Channels
Which growth channel should you try first?
Pick your first growth channel by price point and sales motion: outbound, SEO, communities, partnerships or paid. Time to first result and cost for each.
- 3 August 2026
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Which growth channel should I try first?
Pick by price point. Under $50 a month, start with SEO or communities because sales calls cost more than the customer is worth. Between $50 and $1,000, start with outbound email. Above $1,000, start with founder-led outreach and partnerships. Paid ads come after you know a customer's value, never before.
Last updated 3 August 2026
| Customer worth | Start with | Time to first result |
|---|---|---|
| Under $50/mo | SEO and communities | 6–12 weeks |
| $50–$1,000/mo | Cold email and LinkedIn | 1–2 weeks |
| Over $1,000/mo | Founder outreach and partnerships | 2–4 weeks |
| One-off purchase under $100 | Marketplaces and paid social | Days, once creative exists |
Do this
The steps, in order.
- Step 1
Divide annual customer value by 1,000
That rough number tells you how much acquisition effort each customer can carry. A $30-a-month product cannot fund a sales call; a $3,000-a-month one cannot be sold by a pricing page alone.
- Step 2
Check where your buyers already ask questions
Search your problem phrased as a question and see what comes back: forum threads, comparison articles, YouTube. Whatever exists is where attention already is, and it is cheaper to join than to create a new place.
- Step 3
Run one channel for six weeks, not four channels for one
Every channel has a setup cost before it produces anything. Splitting attention means paying every setup cost and reaching none of the payoffs.
- Step 4
Judge on conversations, not traffic
In the first six weeks the only meaningful signal is whether real buyers replied. Impressions and sessions can rise while nothing happens.
Worth knowing
The bits people get wrong.
The second channel should be chosen from what the first one taught you. Outbound tells you the words buyers use, which makes the SEO pages worth writing. SEO tells you which problems have volume, which makes outreach sharper.
Channels also have a floor and a ceiling. Communities work brilliantly to 50 customers and rarely past 500. Paid ads do nothing at 50 and can carry thousands. Match the channel to where you actually are, not where you want to be.
Questions
Follow-up questions.
Can I do SEO and outbound at the same time?
Yes, if outbound is the active channel and SEO is a page a week in the background. What does not work is treating both as your main effort, because each needs sustained attention to clear its setup cost.
When are paid ads the right first channel?
When you already know what a customer is worth, have a page that converts cold traffic, and can spend $1,000 in a month without it hurting. That is rarely true at the start.
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