I was visiting a couple of friends in Hyderabad, and we ended up at a buzzing little cafe. Almost every table around us was in the middle of something - product discussions, co-founder interviews, deck reviews. It was infectious. And for a moment, I felt like I was missing out on all that fun, having chosen a different life far away in the mountains.

But as I listened in, something familiar came up. Or actually, it didn’t.

No one was talking about marketing.

I speak to these early-stage founders all the time. Most of them are smart, curious, genuinely excited about what they’re building. They will walk you through the tech stack, the architecture, the features in the pipeline.

But you know what rarely comes up?
Marketing.

Most people don’t think about marketing until they have to.
The product is built, the UI is looking good, the deck is almost done.
And that’s when someone says, “Hey, we should probably start working on messaging.”

And honestly, I get it.
Why spend time or money on something that feels... maybe, soft? silly?
Marketing often seems like a fancy name for ads or logos.

By then, you’ve already lost time and clarity.

Because real marketing isn't a campaign.
It’s not your font, your logo, or the clever tagline you will drop on launch day.

It’s something much earlier.
Much messier.
And way more important.

Why Marketing has to start before that first line of code?

Good marketing doesn’t begin with aesthetics. It begins with a reality check.

I often hear founders talk about their assumptions, born from a gut feeling or maybe one or two anecdotal chats. "Everyone needs this feature!" they will say. But the real questions, the ones that matter, often get pushed aside.

Think about it:

• Who else is already trying to solve this problem?

• How do they talk about it?

• What are users actually frustrated with?

• How big is this whole space and is it real, or just wishful thinking?

• What gap are you really filling and is it even a gap people care about?

This is market evaluation. This is competitor analysis. This is positioning, language, and story.

These are all marketing. Long before you get to colors and typefaces.

If you skip this step, you might still build something great. But you’ll be guessing who it’s for, what to say, and why anyone should even bother. And trust me, I have seen enough brilliant products gather dust because of this.

Okay, But What Now?

You don’t need a full-blown go-to-market strategy on Day Zero.
But you absolutely need context - not guesswork.

Here’s what that early marketing can look like

• Talk to actual users, not just your friends or your mom. Ask them how they would describe the problem to a friend. You will learn so much, it’s wild.

• Map out who else is in the space and more importantly, what they’re not saying. Where are their blind spots?

• Sketch out a mock landing page - not to publish, just to see if your core message makes sense to anyone outside your head. Does it land?

• Figure out what your product refuses to be. Sometimes, defining its boundaries helps shape its true identity.

This kind of marketing isn’t sexy. But it’s what makes everything else work.

Before You Scroll On

You don’t need to have it all figured out right now.

But someone needs to be asking:

• What are we really building?

• Who else is already building something similar?

• And why does our version deserve to exist?

Those are marketing questions, even if you are still months away from launch.

Because if you're only thinking about marketing when you're ready to go live, you've already missed the part where it could’ve helped you shape something sharper.

And sharper almost always lands better.

Got an idea floating around? Maybe just scribbled on a tissue paper?
Don't be a stranger. Let's chat.