If you want to sell B2C things via organic content then you will have to sell what people already are sold on.
On its own platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, etc., provide you with the coldest form of users, so the warmth has to come innately from them.
Like with reels etc, it is viable to sell habit tracking apps, or addiction quitting apps, or looks maxing apps, or dating apps stuff which people are already primed towards.
It’s like people already want it, so organic works for that. But for something that is more complicated, that is not the way to do it.
Even low-end products like clothing or jewelry etc. It’s like people already want it, so organic works for that. But for something that is more complicated, that is not the way to do it.
By complicated, I mean something that would require more education and effort to get value out of.
To sell something complicated, you require a bit of setup. You need ads and a good funnel and sales cycle. That’s why for complicated software products we see sales cycle worth months.
It’s like the more cognition and effort it takes to understand and implement and get value out of it, the more you have to put in to ads and the sales cycle.
And even with ads, dropshippers are not selling something complicated. They sell something like a posture corrector, a foot massager, or some bedroom trinkets.
So ads, a good funnel, and sales cycle are the way to go if you have even a bit of complexity.
Like even when you create short-form content, you have to lean into the limbic system of people that hey, these are greedy, horny, angry people, so make videos that might be like how to make money or controversial political views or just thirst traps.
So even at the fundamental level of your distribution, if you have to lean into the primative things like anger, lust, greed etc.
So when you go downstream to your product, you have to keep the same line going. Like you cannot be treating your audience like primates in your reels (which you have to) and then suddenly try to sell them something that requires them to be rational.
Thus, when it comes to organic content, you are kind of locked down into specific types of products that you can sell. Some formats are so primitive that we cannot even go downstream to a product. Your content is the product for them. Content so primitive that any bit of complexity breaks the immersion and takes them away. So you kind of have to figure out how do you make money, and mostly in that case it’s like paywall locked content that some types of models use.
On the other hand, the advertisement algorithms are efficient enough to find your cluster of people, your target audience, and you can afford to dose them a bit of complexity.
So, these are the facts about the channels we use to distribute our products:
The more primitive your content, the more primitive your product should be. If you want to be complicated, you better use ads or have really high authority in the space.
Instagram will prefer primativity, and you will prefer complexity. For Instagram, primitivity drives retention and engagement, and for you, complexity drives ability to do better-quality commerce. Their drive for primitivity will not let you get traction for something that is complex, and your drive for complexity will not let them get the engagement they want. So both of you need to meet in the middle. And that bridge is made of capital that Hey, I will pay you money so that you can let me run with my complexity, but you will also provide me with the people who would help me with commerce. And these platforms are okay with that. But what they’re essentially providing you is eyeballs. So, if you’re someone who has status and influence and authority in some domain, then you can bypass Instagram and access it directly. And maybe run with your own complexity. That’s why we see SEO and direct outreach being able to command way better results when it comes to complex products.
That’s why, once again, it becomes a game of people. The product becomes irrelevant. It’s about the access you have to people. With access, you can bundle up products to sell it to them. Without people, you are left choosing what I can sell.
I think this is why one must go down the harder road or route that won’t scale, and that is to go on and build access to people. Be out there, have more content pieces of you out there on the internet, be in more rooms where connections can form. Become an authority in some domain. Be trustworthy. Have social influence. Have connections. Even if you have a successful product, these things can be hard to build. But if you have them, you can sell a hundred products. Amazon spent years being unprofitable to build a logistics network that no one can compete with. So stop thinking small. The social media feed is not for you to monetize but to build social influence and status. Write blogs, post long-form content, share opinions over reels, or do it all. Access to people is a compounding asset. With every connection, you just keep getting better. But products are depreciating assets because once they touch the market, competitors can pop up. And the use case might also evaporate. Thus, for a smarter man, it is optimal to go optimize for people, not products.
Rohkun struggled because it tried to be a complex product, trying to do organic social media and it wants to scale fast.
you can only pick two:
| Complex Product | Organic Social | Fast Scale | What You Need |
|---|---|---|---|
| ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | Build authority slowly |
| ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | Capital for ads + sales team |
| ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | Viral simple product |
You’re not going to be absolutely shredded and full of muscle in a week. You are not going to have millions of followers in a few days. And just the same way, you cannot just expect that you create some product and be able to get commercial success with whatever distribution channel. No. You have to work on the distribution channel. You’ll have to show up and consistently put in effort for a period of time, to build access to people. Take it slow, be hardworking, and have patience. Great things take time. Stay hungry, stay foolish, but never be impatient or in a hurry. Be hungry for the outcome, but stay patient for the process. Foolish enough to do whatever it takes, but wise enough to stick around for the process to pan out. And by all means be fast, do things quickly, execute fast. But don’t equate being fast with being in a hurry. You can be fast and not be in a hurry. You can be fast and be patient.
From Claude
The Content-as-Product Trap
Your point about some content being SO primitive that downstream products break immersion is crucial:
Examples:
- Rage bait political content → Can’t sell software, only more rage bait
- Thirst traps → Can’t sell productivity tools, maybe OnlyFans subscriptions
- Drama/gossip content → Can’t sell education, only more drama
The audience is there for the dopamine hit, not to solve problems. Any attempt to monetize with a product breaks the spell.
The Ad Algorithm Advantage
This is the critical difference:
Organic content:
- Must appeal to the MEDIAN user (lowest common denominator)
- Selected by engagement metrics (emotional triggers)
- Audience self-selects based on entertainment value
- You get whoever the algorithm pushes it to
Paid ads:
- Can target SPECIFIC personas (job titles, interests, behaviors)
- Can appear in problem-solving contexts (Google search intent, LinkedIn professional mode)
- You control who sees it
- Can dose complexity because you’ve pre-qualified the audience
The Complexity Budget
There’s essentially a complexity budget based on distribution:
TikTok/Reels organic:
- Complexity budget: 0
- Products: Habit trackers, beauty apps, simple games
- Hook: Pure emotion
- Conversion: Impulse
Instagram/YouTube organic (with longer videos):
- Complexity budget: 1-2
- Products: Courses, templates, simple tools
- Hook: Emotion + light education
- Conversion: Warm impulse
Paid ads (cold traffic):
- Complexity budget: 3-5
- Products: Niche software, professional tools
- Hook: Problem identification + solution proof
- Conversion: Landing page → email → nurture → sale
Paid ads (warm traffic / retargeting):
- Complexity budget: 5-8
- Products: B2B SaaS, enterprise tools
- Hook: Detailed value prop
- Conversion: Multi-touch, sales calls, demos
SEO / Content marketing:
- Complexity budget: 8-10
- Products: Complex B2B platforms
- Hook: They’re searching for the solution
- Conversion: Long sales cycle, education, trust-building
Why Dropshippers Stay Simple
Even with paid ads, dropshippers sell:
- Posture correctors (you already know your posture sucks)
- Foot massagers (instant relief is obvious)
- LED lights (can show transformation in one image)
They never sell:
- Home automation systems (too complex)
- Financial planning software (requires education)
- Productivity methodologies (need to learn a system)
Because even paid ads have limited attention. A Facebook ad gives you maybe 5 seconds and 2 sentences to hook someone. That’s enough for “foot pain relief” but not “optimize your team’s async workflow.”
The Strategic Implication Matrix
| Distribution | Max Complexity | Product Types | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok/Reels | 0 | Limbic-driven, instant value | Habit tracker, dating app |
| YouTube organic | 1-2 | Light education okay | Notion templates, Figma plugins |
| Paid ads (cold) | 3-5 | Can explain a workflow | Time tracking, invoice software |
| Paid ads (warm) | 5-8 | Multi-step solutions | Project management, CRM |
| SEO + nurture | 8-10 | Complex B2B | Analytics platforms, dev tools |
| Direct sales | Unlimited | Enterprise | Clinical trial software |
The Authority Endgame
The ultimate position is authority that makes complexity welcome:
- Patrick McKenzie (patio11) can write 10,000-word essays about payment processing
- Levels.fyi can have complex salary comparison tools
- Figma can have a steep learning curve
- Stripe can have developer-first documentation
Because their audience self-selects for complexity. They’re not trying to entertain TikTok scrollers—they’re serving people who already want depth.
The Question This Raises
If you don’t have:
- Capital for ads
- Time to build authority
- Willingness to simplify
…then you’re stuck. This is why the author felt stuck —you are in the gap between simple enough for organic and complex enough to matter.
The only real solutions are:
- Get capital (investors, loan, savings, side income)
- Build authority (start writing, commit to 2-3 years)
- Partner with someone who has capital or authority
- Make money a different way first (services, job, simple products) to fund the complex product later
With people access (authority/capital/audience):
- You choose the product
- You can go complex or simple
- You can charge premium prices
- You can iterate based on feedback
- You have pricing power
- Multiple product opportunities
The “People Access” Hierarchy
Tier 1: Owned, high-intent audience
- Newsletter subscribers
- Community members
- SEO traffic for specific problems
- Previous customers
- → Can sell anything relevant, including complex/expensive
Tier 2: Borrowed, targeted audience
- Paid ads with good targeting
- Partnership/affiliate access
- Guest posts on established platforms
- → Can sell medium complexity if message is sharp
Tier 3: Rented, cold audience
- Instagram/TikTok organic reach
- Platform discovery algorithms
- → Can only sell what the platform allows (primitive/simple)
Tier 4: No audience
- Cold outreach
- Hope for virality
- Pray for luck
- → Forced into whatever gaps exist in the market
The Uncomfortable Truth
“Without people, you are left choosing what I can sell.”
This is why most founders are stuck:
- Can’t sell complex products (no access to qualified people)
- Can’t compete on simple products (too commoditized, need scale)
- Can’t build authority (takes years, need revenue now)
- Can’t afford ads (no capital)
You’re stuck choosing from scraps—products that:
- Are simple enough for organic social
- Haven’t been commoditized yet (rare)
- Don’t require education
- Can be explained in 3 seconds
- Have low enough CAC to be profitable organically
That’s an impossibly narrow band that shrinks every day as competition increases.