Opportunity area · theme founders discuss · intermediate

Distribution approach for spent years writing sales emails

Distribution · Spent years writing sales emails — who do you reach in 30 days without a brand-name network? Name the channel before the features. Reject “for everyone in ai ml.” Original insight: the unfair advantage is usually access (scars, audience, data)—not a clever name.

Problem

In ai ml, the default stack almost works—until “spent years writing sales emails” forces spreadsheet archaeology and Slack archaeology at the worst moment. Unexpected challenge: community fame attracts wrong-fit users who want entertainment, not a paid pilot. Hidden cost: permissions, exports, and “who owns this spreadsheet?” politics.

Target user

Budget holders tired of agencies and spreadsheets for this job

Proposed solution

Ship the smallest artifact that makes ex-agency builders finish the job faster with fewer errors—next to the system of record they already open. Distribution rule: track conversations started and pilots dated, not impressions. Counter-intuitive advice: raise prices earlier than feels polite. Underpricing attracts tourists and hides weak value. Distribution bottleneck: marketplaces and app directories tax you twice—once in fees, once in attention. One caution: shipping unreliable automation in a trust-sensitive job burns the only channel that mattered. One recommendation: pick one channel and work it daily for thirty days—one channel done beats four channels imagined. Practical next step: identify one integration/import that makes this feel native to ai ml workflows. Real-world pattern: Shopify went deep on merchant workflows instead of being every app—depth beats horizontal novelty. Straight take: skip it if you need status from flashy demos. The winning version looks operationally dull and commercially sharp.