I used to think distribution came after the product.
Build something good, launch it, and people will come. After building HairOver, I realized I had underestimated this more than anything else. A good product nobody sees is still invisible.
What this means
Your first customers rarely find you. You go and find them.Later, if things work, customers may come through search, word of mouth, or ads. But at the start, nobody knows you exist. The first customers come from you doing things that don't scale: messages, conversations, showing up where the problem is discussed.
And this is part of building the product, not a separate job. Where people come from changes what they expect, what they need to understand in the first minute, and what the product has to do.
What I learned
The clearest example I have isn't from HairOver. It's from my own career.
When I started as a software engineer, I shared what I was learning on LinkedIn and on this blog. I kept building and kept posting. Over time, opportunities came from that: some people hired me, some trusted me to lead, some invited me in as a co-founder.
Nobody found me by accident. They found me because I kept showing up where they already were, with something useful to say. That's the most honest description of early distribution I know: be visible, consistently, where the people you want to reach already are.
Real example: the channels HairOver is testing
Here's where I'm looking for HairOver's customers, and why each one fits (or might not).
Search (SEO). People search things like "hairstyles for a round face" before a haircut. That's the exact moment HairOver is useful. So the website is mostly guides built for those searches. SEO is slow, but it compounds.
X, founder-led. I wrote a 30-day plan with two accounts: mine for the story and lessons, HairOver's for transformations and demos. The rule is to judge posts by installs, not likes.
Creators. Hair, beauty, and grooming creators, barbers, and AI creators. The outreach offers free generations and asks for honest feedback first, with "no pressure to post."
UGC-style video. Short vertical videos showing the product in use. I've started experimenting with AI-generated creator-style videos. More on that, and the honesty questions it raises, in Marketing Without Losing Authenticity.
I don't know yet which channel brings the customers who stay and pay. That's the point of testing several and tracking each one.
The channels, simply
Direct outreach. Messaging people who have the problem. Slow and manual, and the best way to learn. Every conversation teaches you something.
Your network. Friends, colleagues, past clients. Good for first feedback. Be careful, though: they're kind, and kindness isn't demand.
Communities. Reddit, Discord, Facebook groups, forums. Go to help first. People can smell a drive-by promotion.
X / social. Works best when you share the real journey, not ads. Your early followers become your early users.
Product communities. Launch sites and maker communities. Good for a burst of early attention, not steady growth.
Content and SEO. Answer the questions your customers are already searching for. Slow to start, strong over time.
Partnerships. Someone who already has your customers' attention: a creator, a complementary tool, a professional. For HairOver, barbers and stylists are a natural fit.
Paid ads. Fast and scalable, but they cost money on every customer. Most useful once you know your message works and customers stick around.
What to do
- Write down exactly where your customer is at the moment they feel the problem. Online and offline.
- Pick two or three channels that go to that place. Not ten.
- Do the unscalable version first: personal messages, real conversations.
- Track which channel each customer came from, even with a simple spreadsheet or UTM links.
- Double down on the channel that brings customers who stay, not the one with the most clicks.
Mistakes to avoid
Launching and waiting. A launch is a moment. Distribution is a habit.
Spreading too thin. Ten channels at 10% effort usually beats nothing and teaches nothing.
Measuring the wrong thing. Likes and impressions aren't customers.
Ads before understanding. Paying to find out your message doesn't work is expensive.
Only asking friends. Their kindness hides the truth.
My current thinking
Distribution is where I'm spending more of my time now, and it's the part I find hardest. Building is familiar. Getting strangers to care, and then to pay, is a different skill, and I'm learning it in public.
I'll share which channels actually bring HairOver's paying users once I have enough data to say something honest.
Key takeaway
First customers come from the founder, not from luck. Find the exact place and moment your customer feels the problem, go there with something useful, do the unscalable work first, and track which channel brings customers who stay.
Next: Building an Audience.