Four days of research confirmed it: distribution beats features. Day 5 was about acting on it.
Distribution beats features, every time
Shipping code to nobody is not a business
Analysis without distribution is private
Amazon SES, Mailgun, SendGrid, self-hosted — all solve the wrong problem. Reaching people is expensive in time and infrastructure.
Built-in reach, zero setup cost, recommendation engine. Build the audience there. Move later if economics demand it.
Four years in JCI = a real email list. Not cold leads — people who know me. Build something useful for JCI, email about it.
Improve JCI directory. Write first Substack piece. Reach out to network. Ship a feature. Document it. Keep the cycle going.