The Viral Trap
Attention is rented. Trust is owned.
Every founder dreams of going viral. A tweet blows up. A Product Hunt launch hits #1. The analytics chart spikes vertically.
But 30 days later, the revenue graph is flat. Why?
The Hierarchy of Intent
Not all eyeballs are equal.
- Attention (Low Value): "Cool video." They watch and scroll. Value: $0.
- Interest (Medium Value): "Interesting idea." They click the link. Value: $0.
- Intent (High Value): "I have this problem right now." They search for the pricing. Value: $$$.
Most startups optimize for Attention (likes, views) instead of Intent. They build broad features to appeal to everyone, instead of deep features to solve a specific pain for a specific person.
Traffic vs. Demand
Traffic is people passing by your store window. Demand is people knocking on the door before you open.
If you have traffic but no revenue, you don't have a demand problem—you have a **capture** problem. You aren't giving them a reason to stop walking and come inside.
Focus on the Wallet-Openers
Stop chasing metrics that stroke your ego. Start chasing metrics that fill your bank account.
Optimize for the user who pulls out their credit card, not the user who retweets you. The latter gives you dopamine; the former gives you a business.