I am not implying his built in audience was the reason for the success. DistroKid is successful because pud is a badass entrepreneur and a passionate musician

I am not implying his built in audience was the reason for the success. DistroKid is successful because pud is a badass entrepreneur and a passionate musician that understood the pain point and executed beautifully. But at the same time you can't underestimate - or edit the story to not include - the value of early traction and a built in "free" source of eyeballs while you're tweaking product market fit over four years. The price of Pud hitting #1 on HN w/a piece of start-up content marketing is a little sort out - for the rest of us in the comments section here - about what lessons to take away from the content, and what else to consider.