9
I launched my job board but can’t stop building features — how do you stop and focus on marketing/sales?
r/SaaS
7/7/2025
Content Summary
A solo founder struggles with transitioning from continuous feature development to marketing/sales for their newly launched job board. The post highlights the common 'build trap' phenomenon where developers prioritize familiar coding tasks over user acquisition. Commenters share strategies including setting marketing sprints, implementing daily outreach quotas, using productivity tools for tracking, and enforcing feature freezes until user milestones are achieved. Multiple suggestions emphasize treating marketing as equally important as development through structured scheduling and accountability measures.
Opinion Analysis
Mainstream opinions emphasize structured accountability measures to break the build loop:
- Scheduling marketing as development sprints with equal priority
- Implementing daily marketing quotas before allowing coding time
- Using productivity tools (Airtable/Zapier) for outreach tracking
Conflicting viewpoints emerge regarding approach strictness:
- Some advocate hard rules (feature freeze until X users)
- Others suggest gradual transition through daily tasks
- Debate exists between technical vs non-technical co-founder solutions
Notable perspective from experienced founder Glenn highlights psychological comfort in building vs market validation need. Several commenters note the dopamine-driven false progress of feature development versus real user traction requirements.
SAAS TOOLS
| SaaS | URL | Category | Features/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bubble | Development Platform | Built job board using Bubble (no-code platform) | |
| Airtable | Productivity | Tracking recruiters DM'd and call notes | |
| Zapier | Automation | Auto-follow up integrations | |
| Hunter | Lead Generation | Used for outreach | |
| HeyReach | Outreach | Alternative to Hunter | |
| Pulse for Reddit | Social Media Tool | Flags niche subreddit threads where recruiters hang out |
USER NEEDS
Pain Points:
- Difficulty transitioning from development to marketing/sales
- Building features without user feedback
- Fear of rejection in marketing efforts
- Lack of traction due to no user acquisition
Problems to Solve:
- Breaking the 'build trap' cycle
- Prioritizing user acquisition over feature development
- Validating product-market fit
- Creating sustainable growth strategies
Potential Solutions:
- Implement daily marketing tasks before development
- Set feature freeze until user acquisition milestones
- Use productivity tools to track outreach
- Partner with non-technical co-founder for marketing focus
- Schedule dedicated marketing sprints
GROWTH FACTORS
Effective Strategies:
- Treating marketing as feature development with sprints
- Setting user acquisition milestones before new features
- Daily actionable marketing tasks
Marketing & Acquisition:
- Cold DM outreach via Reddit/X.com
- Forum participation and content creation
- User testing requests
- Automated follow-ups via Zapier
- Niche community targeting using Pulse for Reddit
Monetization & Product:
- MVP approach with core features first
- Feature development based on user validation
- Pricing model validation through user conversations
User Engagement:
- Community building through niche subreddits
- Regular blog content creation
- Direct user conversations for feedback
- Public sharing of feature developments as marketing