# Distribution is part of the product
Understanding · principle · https://build-here.africa/book/chapters/04-08-distribution-is-part-of-the-product.html

## The reflex

The service is taking shape. How people will discover it and start using it, we will see after launch.

## The builder's reflex

Draw the route from the need to the first useful use now, and check it while you build.

## Why

A service nobody finds does not exist. The best internal tool goes unused if nobody presented it. The best offer fails if customers never hear about it. Distribution is part of the product.

The route decides the shape. A link received by message and opened on a phone with a weak connection needs a different entry point than an in-room demo. If you do not know where people arrive from, you are building for an imaginary arrival.

The possible routes: a recommendation, a partner, a search, an accompanied sale, a publication, a presentation to the team next door. Choose according to the people you are aiming at, and start early: every channel takes time to produce.

Distribution is work: demonstrating, answering, training someone to carry it on. If that work is not planned, it does not get done.

## Try this

On one page, describe the route:

> Where does the person hear about the service? What do they understand? How do they try it? Who helps if they get stuck?

Mark the steps you are assuming. Test the most uncertain one this week, with three people. See where they move, hesitate or give up. Fix the route before you look for more people.

## To discuss

Which step between discovery and first use have we never seen with our own eyes?