Growth and distribution · Decision guide
Compare founder-led referrals, an inbound content engine and outbound prospecting by weekly hours, cash, time to first signal and what each one asks of your team.
Every path against today — select one to see exactly what changes
Under the default inputs the three approaches need modest cash — a few hundred a month at most — but put the weekly hours in very different places: referrals on the founder, content on whoever writes, outbound on whoever sells. None of these numbers predicts how many customers you will win — that is what the six-week single-channel pilot is for.
Who this is for Founders and small growth teams choosing where to put limited hours and budget to win new customers.
Optional. Answers decide which paths meet your hard constraints; "not sure" keeps a requirement unresolved instead of guessing.
Your current approach, the alternatives and a smaller reversible pilot — all with the same inputs and horizon.
Current approach
The founder asks happy customers and contacts for introductions every week and follows up personally.
Main uncertainty: How long the network keeps producing introductions.
Alternative
Publish useful material for the questions buyers ask, distribute it, and turn readers into conversations.
Main uncertainty: The time until content brings qualified conversations is not modelled. The source describes a method, not your timeline.
Alternative
Research a defined list of ideal buyers, contact them with a relevant message, follow up, and run discovery calls.
Main uncertainty: Reply and meeting rates depend on your market and message; they are measured in the pilot, not assumed here.
Smaller reversible pilot
Choose one channel, set a stop rule in advance, give it a fixed number of hours for six weeks, then decide.
Main uncertainty: Six weeks of data is a small sample; treat results as direction.
Person-hours are everyone's effort added up, not calendar time. Valued staff time is hours × the value of an hour: an economic cost, not a bill.
| Path | Setup effort | Ongoing effort per week | Setup cash | Ongoing cash per month | Cash over the horizon | Incl. valued staff time | Weeks to go live |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founder-led referrals | 3 h | 3.67 h | $0 | $0 | $0 | $5,900 | 1 |
| Inbound content engine | 13 h | 8.02 h | $0 | $150 | $900 | $13,655 | 2 |
| Outbound prospecting | 9 h | 10 h | $0 | $120 | $720 | $16,740 | 1 |
| Pilot: one channel for six weeks | 7 h | 0 h | $0 | $0 | $100 | $2,500 | 8 |
Horizon: 6 months. Change the assumptions, compare any path with your current approach, combine steps and export a plan with the interactive tool (JavaScript).
Founder · weeks 1–1 · 3 h
Founder · every week from week 2 · 1.67 h / week
Founder · every week from week 2 · 2 h / week
Founder · every week from week 4
Gains: Lowest cash cost; Warm, trusted introductions; Immediate start
Sacrifices: Capped by the founder's network; Depends on one person's calendar; Hard to scale or hand over
Must be true: Existing customers are happy enough to recommend you
Marketing · weeks 1–1 · 3 h
Founder · weeks 1–1 · 6 h
Marketing · weeks 2–2 · 4 h
Marketing · every week from week 3 · 5.52 h / week
Marketing · every week from week 3 · 2 h / week
Marketing · every week from week 3 · $150 / month
Founder · every week from week 5 · 0.5 h / week
Gains: Material keeps working after it is published; Builds expertise and trust; Less founder time per week
Sacrifices: Slow: months before steady conversations; Needs consistency every week; Results are hard to attribute
Must be true: You can keep publishing for at least six months; Your topics match what buyers search for
Marketing · weeks 1–1 · 3 h
Sales · weeks 1–1 · 6 h
Sales · every week from week 1 · $120 / month
Sales · every week from week 2 · 5 h / week
Sales · every week from week 2 · 3 h / week
Founder · every week from week 3 · 2 h / week
Gains: Fast signal on the message and the buyer; Volume you control; Teaches you how buyers describe their problem
Sacrifices: Repetitive daily work; Brand risk if messages are careless; Tool and data costs
Must be true: The buyer can be reached directly; The offer is clear enough to explain in a few sentences
Marketing · weeks 1–1 · 3 h
Founder · weeks 1–1 · 2 h
Founder · every week from week 2 · 5 h / week
Founder · every week from week 2 · 0.5 h / week
Founder · every week from week 2 · $50 / month
Founder · weeks 8–8 · 2 h
Gains: Small, bounded commitment; Real numbers from your market; A decision date in the calendar
Sacrifices: Six weeks is short for slow channels; Only one channel is tested at a time
Must be true: The stop and success thresholds are written down before you start
Every acquisition approach trades hours, cash and time to signal differently. Founder-led referrals are cheap and warm but capped by the founder's network and calendar. An inbound content engine builds material people find when they look for help, and usually takes months before it brings conversations. Outbound prospecting gives a fast signal and controllable volume, and asks for steady, repetitive work and careful practice.
This comparison models the work and spending each path needs. It does not model leads, conversion rates or revenue, because those depend on your market and offer; the pilot measures them for you instead. If you enter your own funnel assumptions in the pilot, they are labelled as assumptions, never as predictions.
The funnel tracking sheet is a shared step: if you also plan another decision that uses it, the Company plan counts it once.
If you cannot yet describe who buys and why, no channel will fix it. Spend the next weeks on customer conversations and a clear offer. If your deal sizes are large and buying cycles long, an assisted sales motion (not modelled here) may matter more than the top of the funnel.
Specific, dated practices — not whole-company models. Paths marked as an adaptation are WeCaseStudy's adaptation for your context, not a claim that the company used this exact workflow.
Calculations: formula family steps, version 1. Decision version 1. How the numbers are made
