The Startup Ideas Podcast
The best businesses are built at the intersection of emerging technology, community, and real human needs.
Back to Tactics
Personal network seeding
Build for yourself first, then share with people who have similar interests/problems
Why It Works
Personal use ensures product solves real problems, network provides initial distribution, word-of-mouth from domain experts carries high credibility
Prerequisites
Strong personal network in target domainGenuine personal use caseActive participation in relevant communities
How to Execute
1
Build tool you use daily for your own workflow
2
Share organically with colleagues/friends in same domain
3
Let usage patterns guide feature development
4
Ask users to share with their networks if they find value
When It Fails
When your network isn't representative of broader market, or when you don't have genuine domain expertise
Real Example
“Kevin builds news aggregator for his AI interests, shares with other VCs and builders, grows through word-of-mouth among information-hungry professionals”