Stop Doing
Every Channel
Four questions. Get the 2-3 channels that actually worked for founders with your model, stage, and runway — with the counts next to each. Most "best marketing channels" advice tells you to be everywhere. This tells you to do less. No email required for the answer.
By Daria Dovzhikova · Updated June 2026
Answer all four to see your channels.
The channels, by business model — 75 founders, counted
The picker tunes these to your stage and runway, but here's the raw map: which channels the founders in each model cohort actually used, and how many of them grew with zero ad spend. Drawn from 75 of the highest-viewed founder case studies, each normalized by hand.
| Model | Founders | Top channels (count) | $0-ad |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS / micro-SaaS | 31 | Twitter / X (12), SEO + free-tool engine (15), Reddit (9) | 22/31 |
| B2B SaaS | 33 | Twitter / X (12), Cold email (4), SEO + free-tool engine (15) | 20/33 |
| Consumer app | 13 | TikTok / short-form UGC (7), Creator / influencer partnerships (6), App Store Optimization (4) | 4/13 |
| Agency / productized service | 9 | Twitter / X (6), Word of mouth / referrals (6), Cold email (3) | 7/9 |
| Content / creator | 10 | Twitter / X (4), Email list / waitlist (4), YouTube (3) | 6/10 |
| Ecommerce / DTC | 6 | Creator / influencer partnerships (4), Email list / waitlist (4), Paid ads (3) | 2/6 |
Counts are channel reach within each cohort (founders who used the channel as a primary or secondary channel). Across all 75, the 42 founders who spent $0 on ads posted a higher median monthly revenue ($65K) than the paid/mixed cohort ($41K). Sourced from the Top-75 founder teardown. Bring a counter-example — happy to adjust.
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