I'm literally heads down in the weeds on this now growing a new startup I'm working on. Just hit 10k users! https://getpolarized.io/ https://getpolarized.io/

I'm literally heads down in the weeds on this now growing a new startup I'm working on. Just hit 10k users! https://getpolarized.io/ https://getpolarized.io/ I would agree with 60% of what the author is trying to say. First, devils advocate. If your app is actually making money it's totally reasonable to buy ads to grow. If you spend $100 on ads and make $500 in revenue that's probably a pretty solid deal (assuming your costs are reasonable). In that case - go for it. Additionally, there are a lot of channels that you can work with which might need cash to get you bootstrapped. For example, if you find a really great blog or mailing list it might make sense to just throw down $500 for an ad to the author to mention your product (and disclose of course). The reason why is that these niche communities can be VERY VERY valuable. They don't scale but getting your first 10k years is really helpful. The other things mentioned in the article take a LOT of time. Befriending influencers? Yeah. That can take a while! ... but I think the spirit is right. If you're lazy and only depend on ads - you're in a world of pain. Most of what you have to do is understand how the ecosystem around your company works. That just takes a ton of time and the only way to do that is to have legs on the ground feeling it out. Which sites have traffic? What are some growth loops you can use? A LOT of startups have found some REALLY cool and interesting growth 'hacks' that you wouldn't really think of unless you're in the weeds for months at a time. Startups like Duolingo, Dropbox, etc don't just happen. They take time and effort and continual iteration.