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How much time should a startup spend on marketing?
What part of your total working time do you spend on marketing?
18
Replies
Ash G
Almost all the time if you don't have a customer yet. Once you have a product market fit, then it can be split into 40% on marketing and 60% on product improvement, customer support etc.
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@ash_grover which marketing tools do you use? 40% this is a lot of billable time though... how your team is handling this issue? Anything to recommend?
With now agents which can build tech and write code - 80% should be being customer facing - be it talking to customers to validate, or marketing the offering to the customers
as people mentioned it varies, you can have a phenomenal product but if no ones knows about it, no one cares. But you can have a mediocre product but everyone knows about it which then allows you to use the revenue to keep improving it. Growth hacking methods should be completely used up in any way possible before trying to pump endless amount of money into the marketing
If you're working alone, I think you need to dedicate about 30% of your time to marketing, 30% to product, and 30% to sales exclusively.
If you're in a team, it's best if one founder is responsible exclusively for dev and the other for sales and marketing.
@nickanisimov Splitting roles is smart, but in smaller teams, do you think every founder should still be involved in marketing decisions at some level?
Launching soon!
@nickanisimov @roy_khan2 We faced a similar dilemma as well. However, as a small startup, it's crucial to focus on building brand trust. From my research, I've found that in the early stages, it's recommended one of the founders to be the face of the brand (which might be a bit uncomfortable for some people). This approach helps establish authority and credibility as a brand. But I understand the desire for the founder to be exclusively involved with the product team at times :D
@roy_khan2 I think if the founder doesn't understand marketing, the project will be in trouble. You need to learn everything as a founder.
It depends on how many people are working on the startup. But generally, according to statistics, over 80% of startups fail due to poor marketing. So, you have to spend a lot of time on it, whether you want to or not.
You should always be marketing! Check out coconutsai.com to help give you ideas everyday. Its free.
Depends of course.
If you need money fast, there's no other way than to spend significant time for marketing as soon as you have a useful product.
But otherwise, I'd first focus on building a really great product with very little time for marketing, I'm sure that will be better for long-term success!
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@konrad_sx yes! Cause sometimes less is more! Wish more people are having this approach on quality first and not ,,fake it until you make it"!
@tina_sisman Good to hear someone agrees! From a consumer standpoint and from the objective standpoint, advertising mediocre products is clearly detrimental...
@irina_ivashchinenko Great question, Iren! I'd say for a startup, especially in the early stages, marketing isn't just a task—it’s a survival skill. Allocating 30% of your time sounds about right, but I'd focus on activities with the highest ROI, like building an audience, experimenting with organic channels, and gathering feedback from early users. In a small team, splitting roles as Nick suggested can streamline things, but everyone should still have a pulse on how marketing impacts the overall growth.
Launching soon!
Here’s what I’ve learned in the last 3 months: when you’re busy doing work that matters, it’s easy to forget to talk about it. We’ve been so focused on building our product that help people and crafting experiences that resonate that we’ve overlooked the power of sharing our journey.
But stories matter!!! When we don’t share our milestones, we miss the chance to inspire, connect, and remind others why the work we do is important. Moving forward, I’m committing to sharing more—not for applause, but because the world needs to see what’s possible when you care enough to create something meaningful.
Such an important discussion for startups! I agree that marketing is critical, especially in the early stages, to validate demand and build traction. For me, it's about balancing marketing with listening to customers—understanding their pain points helps refine both the product and marketing message.