Product ≠ Business – The Best Product Rarely Wins
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Product ≠ Business – The Best Product Rarely Wins
You've got it backward.
You think building an incredible product is what makes a successful business.
You think that if you just create something amazing enough, the world will beat a path to your door. That customers will magically discover you and spread the word like wildfire.
That's why you're struggling.
I've watched countless brilliant creators build remarkable products that nobody ever hears about. They pour their soul into perfecting features while neglecting the system that actually gets their work into people's hands.
Meanwhile, mediocre products with superior distribution dominate markets, make millions, and become household names.
The harsh truth? The best product rarely wins. The best distribution always does.
This isn't just some cute business theory. It's the difference between your brilliant idea dying in obscurity or changing the world.
Let me show you why distribution trumps product every time—and how to build a system that makes your business unstoppable.
The Product Delusion
We've all fallen for it.
The myth that quality speaks for itself. That if you build something good enough, customers will magically appear.
It's a comfortable lie that lets you focus on the fun part—creating—while ignoring the uncomfortable part—getting people to care.
Look at Betamax vs. VHS.
Betamax was technically superior in almost every way. Better picture quality. Better sound. More durable tapes.
Yet VHS dominated the market and Betamax became a punchline.
Why? Because Sony focused on product perfection while JVC built a distribution empire. They licensed their technology widely, made longer tapes for recording movies, and created an ecosystem that made VHS more accessible.
The technically inferior product won because its creators understood that distribution eats product for breakfast.
It's not just ancient history. This pattern repeats endlessly:
Windows crushed technically superior operating systems because Microsoft mastered distribution through PC manufacturers
McDonald's dominates food service not because they make the best burgers, but because they built an unbeatable real estate and franchise distribution model
TikTok outmaneuvered competitors with a superior algorithm for content distribution, not because their video features were revolutionary
The message is clear: What you make matters far less than how you get it into people's hands.
Why We Get This Wrong
Our culture glorifies product creators.
We celebrate Steve Jobs revealing the iPhone. We watch Elon Musk unveiling the Cybertruck. We read about the lone genius inventor changing the world with a breakthrough idea.
What we don't see is the massive distribution machine operating behind the scenes.
Apple's retail strategy, carrier partnerships, and ecosystem lock-in. Tesla's direct-to-consumer sales model that bypassed dealerships. The invisible systems that actually turn great products into great businesses.
This creates a distorted view of what matters.
As creators, we're naturally product-obsessed. We fall in love with what we're building. We obsess over features and improvements. We believe in our creation.
There's nothing wrong with that passion. But it becomes dangerous when it blinds you to this fundamental truth:
A mediocre product with amazing distribution will outperform an amazing product with mediocre distribution every single time.
Distribution Is The Multiplier
Think of your business as an equation:
Business Success = Product Value × Distribution Power
Product value might range from 1-10.
But distribution power ranges from 0-1,000+.
You can have a perfect 10 product, but if your distribution is near zero, you get nothing. Meanwhile, a mediocre 5 product with 1,000× distribution dominates the market.
This isn't just theory. It's playing out in business every day.
Look at Shopify versus custom e-commerce solutions.
For years, you could hire a developer to build you a custom e-commerce store that was perfectly tailored to your specific business. These custom solutions were often technically superior to template-based platforms.
Yet Shopify crushed them. Not because their product was necessarily better, but because they built distribution channels that custom solutions couldn't match:
They created an app store ecosystem
They partnered with payment processors
They built integrations with marketplaces
They invested heavily in education content
They created a partner network of developers and designers
A custom shop might be a 9/10 product with 2× distribution. Shopify might be a 7/10 product with 500× distribution.
Who wins this battle? It's not even close.
The product you can actually get is always better than the perfect product you never hear about.
Your Distribution Playbook
So how do you actually build distribution power? How do you create a system that gets your product into people's hands at scale?
There's no one-size-fits-all answer, but there are principles that work across industries.
1. Make Distribution Your Obsession
Most founders spend 90% of their time on product and 10% on distribution. Flip that ratio.
Become as obsessive about how people find and buy your product as you are about the product itself.
Ask yourself:
How do potential customers currently discover solutions to the problem I solve?
What channels already have my customers' attention and trust?
How can I make my solution spread organically among users?
This mindset shift alone puts you ahead of most creators.
2. Design For Distribution From Day One
Distribution isn't something you bolt on after creating your product. It should shape what you build from the beginning.
Dropbox understood this perfectly. Their product was designed with sharing at its core. Every shared folder was a distribution mechanism. Every shared file was an advertisement.
They built virality into the product itself.
When planning your product, ask:
How can my users bring other users into the ecosystem?
What features would make my product inherently shareable?
How can using my product make someone look good to others?
The most powerful distribution systems don't feel like marketing. They feel like natural extension of the product experience.
3. Choose The Game You Can Win
Not all distribution channels work for all products. The key is finding channels where you have unfair advantages.
Are you exceptional at content creation? Build a content-driven distribution engine.
Have strong industry connections? Leverage partnership distribution.
Already have an audience? Direct distribution might be your strongest play.
Playing to your distribution strengths is more important than copying someone else's "perfect" strategy.
Look at Morning Brew. They built a $75 million media company through email distribution at a time when everyone said email was dead. They didn't try to compete on Facebook or YouTube. They dominated the channel that fit their content and their team's strengths.
4. Build Distribution Moats
The most valuable distribution systems are those that competitors can't easily copy.
Amazon has built an incredible distribution moat. Their fulfillment network lets them deliver products faster and cheaper than almost anyone. This infrastructure took decades and billions of dollars to build. It can't be replicated overnight.
The deeper your distribution moat, the more protected your business becomes.
Distribution moats come in many forms:
Proprietary access to customers
Strong brand identity and loyalty
Network effects that strengthen with scale
High switching costs for customers
Exclusive partnerships and integrations
These are the real barriers that protect your business, not features that competitors can copy in months.
Real-World Distribution Masters
Let's look at some businesses that demonstrate the power of distribution superiority over product perfection.
Costco: Distribution Over Product Innovation
Costco doesn't make anything.
They sell the exact same products you can find elsewhere. Their stores are bare-bones concrete warehouses with minimal design. Their product selection is actually quite limited compared to other retailers.
Yet they generate over $200 billion in annual revenue and inspire cult-like customer loyalty.
Why? Because they built a distribution model that delivers extraordinary value:
Bulk purchasing power that enables low prices
Membership model that creates commitment
Limited selection that enables deeper discounts
Strategic store locations with efficient logistics
Treasure-hunt shopping experience that drives frequency
They focused on being the best at getting existing products to people, not on creating new products.
And they won. Massively.
Calm vs. Headspace: The Distribution Battle
In the meditation app space, Calm and Headspace compete with very similar products.
Both offer guided meditations. Both have sleep stories. Both have breathing exercises. The product differences are relatively minor.
But their distribution strategies diverged significantly:
Headspace pursued a B2B strategy, partnering with corporations to offer meditation as an employee benefit. This gave them stable revenue and access to millions of potential users through employer distribution.
Calm pursued a broader consumer strategy with celebrity partnerships. They got LeBron James, Harry Styles, and Matthew McConaughey to create content. They became the official mental fitness partner of major sports teams.
Both companies are successful, but they've built entirely different businesses by focusing on distribution channels that played to their strengths.
The lesson? Your distribution strategy can become your most distinctive competitive advantage.
How To Think About Product vs. Distribution
I'm not saying product doesn't matter. It matters enormously.
A truly terrible product will fail regardless of distribution. And a great product makes distribution easier because people naturally want to share things they love.
The point is that product excellence has diminishing returns while distribution power has compounding returns.
Improving your product from a 7/10 to a 9/10 might cost enormous resources with minimal business impact.
Meanwhile, improving your distribution from reaching 1,000 people to reaching 100,000 people can completely transform your business overnight.
The optimal strategy is building a good enough product (not a perfect one) and then redirecting your resources to maximizing distribution power.
This is why venture capitalists often say they prefer an A-team with a B-product over a B-team with an A-product. They know that great execution on distribution usually beats marginally better products.
Your First Steps To Distribution Dominance
Ready to shift your focus? Here's how to start building distribution muscle:
1. Map Your Current Distribution System
Draw out exactly how customers currently find and purchase your product. All the touchpoints. All the channels. All the steps in their journey.
This exercise alone reveals gaps and opportunities most creators never see.
2. Focus On One Channel Until It Works
Distribution mastery requires focus. Don't spread yourself thin across multiple channels.
Pick the one channel with the most potential for your specific business and push until it works.
For some businesses, that's SEO. For others, it's YouTube. For others, it's partnerships or cold outreach.
Master one channel before expanding to others.
3. Make Distribution A Daily Practice
Product development happens in intense, focused periods. Distribution building requires consistent daily action.
Block time every day specifically for distribution activities:
Creating content that reaches new audiences
Building relationships with potential partners
Optimizing your conversion systems
Analyzing what's working and doubling down
The creators who win aren't just building in their workshop. They're out in the world ensuring their creation spreads.
The Distribution Mindset
Beyond specific tactics, developing a distribution mindset is what separates successful creators from struggling ones.
Ask yourself these questions regularly:
"What would happen if I spent as much time on distribution as I do on product?"
"Who already has the attention of my ideal customers, and how can I partner with them?"
"What would I do differently if I believed distribution was 10× more important than product?"
These questions reorient your thinking toward what actually builds sustainable business success.
Conclusion: The Business Behind The Product
Creation is only the first step.
The greatest product in the world means nothing if it remains hidden from the people who need it.
The most successful creators understand they're not just building products—they're building distribution systems that deliver those products to the world.
When you start seeing your business as a distribution system first and a product second, everything changes.
You make different decisions. You allocate resources differently. You focus on different metrics. Your entire approach to business transforms.
The good news? Most of your competitors will never make this shift. They'll continue polishing features while neglecting the system that actually builds business success.
That's your opportunity.
Build a good product. Then build an exceptional distribution system around it.
That's how you win.
Thank you for reading.
– Scott