u/thefarhanmansuri

These days, startups need to burn 20–30% of revenue on marketing just to get sales.

I believed that too.

But then I read something interesting in Influence.

A phone company once called people and said

“Your friend Brad added you to his calling circle. If you switch, Brad saves money when calling you.”

That’s it.

No better features.

No huge discount.

No real reason to switch.

And it reportedly worked almost every time.

The crazy part?

People weren’t evaluating the phone plan anymore.

They were evaluating the friendship.

Because now saying no felt like

“Sorry Brad, I don’t care enough to help you.”

That’s why referrals outperform ads so often.

People don’t just buy products.

They buy relief from awkwardness, guilt, and social tension.

Has anyone here tried something like this recently? Does it still work?

One of India’s biggest candy successes won at pan shops instead.

DS Group noticed something weird:

smokers often bought candy right after cigarettes to hide the smell.

So instead of relying only on traditional marketing…

they made Pulse highly visible at pan shops and pushed it directly into that behaviour.

And smokers rarely bought just one.

They bought 5, 10, sometimes 20 at a time…

then carried them home.

That’s how a ₹1 candy started spreading into households across India.

What makes this even crazier is the category itself

brutally competitive

easy to copy

tiny margins

weak loyalty

different taste preferences everywhere

Most brands in that situation would try to outspend competitors on advertising.

Pulse grew by understanding behaviour first.

The product still mattered they reportedly spent around 2 years refining it before launch.

But the real multiplier was distribution tied to an existing habit.

Feels like a good reminder that sometimes the biggest growth channel isn’t marketing…

it’s finding where demand already exists and inserting yourself into it.

What’s the smartest “hidden distribution” strategy you’ve seen a company use?

I want to learn copywriting on a very tight budget, and I am looking for honest advice from people who have already been through this.

If you had only $50 max to spend, which online course would you choose to start learning copywriting from scratch?

Also, who do you think is the best mentor to learn from for beginners on a low budget?

I am mainly looking for something practical that actually helps with:

- writing better headlines

- understanding persuasive writing

- learning sales copy basics

- improving real-world copywriting skill

- e-commerce website and landing page copy

I do not want hype or overpriced “guru” courses. I would really appreciate suggestions from people who have actually used the course or learned from the mentor.

Thanks in advance.

While reading Million Dollar Weekend, I came across a simple framework that’s useful for evaluating a business idea before spending months and a lot of money building it.

A lot of people start with the product.

They see a problem, get excited, and immediately jump into:

• building the thing
• designing the brand
• ordering packaging
• writing copy

But a better first step is to ask:

Is there actually a market for this?

Here are two quick checks that can save a lot of time.

1) Is the market growing, flat, or shrinking?
Before building anything, look at whether interest in the problem is increasing.

One easy way is Google Trends.

Search terms related to the idea, such as:

• beard grooming
• beard oil
• beard care

If the trend is growing or staying stable, that is a positive sign.
If it is steadily declining, you may be looking at a shrinking market.

The simple rule: look for markets that are moving up and to the right.

2) How many potential customers are there?
Even if the problem is real, the market still needs to be large enough.

A practical way to estimate this is with Meta/Facebook Ads Manager. When you build an audience, it gives you an approximate size for people interested in that topic.

For example, if you target interests like:

• beard grooming
• men’s grooming
• beard care

and the audience size is in the millions, that tells you the opportunity may be meaningful.

You can also check the Meta Ads Library to see:

• whether competitors are actively advertising
• how they position their offer
• whether they are spending money in the space

That matters, because if businesses are running ads in a category, it usually means there is already demand.

The big insight for me was this:

Founders often start by building. Smart founders start by measuring the market.

Two quick questions can save months of work:

• Is the market growing?
• Are there enough customers?

Sometimes a 10-minute research session is enough to tell you whether an idea is worth pursuing 😄 .

How do you usually test whether a market is worth entering?