A while back I wrote about Marc Andreessen’s line: [first-time entrepreneurs focus on product, second-time entrepreneurs focus on distribution.]()
That post was about the shift from obsessing over what you build to obsessing over how it spreads—more specifically, how you acquire new customers.
Think about a gumball machine. You put a quarter in, turn the knob, and a gumball comes out. That’s reliable. Customer acquisition should feel the same way. And just like the gumball machine, it always requires an investment.
Let’s break it down. A gumball machine…
* **Requires an investment.** A quarter goes in.
* **Produces a return.** You get a gumball.
* **Is consistent.** Every time you put in a quarter, you get the same outcome.
Now, apply that test to your own acquisition.
Example 1: You own a small business and post about it on your personal Facebook account. Investment? Yes—your time writing the post. Return? Maybe—some new customers. But consistency? No. You can’t reliably generate customers every time you post. That’s not a gumball machine.
Example 2: You run ads on Facebook. Investment? Yes—ad spend. Return? Yes—customers from the ads. Consistency? If every time you spend $100 you can expect $500 back in revenue, then yes. That’s a gumball machine.
So if you’re building something new, don’t stop at distribution theory. Go one step deeper: how will you actually acquire clients in a way that scales, predictably and profitably? Answer that, and suddenly a good-enough product can win big.