The Four Plays
Each converts something already true into distribution. None require budget, fame, or results. Pick one — they train different expectations and combine badly.
| # | Play | The truth it converts | One line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Publish real numbers | Operating data, flaws included | Publishing honestly is the differentiation |
| 2 | Content on audience pain | What the group actually struggles with | Talk about their problem, not your features |
| 3 | Speaking is showing | What the product visibly does | Every post is a live demo |
| 4 | Position alignment | What the company claims | Founder topic and company position point one way |
Play 1 — Publish Real Numbers
Run when: you have usable data and can tolerate exposure.
The moves:
- Break down each acquisition channel and what it actually returned
- Publish a churn figure that is not good, with your read on why
- Use real product decisions as material — especially cutting rather than adding
Why it works: in a market where every founder claims their product is excellent, verifiable numbers — particularly bad ones — are the differentiation. Subtext: this person is honest and knows the details. Those are the two things an early audience most wants to confirm and can least easily verify.
Case: a solo-founded academic writing tool. Started from the founder's parents' house, pivoted out of a services business, monthly revenue collapsed from ~$7k to ~$2k and stuck for two years, under $1M raised. The founder built in public throughout — every channel broken down, a ~16% churn rate discussed openly. Reached ~$12M ARR and millions of users.
Borrow: do not wait for a good number. Publish one real figure now — churn, acquisition cost, a failed experiment's conversion rate — with your read on the cause. It outperforms ten posts asserting the product is good.
Play 2 — Content on Audience Pain
Run when: you serve a specific group whose problems are badly covered elsewhere.
The moves:
- Publish nothing about the product
- Answer the questions that keep the group awake — especially counterintuitive ones insiders know and outsiders get wrong
- Be first to interpret rule or policy changes affecting them
- Go into the communities where they already gather and answer directly, with real data
Why it works: topics grow out of the audience's pain, not the product's feature list. A founder who repeatedly gives a specific group help nobody else can give becomes that group's trusted entry point. Distribution then happens on its own.
Case: an AI job-search assistant aimed not at "job seekers" but at international students and visa-sponsorship candidates in a foreign labour market — a group systematically ignored by mainstream hiring products, drowning in information asymmetry. Near-zero marketing budget, ~50,000 registered users.
Borrow: define the group far more narrowly than is comfortable. List the 3–5 questions it is most anxious and least well-informed about. Answer them repeatedly. The more it reads like an insider talking and the less like a product advertising, the faster trust accrues.
Play 3 — Speaking Is Showing
Run when: the product's output is visible in the medium where you publish.
The moves:
- Produce every public post using the product, and say so
- Write about specific product thinking — why a capability works a particular way, what you deliberately threw away — not general industry commentary
Why it works: content and product stop being two workstreams. Every post is simultaneously an opinion, a zero-cost demo, and evidence of how deeply you have thought about the problem. No gap between what is claimed and what is shown.
Case: a dictation tool whose founder ended essentially every public post with a note that it had been written using the product. ~$3.8M ARR, ~80% six-month retention.
Borrow: if the product generates something visible — writing, design, analysis, media — make each post an artifact of it. If not, fall back one step: write about specific product decisions and their reasoning. Specific decisions read as expertise; general industry takes read as filler.
Play 4 — Position Alignment
Run when: the company already knows the position it intends to own.
The moves:
- Converge public content on the territory the company wants to occupy in buyers' minds
- Personal material is fine — a career change, an unusual path in — as long as it lands back on the company's central claim
Why it works: most founders run personal brand and company brand as separate projects. The person posts feelings, the company posts features, and the two dilute each other. Aligned, every personal post reinforces the company's claim and every company mention strengthens the founder's authority.
Case: a customer-engagement platform built on a messaging API, founded outside the major startup hubs, serving small businesses across 75 countries with substantial venture backing. Both co-founders published consistently, both stayed inside the territory the company was working to own.
Borrow: before publishing, answer one question — what is the topic where someone should think of this founder and this company together? Then hold at least 70% of output inside it.
The Shared Engine
None relied on fame or spending. None waited until the company was large. Do not manufacture content: take something that already exists — a number, a pain, an output, a claim — and make it visible.