Marc Andreessen wrote in 2011 that software was eating the world. Now he expects it to happen “at the speed of compute.” Build one feature with an agent and you immediately want to build ten more.
Then you enter a crowded market. You can reproduce the features and still miss what customers need badly enough to switch and keep using your product. Reaching those people takes another set of skills. A developer tool, a self-serve AI app and software sold to an enterprise need different approaches. Product quality, customer insight and distribution all shape the outcome.
Your background may already give you an edge: a market you know well, a problem you’ve worked on or a channel you understand. Start with a playbook that fits your product and draws on that experience.
1. Ads: bring the e-commerce playbook to SaaS
Experience that helps: e-commerce or performance marketing teaches offers, creative testing and conversion optimization.
Works for: self-serve SaaS and AI apps with results you can demonstrate quickly.
Start when: users get value, tracking works and you can fund a test.
Conversion tracking
Choose a conversion event: trial, subscription or activation. Trigger it yourself and verify it in your ad platform and product analytics before spending. Use your first 50 real conversions as a review sample: who converts, and do they use the product?
Doomscrolling
Spend time on TikTok, Reels and Shorts. Follow creators in your niche and adjacent categories. Look for videos outperforming a creator’s usual posts, formats spreading across accounts, and trending songs.
Do this yourself first to develop your judgment. Some teams pay “doomscrollers” to find references for them. Ask for five video links, the hook or format worth testing, and an idea for your product demo. Video-search software can also find ads and organic posts by niche, hook or format, then alert you to new material from selected brands and creators. Share which ideas brought customers to improve the next selection.
Creative formats
Record the software completing one task. Cut loading time and zoom into the relevant controls. Try three layouts:
- Hook + demo: opening claim, then full-screen recording.
- AI UGC reaction: surprised face first, then show the demo.
- AI presenter: presenter inset over the recording, explaining the result.
Generate faces separately; keep product controls visible. Use audio cleared for ads, with speech audible and the reveal on the beat.
Test the hooks
Try three hooks with the same demo, offer and call to action. Repeat the ad’s promise on the landing page. Compare conversion cost and product use. Answer recurring objections in the next ads. Test answer engine optimization (AEO) alongside paid acquisition using the search playbook below.
2. GTM motions
Experience that helps: B2B sales, customer research or building automations.
Works for: SaaS and AI products sold through outreach, inbound inquiries or self-serve trials.
Start when: you know the buyer and can demonstrate one useful result.
Here’s how each approach could work for an AI sales-research tool.
Outbound
In a prospect database, filter software companies by size and open SDR (sales development rep) roles; find the sales leader. Check competitor-demo comments for other prospects. Use AI research to verify the company and hiring signal; require a source URL or “not found.”
Use a work-email waterfall for matching contacts: try providers until an address passes validation. Preview a small batch before sending. Use an email-sequencing tool with stop-on-reply enabled. Match the offer to the role: one account brief for a rep, a team workflow for the sales leader.
Inbound
Give away an account-research template with a completed example so prospects can do the job themselves. Deliver it first, then show how the product makes briefs in bulk. Use the same target-company list for ads and outreach.
Product-led
For this example, track Brief Saved, Teammate Invited and Quota Reached in product analytics. Find new users who haven’t saved a brief and help them finish one. Offer a team demo or upgrade to repeat users who invite teammates or reach their limits.
3. Founder-led content: pick your niche
Experience that helps: lessons from engineering, product, customers or your industry.
Works for: tech startups reaching buyers, investors or future hires on social platforms.
Start when: you have firsthand lessons to share, even before launch.
Content mix
Try 80% TOFU (top of funnel: teach), 15% MOFU (middle: help buyers compare), 5% BOFU (bottom: invite a trial or purchase). Adjust the mix as you see which posts work. For TOFU, create a recurring series about mistakes, workflows or checklists. The diagram uses an AI code-review tool as an example.
Extend TOFU to employee-generated content (EGC). Set shared themes and a posting routine across the team. Engineers, designers and product people share lessons from their work. Lovable gives staff assets and talking points to adapt in their own voices. Colleagues can add useful perspectives in replies or share posts relevant to their audiences.
X
Write about your buyers’ work. If your buyers work in manufacturing and rarely use X, you can still reach investors and recruits with company decisions, team stories and hiring posts.
Technical founders: show your software factory, including overnight agents, tests and human reviews. Even with a small following, explain your work in detailed posts; Premium also gives you long posts and X Articles. Quote posts when you can add an example or challenge an assumption.
Use a clear photo. Explain whom you help and how in your headline and banner. Put examples and results in About and a useful lead magnet in Featured.
Join discussions your audience reads and reply with specific examples. Answer comments on your posts, then write posts addressing recurring questions.
Weekly routine
Follow people in your niche on both platforms. Schedule time to read, reply and publish. Have AI summarize your favorite feeds and Reddit discussions. Dictate with Wispr Flow and edit with AI. A friend reached 150,000 X followers in months this way. Draw on past decisions and customer conversations for examples.
4. X launch: find who amplified successful launches
Experience needed: no prior launch experience required. You need someone who can make a good video or write a strong post.
Works for: SaaS and AI startups whose target audience is on X.
Start when: the product is good enough to try. Use a product release, major update or fundraising announcement as the occasion.
Research quote tweets
Open quote tweets on five relevant launches. See which influencers amplified them and how: a photo, a demo or a written post. Save the original post, quote and account. Note which accounts recur.
Check the audience
Read their bios and posts, sample visible followers and inspect recurring promotions. Check whether commenters resemble your buyers. Look for evidence of bot activity beyond follower counts and default avatars. Read Community Notes and check their sources.
Friends and paid influencers
Send a preview to 50 friends or early users. Invite them to ask questions, give feedback or quote the launch post. Let them choose whether and how to participate. Contact shortlisted influencers directly about a paid collaboration. Agree on the post, fee and date, and have them enable X’s Paid Partnership label. Ask for their own perspective in an original post or quote.
Launch post
Use a video, a written post, a photo and story, or a useful resource. Make the offer concrete: try one task, download the resource or join a waitlist. Stay available during the first hour to answer questions. Track visits and the actions people take from each placement.
5. Paid B2B influencers: buy access to the right audience
Experience that helps: knowing your buyer’s work, creating useful resources and running sales conversations.
Works for: B2B SaaS and AI products whose buyers follow industry creators on LinkedIn.
Start when: you have a useful resource and a relevant trial or demo to offer.
Lead magnet
Example: an AI recruiting product offers an interview scorecard with a completed example. Include a short demo of how to use the scorecard in the product.
Paid post
Find creators posting about recruiting. Check recent commenters’ roles and companies; shortlist creators reaching your buyers.
Pay for a post previewing the scorecard and inviting readers to request it in the comments. Have the creator disclose the sponsorship, answer requests and deliver the resource. Prepare the file and response before publication.
Follow-up
Collect the profiles requesting the resource. Start manually. Once you know which profiles are useful, an engagement-export tool and a profile-enrichment tool can prepare the list. Filter by role and company before contacting anyone.
Ask whether they used the scorecard and where they got stuck. If your product addresses that problem, offer a demo using their hiring process. Follow up individually first. Automate the sequence once you know which messages get replies from likely buyers. Stop when someone replies.
Repeat
Test the same resource with other relevant creators. Use a separate link for each placement. Calculate the cost per qualified demo and customer for each creator before renewing.
6. Creator programs: turn successful pilots into a routine
Experience that helps: producing short videos, briefing creators and giving useful feedback.
Works for: consumer apps and self-serve software with something visible to demonstrate: studying, language practice, editing, planning or building an app.
Start when: onboarding works and someone can run the program every day.
Hire creators to produce and publish recurring videos, including on dedicated campaign accounts. Choose creators for their ability to make and post videos, even if they’re still building an audience.
Have each creator use the product first. Give them the audience, problem, opening line, screen to show and result to demonstrate.
Test four formats:
- Talking video: tell a specific story to camera; show where the product helped.
- Wall of text: put a relatable thought about the problem over simple footage.
- Slideshow: open with a problem, then show steps, screenshots or a before-and-after.
- Hook + demo: open with a problem or a result, then show the software doing the work.
Run a paid trial. Ask for a revision before choosing creators. Agree on a production fee, deliverables, any performance bonus, disclosure and reuse rights.
Review drafts before posting. Keep feedback and results alongside each video. Change one thing per test: hook, creator or format. Turn recurring questions into reply videos.
Track signups, activation and paying users by creator where possible. Calculate the cost per paying customer, including creator fees and bonuses, before renewing. Commission more of the concepts that worked.
7. Search: SEO and AEO
Experience that helps: SEO, customer research and understanding how buyers describe their problems.
Works for: SaaS and AI products solving tasks people search for or ask assistants about.
Start when: you can solve a specific customer problem.
People first
Collect questions from support, sales calls and community discussions. Inspect search results and AI citations. Check keyword volume, recent growth and whether demand fits your product. Prepare seasonal pages before demand peaks.
Give skilled writers customer questions, examples and sources. Use AI to research, outline and edit. Have someone who knows the subject check claims and approve the page.
Product-led SEO
Demand capture means reaching people already seeking a solution. Build pages around tasks your product solves, with a usable tool, template or integration. A meeting app’s “send meeting notes to CRM” page should let visitors configure that workflow.
If two searches return similar results, consider one page. Link related pages where they help readers complete the task, using descriptive link text. Keep each page’s purpose distinct.
For AEO, inspect cited sources. Answer a missing question about compatibility or limitations with evidence. Recheck the same questions over time.
Google Search Console
Sort GSC’s Search results queries by impressions. Select a non-brand query, then Pages to see which URL appears. Compare it with current results and fill gaps in the answer or workflow. Use URL Inspection for indexing problems. Measure product use and customers alongside clicks.
Example: a non-brand query in GSC. Select Pages to find which URL Google shows for it.
Data and agents
Some of the best SEOs I work with run detailed Google Sheets: query, intent, page, brief, internal links, writer and results. Maintain that map as the site grows. Connect GSC and keyword data, such as DataForSEO, to your coding agent through APIs/MCPs. Check whether AI-demand figures are measured or estimated.
When hiring, I’d shortlist SEOs with fintech or healthcare experience. Google places greater weight on trust for YMYL (“Your Money or Your Life”) topics, including health and financial stability. That work can build strong research and review habits. Ask candidates to show their content briefs, reviews and linking decisions.
8. Reddit
Experience that helps: understanding customers and participating in communities.
Works for: products whose buyers discuss problems on Reddit.
Start when: you can help and keep participating.
Research competitors
Search your brand, category or competitors. Reddit Answers is Reddit’s built-in AI search: type a question and select Ask to get a summary with links to discussions. Open them. Record products, subreddits, objections and recurring accounts. Read their public posts and comments.
A profile can hide its history while its posts remain visible in communities. Study the promotion you can see. Treat affiliation as unverified unless you find evidence of employment or payment.
New: monitor recent posts
Use /new/ for fresh posts. Track relevant subreddits and keywords. Schedule an Apify digest, then read the original threads. Reply while the question is still current.
Top / All Time: study hooks and formats
Use /top/?t=all. Compare opening lines, titles, screenshots and demos across several posts. Read comments to see what people responded to; save formats you can adapt.
Best: browse the feed
Browse Home with Best at /best/. Reddit personalizes this feed using your activity and communities to recommend posts you may find useful.
Founder replies and posts
Give useful steps and say “I’m the founder of…” when relevant. Explain limitations; skip claims like “the best solution.” Follow subreddit rules. Don’t coordinate upvotes or disguise an ad as neutral advice.
Show what you built, what still breaks and what feedback you need. Answer the comments.
Build a subreddit
Pick a topic with existing demand beyond your product. Invite real contributors. Publish recurring discussions, moderate and crosspost where welcome.
9. GitHub: release something developers can use
Experience that helps: building software and helping developers use it.
Works for: developer tools, AI projects, skills and integrations connected to your product.
Start when: someone can run one example without your help.
What to release
Open-source a tool, skill or integration that solves one recurring problem. Link your paid product from the README. For a full application, offer managed hosting: users pay you to handle deployment, backups and upgrades. State the license and any paid dependencies.
Prepare the repo
Open the README with one sentence explaining the result, a short demo GIF and a copyable install command. Show example input and expected output. Ask someone new to follow the quickstart; fix wherever they need help.
Fill in About, add relevant topics, set a social preview image and pin the repo. Add it to your X bio.
Where to share
Post a working demo in the matching community:
- r/ClaudeAI: “Built with Claude”; explain Claude’s role and make it free to try.
- r/ClaudeCode: weekly showcase for demos; detailed build stories can stand alone.
- r/codex: “Showcase” or the weekly showcase; explain how you used Codex.
Check current rules and flairs. Say “I built this” and ask readers to try one task. On X, share the demo, repo and a useful building lesson. Submit a Show HN when people can try the project; stay available to answer questions.
Find maintained awesome-lists for Claude or Codex. Read CONTRIBUTING before submitting: some accept pull requests, others use forms.
First users
Label small tasks “good first issue” and describe the expected result. Answer setup questions in Discussions and turn recurring problems into documentation fixes.
Review Insights, then Traffic weekly for visitors, referrers and clones. Track product signups alongside stars. Invite stars from people who found the repo useful.
One last note. There’s a lot of talk about marketing engineering, GTM engineering and using coding agents for everything from research to content production.
Using AI to write a post or make a video doesn’t make it slop. The ideas still need to come from somewhere: work you’ve done, customers you’ve spoken to, tests you’ve run.
Give your coding agent that material. Have it find references, prepare variations and analyse results. Explain what you changed and why. Save the instructions that work so the next run starts with what you learned.
These playbooks follow how platforms distribute content and how people discover and buy products. Spend time learning those behaviours in your market before automating. AI can help you execute faster. Deciding what to make, who it helps and whether the product delivers still takes judgment.
