I hosted an event for Founders & Creators in LA last week.
300 people signed up, around 150 actually showed up (that’s LA for ya).
hosted an event for founders & creators in LA yesterday
thank you to everyone who showed up
see you at the next one
✌🏽
— #Ish Verduzco 🌐 (#@ishverduzco)
3:56 PM • Jul 18, 2025
I talked with so many people for 4-5 hours nonstop, but had about a dozen really deep conversations with various founders.
I asked all of them what they were building and the biggest problem they had at the moment (aside from raising capital).
Every single one of them said something like "getting users", "marketing" or "awareness".
They each represented different types of companies — crypto, b2b saas, social apps, games, and more.
One of the guys I met was a solo founder, and he told me straight up “I couldn’t have built this app without AI. I did hire a few contractors to help build the MVP, but AI did 90% of the job. This wouldn’t be possible otherwise since I’m bootstrapped right now.”
But the problem was… he was struggling to get people to sign up for the app.
And even worse… he said he’s had a few copycat apps pop up since he opened up his beta.
Literally copy versions of his app, just with different colors/branding.
It made me sad and excited to hear this because it played directly into my thesis:
In a world where anyone can build anything, brand + distribution is the ultimate moat.
I then spent the next 20 minutes explaining (mostly preaching tbh) to the founder that this will continue to happen unless he’s able to build a defensible moat.
Now that AI is helping people build apps much quicker, easier, and cheaper, building a brand and owning your distribution is the only way to win.
I could see the gears start turning in his head as he realized what I was saying.
He then told me “I was planning on pouring a bunch of money into paid ads and influencers once I raised my seed round, but this all means nothing if I can’t survive until then.”
Sadly, this is true.
And it’s true for a lot of builders out there.
Here’s what I recommended to him (feel free to take what works for you):
Pick the 1-2 social platforms where your target audience is spending the most time
Start creating daily content (or hire a part-time person, niche expert to help if needed)
Launch a simple landing page to start collecting emails from people (I’m biased, but I recommended he use Beehiiv)
Drive people from social to your landing page (encourage them to give their email for behind-the-scenes content, updates, and insights from you)
Identify 3-5 tangential companies building in your niche (should not be competitors, but complementary to what you’re building)
Find ways to partner with them (via content series, social collabs, IRL/virtual events, in-app distribution, newsletter mentions, podcasts, etc.)
Once you’ve got momentum with the above, then you can start investing in paid growth
Boost top-performing social posts (drive new followers, lead people to sign up for your newsletter, or direct them straight to your app site)
If none of the above is working, then you can always hire an in-house creator, or even better –– a distribution/creator co-founder. Find someone with the exact target audience/following you want to reach and pay them (with cash/equity) to join the team. Use them as one of your main distribution outlets, but always try to grow your email/social/app downloads along the way. More on this below:
I hope you found this short note to be helpful.
Whether you’re already a founder, creator, or aspiring to be one soon, brand + distribution should be top of mind.
Build your brand.
Be known for something.
Establish trust with your audience.
Invest time in community management.
Build a social following.
Grow your superfans.
Drive email signups.
Be consistent.
Win.
You got this.
– Ish
🫡
—
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I’m trying to grow to 100k by EOY.
Gracias