How Bear got its users
Repeated Apple editorial features, earned through exemplary native execution across every one of their platforms.
Read from signals. Consistent with what is publicly observable, but nobody confirmed it. Check before you quote it.
Reproducible, but it will cost you real money, real months, or a skill you may not have.
The edge you do not have: An editorial relationship and a level of polish that are both rare
- A prequalified audience at zero acquisition cost
- Fast validation of demand
- A platform with real internal search
- Being early on the marketplace
- Accepting that the host owns the customer relationship
Third-party platform in 2026
The best effort-to-result ratio at the start, and the biggest platform risk later.
Everything on this channel →The play
Generic version of this channel. The detailed card is not written yet.
- 1
Pick a growing platform whose marketplace is still thin
done whenThe marketplace has search, and your category has fewer than 50 credible entries.
- 2
Ship the simplest possible version to get listed early
done whenYou are listed. Not building, listed.
- 3
Optimize the listing like an App Store page
done whenYour listing screenshot survives being seen at thumbnail size.
- 4
Capture the email on first use. It is your only transferable asset
done whenYou have emails for users the platform could take away tomorrow.
The product itself
read from bear.app, live“Markdown notes you’ll love”
Run this against your own product
Carries the play above, and is written to tell you no when this channel is out of reach for you.
The same twelve channels as an agent skill. It reads your repository and eliminates what you cannot run. Open source, MIT.
curl -o ~/.claude/skills/howtodistribute/SKILL.md https://howtodistribute.com/skill.md
How big it got
Apple Design Award, loyal user base
What else they ran
They ran the same play
Want this verdict on your product?
Describe it. You get back the channel I would run in your place, the 30-day plan, and the number at which you stop.