MANOJ PARMAR's Key Ideas from Traction
by Gabriel Weinberg, Justin Mares

Traction is the lifeblood of any startup, particularly for B2B SaaS companies in the deeptech industries. This guide, based on the principles laid out in "Traction" by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares, will help founders understand the importance of traction, how to think about traction at the early stage of startup.

Traction is essentially growth, and it is the pursuit of traction that defines a startup.

Successful startups have customers and traction along with a product, while unsuccessful ones have a product only. Traction is evidence of a good distribution strategy and provides quantitative proof of customer demand.

In the early stages of a startup, traction is crucial for attracting investors, as it demonstrates that there is a viable market for the product. Investors are more likely to support a startup with solid traction, as they can extrapolate the current growth into future success.

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Startups that achieve sustainable product engagement growth will find it difficult to be ignored by investors, regardless of the size of their current user base.

Achieving traction is essential for several reasons:

• Market validation: Traction demonstrates that there is a genuine need for the product & that customers are willing to pay for it
• Team motivation: As the startup grows, traction provides motivation for the team to continue working hard & striving for success
• Fundraising: Investors are more likely to invest in a startup with traction, as it is indicative of future growth & success

Startups should spend half their time on product development and half on traction efforts.

By incorporating feedback from traction efforts, founders can build the right product, prioritize customer segments, and refine their acquisition strategy.

• Cold customers can inform startups about missing features and broken experiences, leading to improvements in product stickiness.
• Warm customers, on the other hand, provide valuable feedback that can help refine messaging and improve the overall product offering.

To achieve optimal traction, it's essential to experiment with various traction channels.

To unlock 10x traction, experiment and determine the one that works best for your specific business.

Among the 19 available traction channels, the most under-utilized ones in the industry are often the most promising. Regularly testing different channels and strategies can help you discover untapped potential and gain a competitive advantage over other businesses.

For example, a cybersecurity SaaS company might find that content marketing and webinars are particularly effective for generating leads, while an AI-driven customer support tool might see better results from targeted social media ads

• Put half of your effort in building traction
• Align building traction and product
• Set up clear traction goals and focus on strategies and tactics that can move the needle.
• Learn what growth numbers potential investors respect
• List and iterate over 19 traction channels with experimentation mindset

Understanding and implementing principles of traction is essential for early stage deeptech startup founders. By understanding the traction, recognising the importance of traction and thinking strategically about it can set you up for success and unlock sustainable 10x growth in the competitive landscape of today