Beyond Ads: The Organic Channels startups ignore

Let's start with something that happens almost every time: you launch a startup, you have a limited budget (often very limited), and the initial reaction is wanting to be everywhere. LinkedIn, Google Ads, newsletters, podcasts, content marketing, events, trade shows. A bit of everything, just to "see what works."

The problem is that this strategy almost always leads to the same result: you spend a lot, you understand very little, and after a few months, you end up with half your budget gone and zero useful data.

Inbound or Outbound?

Before choosing a channel, you need to answer a simple question: does your target audience already know they have the problem you are solving?

If the answer is yes, they are probably already looking for a solution, and an inbound approach (content, SEO, community) can work. If the answer is no, you have to go to your target. Direct outbound, cold emails, calls. It's not the most elegant channel, but in the early stage, it's what allows you to get real feedback within 48 hours instead of waiting months for a blog article to climb Google's rankings.

This doesn't mean ignoring inbound completely: using it to support outbound makes sense, for example, for retargeting activities or to gradually build the brand. However, it should be used in moderation and introduced incrementally, without becoming a distraction from the main goal, which in the early stages is always to talk to the market as soon as possible.

At Startup Bakery, we've pushed hard on automating the entire outbound process: from lead research and qualification to post-call follow-up management. Not to remove the human element from sales conversations, but to eliminate all the manual, repetitive work surrounding it, freeing up time for what truly matters.

For most of our B2B startups, the correct answer remains outbound. Then, over time, you build inbound as well. But at the beginning, you need to talk to people, not wait for them to arrive.

The First Customers Aren't for Revenue

There is a distinction that seems obvious but in practice is almost always ignored: the difference between an early adopter and just any customer.

An early adopter isn't just someone willing to pay. It's someone willing to use a still-imperfect product, to report bugs without abandoning you, to tell you straight to your face what isn't working. This type of person is worth their weight in gold, much more than a signed contract from a company that never even opens the platform.

In the early stages, revenue is almost a secondary indicator. What truly matters is having people who use the product, keep coming back, and start talking about it with others. Retention, at this stage, says much more than the number of new contracts.

Partnerships: The Channel Everyone Postpones

Strategic partnerships are the most underestimated channel in the early stage. And the reason is simple: they take time. Not weeks, but months and sometimes years.

Yet the logic is straightforward: you find a player who already has a trusted relationship with your target, you build an agreement that makes sense for both, and suddenly you have access to a market that would have taken you years to reach on your own. "One to catch a hundred," as we often say.

The advice is to start working on partnerships right from the start, even when the product is still green, precisely because the time it takes to build a solid commercial relationship cannot be compressed. If you wait until the product is "ready," you'll find yourself starting this work six months too late.

Structured agreements with distributors or resellers are a different story: for those, you need a mature product, a clear sales process, and the ability to manage an indirect channel without losing control over quality. It's a powerful tool, but it must be activated at the right time.

Smart Money: The Investor Who Counts Double

If you are looking for investors, don't just look for capital; look for people with a real network in your industry.

An investor with the right connections can open doors that would take years of sales effort. It's not just about the money: it's about who they know, who they can introduce you to, and how quickly you can get in front of your potential clients. In some cases, a single investor with the right network is worth more than a hundred-thousand-euro campaign.

Remember, the investor should be your first sponsor.

Conclusion

There is no such thing as an absolute perfect channel. There is only the right channel for your target, for your problem, and for the stage your startup is currently in. Finding it requires making some mistakes—that's inevitable—but the goal is to make few of them and make them quickly, without burning through everything before you understand where you are going.

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Startup Bakery is the Italian startup studio specialized in the creation of B2B SaaS companies powered by Artificial Intelligence. We offer aspiring Co-Founders the opportunity to develop a business idea. We create investment opportunities for Professional Investors. We help companies in their innovation process.