My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Back to Trends
Business Strategy
Find Customers First, Then Build Products
Timeframe: Already happening, will accelerate over next 5-10 years
What's Changing
Traditional model of build-then-find-customers is being replaced by build-audience-then-create-products
Driving Forces
Internet allows direct audience building
Content creation tools democratized
Social media enables audience relationships
Lower cost to test and validate ideas
Winners
- Content creators who build products for their audience
- Creators who transition from advertising to ownership
- Young internet-native entrepreneurs
Losers
- Traditional product-first companies without distribution
- Advertising-dependent content businesses
- Companies that can't build direct audience relationships
How to Position Yourself
1
Build audience before building products
2
Focus on audience problems and needs
3
Use content to validate product ideas
4
Transition from advertising to product ownership
Early Signals to Watch
More creators launching productsDecreased effectiveness of traditional advertisingRise of creator economy toolsYoung entrepreneurs building audience-first businesses
Example Implementation
“Finance podcaster builds 25M download audience, then launches job board, recruiting service, and research subscription all serving the same audience”