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Growth Hacking: For an Internet software startup in 2013, what is more important for success: distribution or product? (all other things being equal)
DJ
DJ
Daniel James Scott, Entrepreneur. Marketer. Provocateur. answered:

I appreciate Tom's response, and would love to wholeheartedly agree. That being said, I am simply going to take a divergent perspective for balance.

When a company starts, a good enough product is good enough when it allows for sales, which are dependent on distribution. Therefore, good distribution trumps good product at first; however, as you pointed out, the tables eventually turn.

Almost always, the promise of a product is enough to create a customer at startup, distribution allows for that customer to generate a sale.

Think about it this way: nobody ever needed a blanket with arms - there was no real compelling "job to be done" - but distribution created the hit with a just good enough product.

Remember when twitter was first released? It crashed constantly and hardly anyone worth following was present. But the system of distribution was a thing of beauty.

All else being equal, distribution creating sales buys runway for product development. So, I'm completely in agreement with Jeff Bezos on this one.

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