How I'm Getting an "MBA" Without Spending a Single Penny

Hot take: I believe business school is (mostly) a waste of time.

Mostly theory, little practical application.

I’ve been leading go-to-market for Distro for a month now, and I’ve been learning more than any class or degree could ever teach me.

What is our north star?

Our goal is to become the “Canva for content,” by becoming the best AI-powered end-to-end platform for creating social media posts.

Since our May 19th launch on Product Hunt, we’ve:

• Almost reached $1k MRR

• Raised $1.2+ million in fundraising

• Hopped on a dozen+ calls with users

• Grew our X and LinkedIn followings ~500+

And the crazy part? It’s just the beginning.

We’ve been doing a lot of market research, and we’re about to dial things up several notches heading into the summer.

Here are 5 lessons I’ve learnt that you probably won’t find anywhere else:

1: Your Marketing is Only as Good as Your Product

So many people are talking about: “In the AI-age, distribution is everything.”

And yes, I largely agree.

The barrier to building software has never been so low. With tools like Cursor, Lovable, and n8n, you can whip up something in a matter of a few hours.

This makes the market even more saturated and harder for founders to stand out amongst the noise.

However, when you have a product problem, distribution will only fuel a leaky funnel.

Say your UI sucks. It’s unintuitive, clunky, and has a terrible design.

Yes, you can market the heck out of the product, but if your users aren’t converting, you’re going nowhere.

Marketing will not solve a product problem; it only enhances it.

2: Sell Feeling and Results, Not the Product

People don’t care about your product; they care about what your product can deliver for them.

Recently, I hopped on a call with someone who closes deals upwards of $15k with super wealthy people in Europe. Think brands like Formula 1.

When I asked how he was able to close a deal that cost so much money, he told me this:

Focus on selling a feeling. Why?

When people buy your product, they want to be a part of something. If you can make it feel exclusive, people are more drawn to opt in.

Yes, monetary incentives matter. But let’s not forget how social dynamics tie into the game.

Social costs outweigh financial penalty.

3: To Find Your ICP, Talk to Your Users

Every business has an ICP. An ICP stands for “ideal customer profile.”

Marketers often lack the customer understanding that salespeople gain through conversations.

If you want to make better product decisions, you need to be well informed.

• Reach out to your users

• Build relationships with your users

• Do things that don’t scale (e.g: hopping on calls)

When you get crystal clear on who you’re creating the product for, that informs your product and marketing decisions top-down:

• What content you’re going to create

• What product features to ship out

• What direction your product is heading

Nothing can replace 1:1 customer interaction.

4: Create a Product for People Who Need It

This is by far the most important lesson I’ve learned in finding product-market-fit:

Find your “starving crowd.” What do I mean by this?

There’s this story of a guy with a hot dog stand. His mission is simple: get as many people to buy his hot dogs as possible.

If you were him, what would be the number 1 factor to close more sales?

You may say, he can:

• Make his hot dogs the best in the world

• Make his hot dogs cheaper than the market

• Learn how to cook faster → create more hot dogs

However, it’s none of that. If you want to attract raving fans to your product, you need to find the people who can’t live without your product.

It’s not enough for the user to want it; they have to see how your product becomes a must-have for their day-to-day lives.

Otherwise, your product will be easily replaceable.

Find your “starving crowd” - it’s the number 1 driver for business.

Conclusion

If I could boil down “business” into 2 fundamental principles, it would be this:

1. Talk to your users

2. Understand the market

Talk to users to understand product needs. Understand the market to identify opportunity gaps.

Business ain’t hard – too many people get caught up in the theoretical frameworks of it.

But the essence of business isn’t found in a classroom; it’s found by doing and operating a real product, a real startup, a real company.

That’s where the magic happens.

And if you’re wondering, yes, I’m very bullish on Distro.

It’s just the beginning - keep getting after it.

Cheers,

Jeston Lu

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