Hey Prompt Entrepreneur,
Go to any AI tools directory right now. ProductHunt's AI section. There's An AI For That. Future Tools. There are many. And the story is the same.
What you'll find is heartbreaking.
Thousands of brilliant AI tools. Clever solutions. Impressive tech. Most with under 100 users. Many completely abandoned.
These aren't bad products.
I've tested dozens - many are genuinely innovative. But their creators made the same fatal mistake: they built first, thought about distribution later.
Field of Dream’s “Build it and they will come” doesn’t work.
Unlike Kevin Costner they discovered an uncomfortable truth.
Without an audience, you have two options: borrow someone else's (affiliates, partnerships, favours) or buy attention (ads, sponsorships). Both require either cash you don't have or relationships you haven't built.
So these tools sit there.
We are going to do better. We’re going to start building our audience right now. So when we have something built we can immediately take it to them.
"But Kyle," you're thinking, "shouldn't we be building by now? This feels like procrastination. We've done a week of research. Now we're making videos for social media? When do we actually BUILD something?"
Here's what those ghost-town creators wish someone had told them: Building is only 50% of the equation. Distribution is the other 50%. And if you start distribution after building, you're already too late. We won’t make that mistake.
Today changes everything. We're not delaying your build. We're ensuring it doesn't end up in the AI graveyard.
Let’s get started:
I talk to lots of founders building products with AI.
Their marketing plans? Post on ProductHunt, share in a few Reddit threads, hope for organic discovery. When it doesn’t work send DMs to someone like me and ask for free shout outs. Here’s one that just landed as I write this:
I get 5-10 requests like this every day. I wish I was exaggerating here.
Hope isn't a strategy.
Meanwhile, I recently watched another founder launch a much simpler tool - basic AI prompts for real estate agents. Nothing revolutionary. But she'd been posting daily TikToks about AI in real estate for three months before building anything.
Launch day: 500 people on the waitlist. First week: 200 paying customers.
The difference wasn't the product. It was the audience.
My own businesses only took off once I had an audience. Before that? Struggle and hustle for every sale.
Now? I can build and launch something knowing I'll get paid. I use my audience to validate demand, build to their needs and finally for sales.
Let's be clear about what we're doing: content marketing. Building an audience through valuable content that attracts your future customers.
Now, before we dive in, let's acknowledge the elephant in the room. There are 100% alternatives to content marketing:
They're not on social media. They use referrals, partnerships, or have cash to spend on ads and salespeople. Plenty (the majority!) of businesses operate quite happily and profitably without TikTok.
Perfectly doable. But here's the catch - they need size or cash. As a solopreneur starting from zero? You have neither. Damn.
Content marketing is your unfair advantage because:
It’s also (sorry to be brutal) probably the only viable avenue open to you. Unless you have investment and can spend heavily to acquire customers.
Building an audience before you build your product isn't delaying - it's de-risking. Having abnormal audience makes every stage of making money simpler, easier and more scalable. It’s hard to overestimate how useful an audience is - but let me try to list it all out!
Here's what an audience gives you at each stage:
Pre-Build Benefits:
During-Build Benefits:
Post-Build Benefits:
Without an audience, your only options are expensive:
Borrowing Distribution:
Buying Distribution:
See the problem? Both paths require resources you probably don't have. Producing content on the other hand requires neither.
It requires a phone. And your willing participation. And that’s it.
Let me be crystal clear: we're not turning you into a content creator or influencer. Their business model is attention. Views, likes, shares, brand deals. Their audience is their product (which they sell to advertisers).
Your business model is solving problems. The audience is just distribution infrastructure.
Think of it like this:
I’m not telling you to become an influencer. We are still building our business here!
For the next 45 days, you need one platform. Just one. And it needs to prioritise speed over perfection.
My recommendation: TikTok or Instagram Reels.
How to choose:
Don't overthink this. You'll eventually repost content across platforms anyway. What matters now is starting the creative habit, not picking the "perfect" platform.
Why these two?
Not YouTube (too much production). Not LinkedIn (too much text). Not Twitter (too much noise).
Video. Short. Daily. Done.
Here's your intro video generator. Use this with everything we covered in Week 1:
You are a video script writer helping someone introduce themselves and their AI Summer Camp journey. Create a 30-60 second video script based on their Week 1 work.
Their details:
- Market: [From Day 1]
- Specific problem: [From Day 2]
- Competition gap: [From Day 3]
- Their wedge: [From Day 4]
- Customer insights: [From Day 5]
Create a natural, conversational script that:
1. Opens with "I'm taking the AI Summer Camp challenge"
2. Mentions their specific market and problem they're solving
3. Explains why this problem matters (use customer language from Day 5)
4. States their 50-day goal ($1K revenue)
5. Invites viewers to follow the journey
6. Ends with clear next step
Keep it:
- Conversational (like talking to a friend)
- Specific (use exact problem, not vague statements)
- Honest (including being at the beginning)
- Under 60 seconds when spoken naturally
- No stage directions or b-roll, just script text
Example opening: "I'm taking the AI Summer Camp challenge to build a real AI business in 50 days. I'm focusing on [specific market] who waste hours every week on [specific problem]..."
Record it 3 times. Post the best one. Don't aim for perfect - aim for done.
Tag me (@iamkylebalmer) and I'll engage with your intro video. Nothing beats early momentum like having a larger account give it an engagement bump.
By end of today:
No fancy equipment. No editing software. No perfectionism. Just your phone and commitment.
Also don’t worry about your profile picture, bio or anything like that yet. It doesn’t matter.
Right now just shoot and post. Don’t overthink it.
Tomorrow I’ll show you how I produce content at speed. No editing suites. No perfectionism. Just you, your phone, and 5 minutes per video.