Marketing for Founders

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall sentiment

  • Marketing for small founders is seen as increasingly difficult and noisy, especially post‑AI.
  • Many feel “spray and pray” tactics (directories, launch lists, random posts) are mostly wasted effort.
  • Strong emphasis on authenticity, community participation, and clear problem framing instead of generic “growth hacks.”

SEO and early-stage focus

  • One view: early SEO often isn’t worth it, especially for B2B.
  • Counterview: for consumer apps, SEO should be prioritized very early, even before the product is finished.
  • Little concrete advice for non‑profit/edu SEO; mostly acknowledged as product/audience dependent.

Spam, astroturfing, and AI-generated slop

  • Strong backlash against fake stories, sock puppets, and stealth ads on Reddit, Twitter, LinkedIn.
  • Some argue users “can’t tell” and that outrage bait and stealth marketing still work.
  • Others note communities are increasingly hostile and fatigued by perceived shilling and “vibecoded slop.”
  • AI-generated comments/content are blamed for flooding communities and degrading signal‑to‑noise.

Launch platforms and directories

  • Long “places to launch” lists are widely criticized:
    • Low impact beyond a small number of major sites.
    • Often result in spammy pitches and no real users.
    • Free tiers are disappearing; some directories send almost no traffic.
  • Consensus: getting indexed (e.g., via a single decent article) can matter more than big “launch days.”

Community-first and problem-first approaches

  • Repeated advice: hang out where your users are, contribute for weeks/months, then mention your product.
  • Cold self-promotion in multiple communities yields traffic with near-zero retention.
  • Posts that explain the underlying problem, data, or discoveries tend to perform far better than “here’s my tool.”
  • Building personal recognition (not just karma) as someone who adds value is seen as key.

Paid ads and “actual marketing”

  • One camp: in 2026, real leverage is in well-run paid ads (Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn), with proper targeting, retargeting, and patience.
  • Another camp: ads are “trash” without product–market fit and can be expensive and saturated as a validation strategy.
  • Some report good results using ads alone for small “vibecoded” products, leveraging prior ad-tech experience and automation.

Channel-specific observations (especially Reddit & HN)

  • Reddit:
    • Karma and account-age filters are a major hidden barrier; AutoMod can kill even good posts.
    • AI/“tool” posts often face blanket hostility or bans, regardless of quality.
    • Showoff/Saturday-style threads and problem-focused posts can still outperform other channels.
  • HN:
    • Considered the best place for dev-focused tools to get honest feedback and early users.
    • Show HNs are suggested as a better alternative to Reddit for some niches.

B2B vs B2C vs dev tools

  • Participants stress that B2B and B2C marketing are “almost entirely different fields” and should not be mixed in one playbook.
  • For B2B:
    • Cold-calling, Google Sheets as lightweight CRM, and later upgrading are common.
    • Accelerators and intros are recommended if possible.
  • For B2C:
    • Social presence and audience-building before launch are seen as mandatory.
  • Selling to developers:
    • Pros: good feedback, higher incomes, early adopters.
    • Cons: small market, heavy competition, strong preference for free/OSS or DIY solutions.

Tools, processes, and learning

  • Many solo founders start with simple tools (Google Sheets) instead of full CRMs; building a custom CRM is suggested only after learning the real sales process.
  • Some are experimenting with recording calls and using AI for summaries and rejection/objection extraction.
  • Books and more systematic sales/marketing education (e.g., sales primers, mindset/psychology of selling) are valued more than massive link lists.

Assessment of the linked “Marketing for Founders” repo

  • Mixed to negative evaluation:
    • Described as a large, possibly LLM-assisted “magpie” list with low curation.
    • Criticized for dead links, shallow advice (e.g., “launch on Product Hunt”), emoji/LLM‑style writing, and lack of prioritization.
    • Seen as catering to “build-first, market-later” founders.
  • Some still find a few useful articles but rely on AI tools to re-rank and prioritize the links.