the blog

Founder-led marketing, written down.

Launch playbooks, the thinking behind the points economy, and what we're learning building Favors.dev in public.

A solo founder standing at a glowing amber ledger console where marketing help is weighed and metered — on one side a collapsing informal founder group whose goodwill has run out, its givers dimmed and its takers still asking, and on the other a balanced three-stage loop labeled Help, Earn, and Spend in which a verified favor is checked, converted into points, and spent to pull help back — with amber threads carrying reviews, testimonials, feedback, and backlinks between the founder and a network of peers, illustrating that reciprocity becomes a real marketing channel only when it is metered and verified rather than left to goodwill.

July 28, 2026 · 11 min read · Mark Fulton

Reciprocity Marketing for Founders: The Missing Layer

Reciprocity marketing usually means free samples for customers. For founders it's something bigger: a metered, verified trade layer in the GTM stack. The thesis.

A solo founder at a glowing amber workstation running incoming product feedback through a four-lane grading meter labeled Specificity, Actionability, Depth, and Effort — vague thumbs-up bubbles reading Looks great fall away into a dimmed bin on one side, while a detailed critique card that points at a specific screen and names a concrete fix rises bright along an amber thread and becomes a change on the founder's roadmap — with more amber threads carrying honest critiques back and forth between the founder and a network of other founders who actually used the product, illustrating that useful pre-launch feedback comes from peers who ship, not from polite friends, and that it can be scored rather than guessed at.

July 27, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

How to Get Product Feedback Before Launch (2026)

Most pre-launch product feedback is useless politeness. Who to ask with zero users, the questions that surface real objections, and a rubric to grade it.

July 24, 2026 · 11 min read · Mark Fulton

Marketing Channels for Indie Hackers: The 2026 Scorecard

The full marketing-channel menu ranked for a one-person team — by effort, time-to-payoff, and whether it compounds. A scorecard, not another list of 7 tips.

A solo founder at a glowing amber workstation choosing between two creators — a huge 200k-follower generalist whose audience is a faint, scattered cloud, and a small 800-follower niche creator whose tight circle of aligned followers glows bright and engaged — with a creator-fit scorecard floating beside them and amber threads carrying a reciprocal, value-for-value collab (a shoutout traded for a shoutout) between the founder and a network of other founders and creators, while a dimmed pay-per-post price tag sits switched off, illustrating that for a startup the best micro-influencer collabs are chosen by audience fit and run on reciprocity rather than reach or ad spend.

July 24, 2026 · 10 min read · Mark Fulton

Micro-Influencer Marketing for Startups (No Budget)

Micro-influencer marketing for startups isn't about reach or ad budget: the right 800-follower niche creator beats a 200k generalist. The reciprocal-collab playbook.

A relaxed solo founder speaks into a glowing amber podcast microphone across from another founder who hosts the show, the two linked by amber threads — and from the single mic, more amber threads fan out into a stack of compounding assets: a backlink chain, a rising authority badge, and a small AI answer box that cites the founder by name, with threads reaching a wider network of founder-hosts, illustrating that one podcast appearance becomes a permanent backlink, an authority signal, and a named-author trail AI engines cite, and that the fastest way to get booked is trading with founders who host shows.

July 22, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

How to Get on Podcasts as a Founder: The Pitch Playbook

Podcast guesting gets founders backlinks, authority, and citations AI engines love. The exact pitch that books you — and how to turn one episode into a dozen assets.

July 18, 2026 · 10 min read · Mark Fulton

Newsletter Swaps for Founders: The Zero-Budget Playbook

Newsletter swaps are the most underrated zero-cost growth loop for founders: trade audiences with peers instead of buying them. The fair-swap playbook + a copy-paste template.

A solo founder standing at a glowing amber fork in the road labeled Build vs Borrow — on one side a huge empty community hall they'd have to fill alone, on the other a lively room of other founders already gathered where the founder joins in and helps — with a compounding help-to-trust-to-distribution loop cycling beside them and amber threads carrying reviews, feedback, and backlinks between the founder and the network, illustrating that at a one-person scale community-led growth means joining and serving an existing community rather than building your own from zero.

July 15, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

Community-Led Growth for Solo Founders (No Team, 2026)

Community-led growth for solo founders isn't building your own forum — it's joining and serving one. The 1-person CLG playbook, plus a build-vs-borrow decision tree.

A solo founder at a glowing amber workstation turning a vague, empty speech-bubble card labeled Great into a detailed, specific five-star testimonial card, guided by a small floating question-bank checklist — while amber threads connect them to a circle of other founders trading honest testimonial cards in exchange for help, and one strong testimonial rises along an amber thread into a small AI answer box that cites it, illustrating that new founders earn real testimonials by giving value first and trading with peers, and that those testimonials double as social proof and AI-search citations.

July 14, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

How to Get Testimonials for a New Product (2026)

Getting testimonials for a new product with few customers is a give-first problem. The exact ask scripts, a question bank that yields usable quotes, and the honesty line you don't cross.

A solo founder at a glowing amber workstation turning their first handful of real product reviews into two kinds of proof at once — a rising row of five-star review cards feeding a social-proof panel on one side, and the same reviews flowing along amber threads into an AI answer box that cites them on the other — while a small discard bin labeled fake sits switched off, illustrating that honest first reviews double as social proof and AI-search citations.

July 10, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

How to Get Your First Reviews: A Cold-Start Playbook

Your first product reviews with zero users are a cold-start problem, not a marketing one. Honest ask scripts, where reviews matter most, and why reviews now feed AI answers.

A solo founder standing before a glowing amber map of indie hacker communities laid out as connected rooms — a large learning hall, an accountability room of daily streak-loggers, a noisy platform plaza for Reddit and Hacker News, and a smaller reciprocity room where helping is the currency — each room labeled by the job it does, with amber threads carrying feedback, reviews, and backlinks between the founder and a network of peers, illustrating that the right community is chosen by what you need it for, not by its follower count.

July 9, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

Indie Hacker Communities 2026: A Map for Solo Founders

A guided map of the best indie hacker communities in 2026 — ranked by what each is actually good for: feedback, launches, accountability, or distribution.

A friendly solo founder sitting inside a glowing amber Reddit-style community feed, handing helpful answers to a circle of other founders along amber threads while a small self-promo card waits at the bottom of a 90/10 stack — and one upvoted comment rises out of the thread into an AI answer box labeled with a cited source, illustrating that being genuinely useful on Reddit avoids bans and now feeds AI search citations.

July 8, 2026 · 10 min read · Mark Fulton

How to Market on Reddit Without Getting Banned (2026)

Marketing on Reddit without getting banned isn't a trick — it's being a redditor first. A subreddit-by-subreddit playbook, the 90/10 rule, and why good comments now feed AI answers.

A solo founder at a glowing amber sorting console filing their startup into a tiered directory rack — a wide, bright base of high-authority general directories, a middle band of indie launch platforms, a small niche tier, and a discard bin of low-quality link-farm directories marked skip — while an amber thread carries a single high-value editorial backlink up past the whole rack toward a network of other founders, illustrating that directory links are the compounding floor of a startup's SEO and traded editorial links are the ceiling.

July 7, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

Startup Directory Backlinks: The Filtered 2026 List

Not all startup directory backlinks help your SEO. A tiered, worth-it-or-skip list of the best directories to submit your startup — and when to stop submitting.

A solo founder studying three glowing amber gauges labeled DA, DR, and Authority Score — each a different needle position for the same site — while a separate, brighter meter labeled Google stays unplugged from all three, and an amber directory-listing tile rises in value as the host domain beneath it grows taller, connected by amber threads to a network of other founders trading editorial backlinks, illustrating that vendor authority scores are estimates, not Google's, and that real authority is earned slowly through trusted links.

July 6, 2026 · 8 min read · Mark Fulton

Domain Authority Explained (DA vs DR): A Founder's Guide

Domain authority explained for founders: what DA, DR, and Authority Score actually measure, why none of them are Google's, and the only honest way to move the score.

A solo founder building a glowing amber backlink value pyramid — a wide base of directory listings, a middle band of niche blog links, and a small bright apex of high-authority editorial backlinks — with amber threads carrying editorial links traded to and from a network of other founders, illustrating that the highest-value backlinks are earned through reciprocity rather than bought, and that one editorial link outweighs many one-day shares.

July 3, 2026 · 10 min read · Mark Fulton

How to Get Backlinks for a Startup (No Budget, 2026)

White-hat link building for startups with no budget and no outreach list: the legit menu, a backlink value pyramid, and why one editorial link beats 50 shares.

A calm solo founder reading a glowing amber line chart of organic click-through rate that dips into an AI Overview answer box and then rebounds, while the doom-headline noise falls away — connected by amber threads to a network of other founders whose reviews, backlinks, and named-author articles feed the AI answer, illustrating that AI Overviews redistribute traffic rather than kill it and that citable authority is the founder's response.

July 2, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

AI Overviews & Organic Traffic in 2026: The Real Data

Is organic traffic dying in 2026? A data-first read on AI Overviews — what the CTR numbers really show, the rebound nobody mentions, and how founders respond.

July 1, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

Personal Brand for Founders Who Hate Self-Promotion

Building a personal brand when you hate self-promotion isn't about posting more — it's about helping in public. The reframe, plus a minimum-viable founder presence.

A solo founder broadcasting their work-in-progress from a glowing amber studio — a Share/Skip sorting tray and a four-week calendar beside them — with amber threads carrying the updates out to a network of other founders who amplify them back, illustrating building in public as a reciprocal distribution system rather than a follower-count race.

June 30, 2026 · 10 min read · Mark Fulton

Build in Public: The 2026 Playbook for Solo Founders

Build in public without the follower-count hype: a real distribution system — what to share, what to skip, a 4-week cadence, and how watchers become users.

A solo founder at a launch console on launch day, ticking off a glowing amber checklist whose final unchecked box is a crowd of other founders arriving along amber threads to support the launch — illustrating that the last box on a SaaS launch checklist is a real crowd.

June 29, 2026 · 8 min read · Mark Fulton

SaaS Launch Checklist: The Interactive Launch-Day Guide

An interactive SaaS launch checklist you actually tick off: T-minus 2 weeks, launch-day hour blocks, and the crowd-and-support list every other guide skips.

A solo founder standing between two glowing amber surfaces — a classic ranked list of blue links on one side and a single synthesized AI answer box on the other — both fed by the same shared foundation of content, backlinks, and reviews flowing along amber threads from a network of other founders, illustrating that AEO and SEO are one discipline with two output surfaces.

June 26, 2026 · 8 min read · Mark Fulton

AEO vs SEO in 2026: Same Discipline, New Surface

AEO vs SEO isn't a rivalry — Google itself calls answer engine optimization 'still SEO.' A clean comparison of goals, signals, and metrics, plus where founders should spend next.

A solo founder feeding three glowing amber answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews — each labeled card pulling a different source (reviews, named-author articles, backlinks) along amber threads from a network of other founders, illustrating each engine's distinct citation diet.

June 25, 2026 · 11 min read · Mark Fulton

How to Get Cited by ChatGPT & Perplexity (2026)

Getting cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity means feeding each engine's source diet. The per-engine checklist — plus the off-page signals a founder can actually earn.

A solo founder standing beside a glowing amber AI answer box, with three labeled streams — Reviews, Reddit, and Named authors — flowing into it along amber threads from a network of other founders, illustrating the off-page signals that get a startup cited in AI search.

June 24, 2026 · 12 min read · Mark Fulton

Answer Engine Optimization for Startups: A 2026 Guide

Answer engine optimization (AEO) for startups means getting named inside AI answers, not just ranked. The on-page tactics, the off-page truth, and how to win.

A solo founder standing at the center of four glowing amber lanes labeled Content, Community, Reciprocity, and Founder-as-product, connected by amber threads to a network of other founders — illustrating the four modes of founder-led marketing.

June 23, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

Founder-Led Marketing Explained: A Guide for Solo Founders

Founder-led marketing is using your own voice and credibility as the channel. Here's the clean definition, the four modes, a maturity ladder, and how to do it with no personal brand.

A solo founder on a launch-day stage that's empty behind them, reaching out along glowing amber threads to borrow a crowd of other founders who arrive to support the launch — illustrating borrowed, owned, and earned audiences.

June 21, 2026 · 10 min read · Mark Fulton

How to Launch a SaaS With No Audience: The Playbook

Launching a SaaS with no audience isn't about building a following first — it's about borrowing and earning one. A playbook to assemble a crowd before launch day.

A founder at a launch console choosing among glowing amber platform cards — BetaList, Peerlist, Indie Hackers, Hacker News and more — each connected by amber threads to a crowd of other founders, with one card marked as a compounding backlink that keeps ranking after launch day.

June 19, 2026 · 10 min read · Mark Fulton

Product Hunt Alternatives 2026: 15 Places to Launch

The best Product Hunt alternatives for 2026, ranked by who's actually there, cost, and the backlink value that keeps working long after launch day.

A founder at a launch console on Product Hunt day, an amber rocket rising past an hour-by-hour timeline, connected by glowing amber threads to a real crowd of other founders arriving to support the launch.

June 18, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

How to Launch on Product Hunt in 2026: The Honest Guide

A no-upvote-ring Product Hunt launch guide for 2026: what a launch can and can't do, the 2-week pre-launch, an hour-by-hour playbook, and how to arrive with a real crowd.

A solo founder choosing between two glowing paths — a compounding amber tree growing from content, reviews, and backlinks on one side, and a fading spark of paid ads and one-off posts on the other — connected by amber threads to other founders trading favors.

June 17, 2026 · 10 min read · Mark Fulton

SaaS Marketing on No Budget: The Honest Playbook

Marketing a SaaS on no budget isn't a money problem — it's a time problem. Here's which free channels compound, which evaporate, and how to turn effort into growth.

A startup landing page on a dark screen being roasted — small amber flames along the bottom edge, a magnifying glass over the headline, and a red-to-green conversion-score gauge with the needle in the amber zone.

June 17, 2026 · 9 min read · Mark Fulton

Roast My Landing Page: The Honest Guide (+ a Free AI Tool)

A landing page roast is the fastest way to find what's quietly killing your conversions. Here's what a good roast checks, how to roast your own page step by step, and a free AI tool that does it in 30 seconds.

A solo founder reaching their first 100 users hand-to-hand, connected by glowing amber threads to a crowd of other founders trading marketing favors to help each other launch.

June 16, 2026 · 11 min read · Mark Fulton

How to Get Your First 100 Users: The Honest Playbook

Your first 100 users is a distribution problem, not a product problem. A channel-by-channel playbook — free, cheap, and reciprocal — to win them in week one, no growth hacks.

A solo founder at a laptop connected by glowing amber threads to a network of other founders — a go-to-market strategy built around trading marketing favors with peers.

June 16, 2026 · 10 min read · Mark Fulton

GTM Strategy for Solo Founders: A Go-To-Market Plan Built for One

Every go-to-market framework assumes a team, a budget, and an audience. Here's the version rewritten for solo founders with none of those — built around the one asset you actually have: other founders.

A circle of diverse startup founders linked by glowing amber threads, representing the Favors.dev marketing co-op where founders trade verified marketing favors to launch their SaaS.

June 12, 2026 · 11 min read · Mark Fulton

Introducing Favors.dev: The Founder Marketing Co-op Where Favors Launch Your SaaS

Why SaaS launch marketing fails for solo founders — and how trading verified marketing favors with other founders (shares, feedback, testimonials, backlinks) becomes a repeatable channel for early users.