The Anti-Graveyard Roadmap: Ship Weekly, Design Distribution

Q: How do we know distribution is working?

You see daily inbound without ads (DMs, replies, bookings). If not, your content/offer isn't resonating—iterate the message, not the code.

TL;DR: Stay out of the graveyard with weekly ships, a daily distribution engine, and objective gates. Proof > promises.

Most startups don't die from bad ideas. They die from distribution starvation and rewrite fever—burning runway without adding customers.

The 4 Graveyard Traps (and the 24-Hour Fix)

1) No Distribution Strategy

Symptom: Empty top-of-funnel, great product nobody sees. What kills you: Assuming "if we build it, they'll find it." 24-hour fix: Ship a daily content loop (one pillar post + two short clips) and 15 targeted DMs to ideal buyers. Log replies and bookings.

2) Full-Stack Rewrites

Symptom: Months of refactors, zero new revenue. What kills you: "Do it right this time." 24-hour fix: Sign the No-Rewrite Pledge for 30 days. Only touch code that (a) breaks money flow or (b) removes a blocker to shipping this Friday.

3) Chasing TAM Slides

Symptom: $100B market decks, $0 this month. What kills you: Top-down theater instead of bottom-up demand. 24-hour fix: Send 10 payment links to real prospects for a $50–$750 offer. ≥2 pays by Friday → build. Else, kill or reposition.

4) Raised on Hype

Symptom: Expectations > systems. What kills you: 18 slides, 0 loops. 24-hour fix: Replace the roadmap with a Revenue Ladder (below). Every step funds the next.

The Opposite Plan

Distribution Before Rewrites

Build the audience while you build the product:

Daily: AI-assisted post + 2 short clips (LinkedIn/Twitter/TikTok)
Daily: 15–20 qualified outreaches (DM/email with one-line offer)
Weekly: 1 pillar page that compounds SEO
Monthly: 1 case study with numbers (GMV, CAC, retention)

Your first 1,000 followers beat your first 10,000 lines of "perfect" code.

Case Study or Kill (Objective Gates)

Every Friday ship = pass/fail with numbers:

Revenue gate: Did it make money? (≥$750)
User gate: Did people use it? (≥20 new users or ≥10% week-over-week active lift)
CAC gate: Can we acquire profitably? (paid CAC ≤ 25% of first-month revenue)

Pass ≥2 gates → double down next week. Fail → publish the post-mortem and move on. No zombies.

Offers That Convert (Revenue Ladder)

Design an offer funnel, not just a product funnel:

$185 Strategy Call → diagnose, scope, next step
$750 Quick Build → LP + Stripe or data scrape (credited if they upgrade within 14 days)
$7,500 5-Day Sprint → fixed scope, 50% deposit, delivery guarantee
Case-study discount ($500 off for full publish rights)

Each step is proof for the next step.

Only Sales + Engineering (for now)

Everything else is premature optimization.

Sales: creates revenue today
Engineering: ships customer value this week
Marketing: only distribution that directly drives calls/sales
Ops/HR/Finance: only when legally required

Don't hire your way out of revenue problems.

2-Week Example (Reality, Not Theater)

Week 1 — Pivot the Marketplace (ship Friday)

Cut 70% complexity (bids/auctions/graphs/offers).
Keep payouts, inventory holds, basic listing → checkout flow.
Launch with 12–30 items; publish the numbers Monday.

Week 2 — Launch FoundingTalent (ship Friday)

Free to post bounties; 3% success fee; 7-day escrow.
Add Studio Lite "Opportunity of the Day" email.
Publish the bounty → completion funnel metrics Monday.

Two revenue streams tested in two weeks, not two quarters.

Metrics That Matter (simple, aggressive)

Daily

15–20 qualified outreaches (≥30% reply rate → your message works)
TTFV < 72h on quick builds (time-to-first-value)
Content cadence: 1 post + 2 clips shipped

Weekly

1 MVP shipped (usable, not perfect)
1 case study published (win or lose)
Gates decided: scale or kill

Monthly

Month 1: 1–2 sprints, 5–8 quick builds, 10–15 bounty completions
Month 3: ≥ $25K monthly recurring revenue across streams
Month 6: Clear path to $500K annualized with proven loops

Bonus loop metrics:

K-factor ≥ 0.1 (10 invites → 1 new user)
Time-to-value < 5 minutes for core action
7-day retention trending up for the last 3 ships

Guardrails (Stop / Go)

Stop immediately if:

You're building features nobody asked for
Planning > shipping time this week
You're tracking vanity over revenue
You're hiring before a working revenue model

Go harder if:

Customers request the same feature twice
You shipped Friday for 3 straight weeks
Revenue is growing month-over-month
You can explain your growth loop to a 12-year-old

The Weekly Shipping Framework

Mon — Review last week's numbers, kill misses (30 minutes) Tue–Thu — Build one customer-requested improvement Fri — Launch, collect payments, publish case study (even if ugly) Weekend — Plan next week's single focus (no multitasking)

Rhythm beats heroics. Shipping beats polishing.

FAQ

Q: What if we can't ship weekly? A: Your scope is too big. Slice it until a stranger can sign up, pay, and get value this week.

Q: How do we know distribution is working? A: You see daily inbound without ads (DMs, replies, bookings). If not, your content/offer isn't resonating—iterate the message, not the code.

Q: Should we raise before revenue? A: Only for capital-intensive businesses (inventory/infrastructure). Revenue-first buys leverage and optionality.

Ready to avoid the graveyard?

We'll advise anything—and only build what should ship. Start with a $750 Quick Build or book a 5-day sprint.

Quick Build ($750) • Full Sprint ($7,500)

Internal links:

The Anti-Graveyard Roadmap