Jason M. Lemkin explains how his product got 40% of new customers for free: 20% through viral mechanics and 20% through word-of-mouth. He argues this meant zero marketing spend and forces you to choose between investing in product, sales, or marketing.
About 40% of new customers.
~20% directly through viral, and ~20% through tracked word of mouth.
And our product, directly or indirectly, would generate about 40% of our new customers. 20% directly through viral and 20% through tracked word of mouth, which any app should have. Anyone should have word of mouth if you're good. Right. And so by doing that, we were able to. Basically, we spent nothing on marketing. Like, it has to come from somewhere. Like, you have to spend nothing on product, nothing on sales, or nothing on marketing. That's the only way to be profitable and be right. Yeah, no, but the truth is, actually, it's not just capital efficient. You can't spend nothing. So you can spend a lot on product, but then. But you got to pick from the three categories.
