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@zachpogrob

@zachpogrob

Obsession beats discipline - go all-in on your craft until you either die or get reborn.

Back to Mental Models

Audience as Deferred Leverage

Build audience for years with a specific purpose: to one day launch something that matters. The years of audience building are not about content - they are creating distribution for when you have something real to launch.

Decision Rule

When building audience, do so with future product launch in mind. The content is the appetizer; the product is the meal. 7 years of writing about obsession creates the distribution for the app that embodies it.

How It Works

Distribution is the hardest problem in launching products. Building audience first inverts this - you have distribution seeking a product rather than product seeking distribution. The leverage compounds while you build.

Failure Modes

Building audience with no intention of ever building a product (then it is just entertainment)

Launching too early before audience is large enough

Building audience around persona rather than ideas that transfer to products

Example Decision

Writer spends 7 years building audience around running and obsession. When they finally launch a running app, they have 300k people ready to try it. The content was always about creating this moment.