Growth idea action plan
Adjacent-topic posts before product mention
Write useful posts around the buyer’s adjacent questions before mentioning the product, so the founder becomes part of the problem space rather than a drive-by vendor.
Why this can grow a startup
Quo’s Reddit lesson was not just “post on Reddit.” The team looked at questions founders asked in forums and wrote posts answering related business-phone topics, including whether to use a personal number for business and whether a website even needs a phone number. Those adjacent posts build trust because they help the buyer think before asking for a purchase. The move is especially useful for products in dull or misunderstood categories. Teach the problem around the product and the eventual product mention feels earned.
Ian's take
From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. I would treat this as earning the right to be in the room, not dropping a campaign into a room. In community-led growth, the first job is to notice what people already care about, then bring a useful proof, tool, teardown, or question that makes the conversation better. I would run it small enough to learn quickly, then only scale the parts that real users repeat, save, reply to, or buy from. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.
Action plan
- Define one narrow startup segment where adjacent-topic posts before product mention can create a measurable lift.
- Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the Content and Reddit channel.
- Use the evidence from quo.com to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
- Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
- Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.
Source-backed example
Quo says it wrote posts answering adjacent business-phone questions founders were already asking, from personal-number tradeoffs to whether a website needs a phone number.
Source: Quo (formerly OpenPhone): How we got our first 1,000 customers (quo.com)
GrowthDex source hub: Quo (formerly OpenPhone): How we got our first 1,000 customers
Last checked: 2026-06-07T02:03:15Z
Adjacent tactics in the same lane
If this page is close to your problem, these tactic pages usually belong in the same working set.
- Reddit alerts join existing buying conversations same source · 2 shared channels · 1 shared stage
- Group-admin Q&A session before promotion same source · 1 shared channel · 1 shared stage
- Beta paywall as need filter same source · 1 shared stage
- Requested-feature update loop to beta users same source · 1 shared stage
Related GrowthDex essays
- The community thread should already contain the problem community-led growth, first customers, customer research
Read GrowthDex essays
The Blog turns real growth tactics into plain-English case studies by niche, channel, and buying situation.
Why this is worth your time
GrowthDex starts with tactics that founders, marketers, and product teams have actually tried. Each essay turns the evidence into a practical move you can test without pretending one case study is a guarantee.
Ian Goh has helped grow consumer platforms across Southeast Asia, India, and MENA. His work includes scaling Tiki to 100M+ users, doubling BIGO's MENA revenue in 7 months, and increasing OYO's direct booking share across 6 Southeast Asian markets.
- Helped scale Tiki to 100M+ users.
- Doubled BIGO's MENA revenue in 7 months.
- Raised OYO's direct booking share by 50% across 6 Southeast Asian markets.
Want help turning this into a growth system?
If you want someone to pressure-test this against your real market, Ian works with founders on growth, market entry, and operator-led distribution.
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