The Distill - Sell It Or Shelf It

Greeting Pioneers,

No intro this week, but boy oh boy do we have some bangers below. Is this an intro?

Sell It or Shelf It

If I had a dollar for every startup who died with beautiful code nobody paid for, I could start the high agency venture fund you’ve all been waiting for.

We (founders) spend a lot of time talking about ideas, perfecting our products, consulting with this person in the industry and that one, then go to launch, hear crickets, and realize the market never wanted what we built, or maybe they did but we’re already out of money and still don’t know how to get to them.

The problem isn't the product. It's the strategy of building without selling. It’s easy to hide behind not being ready yet because it sounds so reasonable. You wouldn’t want to ship a crap product and ruin your only chance, right?

Wrong. You don't get "one chance." That's a lie we tell ourselves to justify waiting. Stave off rejection.

The market isn't a single moment you either nail or blow. It's thousands of individual conversations with potential customers who barely remember you. Most people won't even see your first version. The ones who do expect it to be rough. Early adopters are paying because their current solution is painful enough that your mediocre MVP is still better.

Facebook launched as a college-only directory with terrible design. Twitter was so notorious for it’s downtime, users actively expected to see their ‘fail whale’ when anything exciting enough for them to post happened. Neither of them ruined their chance. They shipped something buggy that worked enough for an entry version of their market, learned from real users, and iterated toward something better.

Nate at DueGooder shipped to 300 students with a buggy web product on vercel that lacked all of todays customer’s favorite features. It didn’t even turn itself off after a customer churned. But the worst version of it still solved a real problem, so early adopters used it anyway. Every complaint, every feature request came from customers who had skin in the game. That feedback shaped what got built next.

The opportunity cost of waiting is almost always higher than the risk of launching early. By the time your perfect product launches, the market might have moved on or a competitor might have shipped their rough version and captured the customers who were willing to pay for something imperfect today.

At Swell, we didn’t even have a demo of the product that we’re launching next week, yet we’ve already signed up over 3000 users across 10 organizations over the last 3 months. That validated demand, it perfected our go-to-market plan, it shaped the features we built.

Selling your product before it’s finished gives you valuable information early. If nobody bites after 50 attempts, the market is telling you something doesn't work—your positioning, your pricing, your solution, your target customer. Building more features before you figure out which part is broken just wastes time.

-Rachel

The Block Was Alive

When it comes to Louisville’s startup scene, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows. Some days it feels like we’re sprinting in place – like we don’t have enough people pulling the cart.

When we started KYX, I cared most about community – bringing people together, creating density. I still do. But somewhere along the way, the mission evolved. We stopped chasing the idea of community and started doubling down on the dawgs – those with grit. That focus made us a bit of an outlier – the black sheep of the scene and we were fine with that.

And then Friday, we threw a launch party for Cinderblock, our startup war room. We did our usual push – LinkedIn, newsletter, Slack, invites. What filled the block was word of mouth. Builders telling builders. I don’t know what the final headcount was, but the room was packed.

A lot of familiar faces, but also new ones, a lot of new ones – people I’d never seen before. And I felt a sense of community again. Not in the “everyone hold hands” way, but in the “something’s happening and I want to be part of it” way. I walked away feeling hungry. Reminded that there are people here who care – they just need something worth showing up for.

So keep showing up. Not just to our stuff – to anything in this city that sparks curiosity or momentum. And if it doesn’t exist yet, build it.

-Jack

Updates: HackKentucky (70 ppl + 15 waitlist)

We’re three weeks away and pacing well! November 7 and 8 (Friday / Sat) @ Cinderblock

HackKentucky Fall 2025 is right around the corner! First note: We’re currently at capacity! Waitlist is open. We’re working on getting more space and will admit off the waitlist soon!

RSVP here https://luma.com/hackkentucky

Update on format: HackKentucky will be a 24-hour hackathon running Friday to Sat. Presentations will be on Sat. evening. More details to come!

We’re still looking for sponsors and bounties (both for Fall HackKentucky and our headline Spring HackKentucky 2026). We need help as the event is growing beyond our planned capacity!

We’d love to not waitlist anyone. Please email [email protected].

Note’s on The Distill’s Co-EICs: Jack Crowdis & Rachel Edenfield

Jack runs the newsletter, helps run KYX. He’s a career startup kid, past founder, and current operator. Weekly contributor. Always editor.

Rachel’s the Founder/CEO of venture-backed Swell, and a driver of KYX. Routinely delivers the city’s sharpest long-form startup advice. Always re-edits Jack’s edits (including this bio).

Know someone who should read this? Forward it, or send them this link.

That’s a wrap 🎬
Keep showing up 👊 
Keep shipping 🚢 
Peace, Pioneers ✌️