
YouTube did it through existing channels like MySpace, which already reached
millions. Yelp had strong SEO, which found them a mass audience searching for
restaurants and nightlife. Facebook’s University-centric approach landed them
80% adoption across a campus within 60 days of launch. Every Net entrepreneur
should answer these questions: How do we get to one million users? Then how do
we get to 10 million users? Then how will you get deep engagement by your
users._

[http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/19/reid-hoffman-my-rule-of-
thr...](http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/19/reid-hoffman-my-rule-of-three-for-
investing/)

It's important to look for undervalued distribution channels, not just the
ones that involve lots of eyeballs. PR, for example, is completely saturated;
go to a couple networking events and you'll bump into countless forty- and
fifty-something PR people who desperately need a job. They're no longer
gatekeepers; they're a commodity.

The other channels listed are similarly commoditized. You can put an extra
unit of time or money into them, but it's hard to get more than 100 cents on
the dollar from your investment.

The best way to think about distribution is to think about how you can create
a sustainable competitive advantage. Group buying, for example, means that
there's a positive dollar value on persuading friends to participate. Social
gaming lets Zynga recruit your social network to prod you into reengaging with
games.

Better to come up with something like that--something that will make your
competitors feel a little queasy about the thought of trying to peel off your
customers.

