3 growth tactics you must NEVER use

The Hard Truth About Popular Growth Tactics

When Buffer was starting out, Joel Gascoigne didn't try to copy HubSpot's massive content marketing machine. Instead, he wrote one blog post per day and manually shared it in relevant communities. This simple approach helped Buffer reach their first 100,000 users.

Why Big Company Growth Tactics Will Sink Your Indie Project

Let's look at three popular growth tactics that work for big companies but will waste your precious time and resources as an indie hacker:

1. Aggressive Paid Advertising Campaigns

Companies like Dropbox and Slack spend millions on paid ads. But here's what they don't tell you: their customer acquisition cost can be over $100 per user. As a solo founder focusing on manual sales first, you need to preserve your runway.

What to do instead: Focus on creating targeted content that attracts early adopters. Start with one high-quality piece per week that solves a specific problem for your target users.

2. Multi-Channel Marketing Blitz

Big companies can afford dedicated teams for each marketing channel. They simultaneously run campaigns on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. For indie hackers, this approach leads to burnout and mediocre results across all channels.

What to do instead: Pick one channel where your users hang out. Master it completely before adding another. This connects with the principle of focusing on what works best for you.

3. Complex Feature-Based Growth

Enterprise companies often try to grow by rapidly adding features. They can afford large development teams and extended development cycles. As an indie hacker, this approach will trap you in endless development without real user feedback.

What to do instead: Start with a support-driven roadmap. Build features only when users ask for them. This helps you maintain focus on what truly matters for growth.

The Real Path to Sustainable Growth

Instead of copying big company tactics, focus on what works for indie projects:

• Build direct relationships with users through meaningful customer interviews
• Use minimum viable marketing to validate your ideas quickly
• Focus on retention engineering before scaling growth

Extra Tip: The Power of Narrow Focus

The most successful indie hackers I know picked one growth channel and became known for it. Pieter Levels built in public on Twitter. Daniel Vassallo focused on writing helpful AWS guides. Their success came from consistency in one channel, not trying to be everywhere at once.

Remember: You're not competing with big companies. You're building something valuable for a specific group of people who need your solution. Focus on them, and growth will follow.

Common Questions About Growth Tactics

Q: Won't I miss out on potential customers by focusing on just one channel? A: No. Having deep impact in one channel beats shallow presence in many. Share this insight

Q: How do I know which growth channel to focus on? A: Start where your ideal users already gather. If they're developers, focus on GitHub and dev.to. If they're designers, try Dribbble and Twitter. Share this tip

Q: Should I avoid paid advertising completely? A: Not necessarily. Small, targeted experiments can work, but start with $50, not $5000. Test and measure before scaling.

Q: How long should I focus on one channel before adding another? A: Until you have a repeatable process that consistently brings in new users with minimal daily effort.

Q: What if my competitors are using all these big-company tactics? A: Let them. Your advantage as an indie hacker is the ability to build deeper relationships with fewer, more valuable customers.

Recommended Growth Approaches

• Start with finding your first 10 beta testers through personal outreach
• Build a simple community dashboard to track engagement
• Focus on customer-driven improvements rather than feature bloat
• Use technical SEO testing to improve organic growth

Growth Strategy Deep Dive

One key point often missed is how successful indie hackers leverage their constraints. Take turning limitations into case studies. When Nathan Barry started ConvertKit, he couldn't match MailChimp's feature set. Instead, he focused exclusively on authors, creating detailed case studies of how they grew their email lists.

The Psychology of Sustainable Growth

Understanding why certain tactics work for big companies helps you avoid their pitfalls. Big companies can afford customer churn. You can't. This is why focusing on retention engineering matters more than rapid acquisition.

Measuring What Matters

Instead of vanity metrics like page views, focus on cohort analysis to understand which users stick around and why. This helps you build sustainable growth patterns.

Common Myths About Growth Tactics

Myth #1: You need to be on every social platform to succeed. Truth: Focus on one platform where your users actually spend time. Share this insight

Myth #2: More features = faster growth. Truth: Fewer, well-executed features often lead to better retention. Share this truth

Myth #3: You need venture capital to achieve significant growth. Truth: Bootstrap-friendly growth tactics often lead to more sustainable businesses. Share this fact

Growth Strategy Assessment

Taking Action

Ready to build sustainable growth? Here are your next steps:

1. Audit your current growth tactics - are they truly sustainable with your resources?
2. Pick one channel where your ideal users gather
3. Create a simple 30-day plan focused solely on that channel
4. Track your results using basic analytics
5. Share your journey with others building in public

Remember: The best growth tactic is the one you can consistently execute over time.

Join the Discussion

What sustainable growth tactics are working for your indie project? Share your experience and learn from other builders in our community.