1 week update from a founder who built infra first — real data on Reddit + LinkedIn + cold email conversion

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Posted here a week ago about being uncertain what to validate first for an Asia-focused build. Update with data since then: - 5 LinkedIn posts (long-form, technical tone), ~150-260 impressions each, 1-3 likes each = tiny reach, near-zero reply signal - 1 Reddit post to r/PredictionMarkets = 412 views, 2 upvotes, 1 low-signal comment (someone plugging their own product) - ~24 cold VC emails sent = 0 substantive replies at 24h in - Attention overhead: probably 8+ hours writing / sending / checking Learnings so far: Distribution before product = extremely low conversion. Cold VC outreach with "still in build" honesty pulls maybe 0.1-0.5% response, if that. The only channel with actual engagement is question-format posts to niche subs where you're asking users what they actually do, not telling them what you're building. Even then, the good comments are 1-2 per 400 views. Talking to yourself on LinkedIn feels productive, delivers zero business signal, and eats an entire morning. Question for anyone who's been through this: at what point does the founder decide "distribution isn't working because product doesn't exist yet" vs "product isn't validated because distribution isn't working yet"? Curious how you broke that chicken-and-egg loop — specifically the ORDER of operations, not the theory.   submitted by   /u/Actual-Ad2198 [link]   [comments]