Grow Without VC: Relationships Beat Audience Size

Most bootstrapped founders spend January “doing marketing” when what they really need is one strong relationship that opens the next five doors.

That’s the thread I keep coming back to after listening to Startups for the Rest of Us Episode 585 with Dr. Sherry Walling. The conversation starts with a book launch and ends with a bigger point: if you’re building a startup without venture capital, your network is your growth engine—especially when your budget is tight and your calendar is already full.

This post is part of the SMB Content Marketing United States series, where we focus on content marketing strategies that actually work on a budget: practical, repeatable, and not dependent on a huge ad spend. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: content helps, but relationships compound faster than content alone.

Building an audience vs. building a network (they’re not the same)

An audience is who knows you. A network is who you know—and who will pick up the phone. That distinction shows up clearly in Sherry’s book deal story.

Traditional publishing didn’t happen because she blasted cold emails to agents. It happened because she did something public (attended an in-person workshop), met someone (Tucker Max), and a chain of real human connections led to the right agent and publisher.

For bootstrapped startup marketing, this matters because:

• Audience growth is slow when you’re starting from zero.
• Network growth can be fast if you invest in the right rooms and follow up well.
• A modest network can outperform a large audience when you need distribution, partnerships, intros, testimonials, or early customers.

Snippet-worthy: Audience gives you reach. Network gives you movement.

Why founders get this wrong

Most founders treat networking like a transaction: “How do I get something from this person?” That’s why networking has a bad reputation.

What Sherry is pointing at is different: a web of relationships that supports you—professionally (intros, credibility, distribution) and personally (reducing founder isolation).

In US SMB content marketing terms, think of your network as:

• Your first 10 customers
• Your first 3 podcast invites
• Your first 2 affiliate partners
• Your first 5 case studies
• Your first 1–2 “trust signals” (blurbs, testimonials, references)

Those are marketing assets you can’t buy cheaply, especially without VC.

The real growth tactic: doing uncomfortable things in public

Doing things in public creates opportunity. Rob Walling says it plainly in the episode, and it maps cleanly to organic growth.

Bootstrapped marketing isn’t a single tactic. It’s a pattern:

1. You ship something visible (content, a talk, a tool, a point of view)
2. It creates a reason for people to notice you
3. That attention turns into relationships
4. Those relationships create distribution

The uncomfortable part is that step 1 often feels awkward—especially in January when you’re resetting goals and already behind.

What “outside your comfort zone” looks like for SMB marketing

Sherry’s discomfort was sending endorsement requests and pitching beyond her existing audience. Founders have their own versions:

• Publishing a customer story when you’re worried it’s “not impressive enough”
• Asking for 10 customer interviews (and getting ignored by 7)
• DM’ing a peer founder to propose a webinar swap
• Pitching yourself as a guest on podcasts
• Hosting a small local meetup even if only 6 people show up

Here’s the stance I’ll take: if your marketing plan never makes you a little uncomfortable, it’s probably not ambitious enough to create non-linear growth.

A simple “relationship-first” marketing system for bootstrapped startups

You don’t need more tactics. You need a system you’ll actually run every week. This is the lightweight relationship engine I’ve seen work for US-based SMBs and independent SaaS teams.

Step 1: Build a “connection list” (not a lead list)

Create a spreadsheet with 30–50 names across 4 groups:

• Peers: founders at your stage (or one step ahead)
• Platforms: podcast hosts, newsletter writers, community builders
• Practitioners: consultants/agencies who serve your buyers
• Power users: customers who are talkative and respected in their niche

Add two columns: “Where we met” and “Next meaningful touch.” If you can’t answer “where we met,” it’s not a relationship yet.

Step 2: Earn trust with small, specific offers

Cold outreach fails when it’s vague. Replace “Can I pick your brain?” with something concrete:

• “I made a 1-page teardown of your pricing page—want it?”
• “We’re writing a customer story about X. If I send 3 questions, would you be up for a 15-minute call?”
• “I’m hosting a tiny roundtable for 8 operators on [topic]. Want an invite?”

This mirrors Sherry’s experience: people respond when there’s context and credibility, not when there’s desperation.

Step 3: Create a monthly “proof asset” that makes intros easy

Bootstrapped startup marketing needs portable credibility. Pick one per month:

• A mini case study (even if results are small)
• A data point from your product usage
• A teardown of a common mistake in your category
• A short founder memo (“what we learned shipping X”)

Why? Because relationships spread faster when your supporters have something simple to share.

Snippet-worthy: Make it easy for people to advocate for you.

Step 4: Ask for the thing (and accept the no)

Sherry asked Seth Godin again. He said no. That’s normal.

Founders avoid asks because rejection feels personal. But in practice, rejection is often about:

• timing
• bandwidth
• misalignment
• lack of familiarity

A clean ask template that works:

• 1 sentence: context (how you know them)
• 1 sentence: what you’re building
• 1 sentence: the specific ask
• 1 sentence: the graceful exit

Example:

“We met in the MicroConf hallway chat last spring. We’re publishing 3 founder case studies on reducing churn in B2B SaaS. Would you be open to a 1–2 sentence quote on the piece? If not, no worries at all—appreciate you either way.”

Founder isolation is a marketing problem (not just a mental health problem)

Isolation makes founders timid. Timid founders don’t market consistently.

One of the strongest points in the episode is that the pandemic amplified something that was already true: solo founders and tiny teams often operate without emotional backstop.

That shows up in marketing as:

• overthinking every post
• avoiding sales conversations
• quitting channels too early
• refusing to ask for referrals

A strong network doesn’t just create opportunities. It reduces the psychological cost of shipping.

Practical fix: join (or build) a tiny operator circle

You don’t need a huge community. You need 4–8 people who will:

• look at your landing page and tell you what’s confusing
• share a relevant intro
• tell you when you’re spiraling
• push you to publish the thing

If you can’t find one, build it:

1. Invite 12, aim for 6
2. 45 minutes every two weeks
3. One hot seat per session
4. One rule: show up even when things are messy

This is content marketing for SMBs in its most underrated form—because it keeps you consistent.

“People also ask” (quick answers for founders)

Is networking more important than content marketing?

Networking beats content in the early stage; content scales what networking starts. If you’re under $20k MRR or pre-scale, relationships often create faster distribution than SEO alone.

How do you build a network if you’re not “well-connected”?

Start with proximity, not prestige. Connect with peers, local founders, niche operators, and customer-adjacent partners. Prestige follows contribution.

What if you hate conferences and events?

Go smaller:

• local coworking meetups
• founder dinners
• micro-roundtables on Zoom
• paid workshops where the attendee list is curated

One high-trust room can outperform a year of posting into the void.

Next steps: a 14-day relationship sprint (no VC required)

If you want a fast start in Q1 without burning cash, run this two-week sprint:

1. Day 1: List 25 people (customers, peers, creators, partners)
2. Days 2–6: Send 10 “give-first” notes (offer teardown, intro, share, feedback)
3. Days 7–10: Publish one proof asset (case study or teardown)
4. Days 11–14: Make 5 direct asks (podcast pitch, партнер webinar, testimonial, referral intro, customer interview)

Keep it simple. Track replies, not likes.

The founders who win without VC aren’t the loudest. They’re the ones who keep showing up in public, keep building trust, and keep asking for what they need.

If your current marketing feels stuck, the next lever probably isn’t a new channel. It’s one relationship you’ve been avoiding.