How do you approach early traction planning for new products?
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I’m curious how other founders and builders approach early traction when launching a new product.
Specifically:
Do you start with a structured traction plan, or iterate week by week?
How much do you rely on templates vs. fully custom strategies per product?
At what point do you decide that an idea is not worth pushing further?
From my experience, the hardest part isn’t execution itself, but deciding what not to do in the first weeks — especially when time and focus are limited.
I’d love to hear how others here think about traction planning, prioritization, and early signals that guide your decisions.
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Bult.ai
Great questions, Kosma!
For us, early traction is less about a heavy upfront plan and more about tight weekly iteration with a clear hypothesis.
We usually start with a simple traction thesis (who this is for and why they’d care), then test it week by week with real users rather than rigid templates.
Templates help as a starting point, but we quickly move to custom tactics per product, because distribution is almost always context-specific. What matters most early on is signal quality, not volume.
As for when to stop pushing an idea: if after a few focused cycles users don’t show pull (repeat usage, unsolicited feedback, referrals, willingness to pay), that’s usually the sign.
The hardest skill early is exactly what you said, deciding what not to do and cutting channels or ideas fast without over-optimizing too early.
Curious to hear what signals you personally trust the most in those first weeks.