The smallest viable audience
Naming the fewest people you need to serve well, then building only for them
You pick the smallest group that would miss the work if it disappeared, and you make it for them alone. The counts are deliberately low: a few hundred subscribers, fourteen seats in a dining room, one narrow lane of a trade. Two questions carry it. Who is it for, and what is it for. Spread, when it comes, comes from those people telling peers who resemble them, not from a campaign aimed at everybody at once. A small audience notices when you coast. That is the catch, and it makes this harder work than aiming wide.
Who backs it
Sorted by strength of stance
- Seth GodinRecommends
Author · Seth's Blog, published daily
A stepping stone rather than a compromise, in his framing. Pick the specific people the work is for, make something they would miss if it vanished, and let them carry it to peers like themselves. He is blunt that this puts you on the hook more, not less, since a small audience notices when you coast.
Source: seths.blog: The smallest viable audience“It’s not about getting found by everyone. A focus on experience creates something that (some) people want to look for.”
seths.blog: The smallest viable audience (opens in a new tab) · 22 May 2022
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