I recently worked with a founder who was giddy with anticipation.

“This is gonna BLOW UP,” he told me. “Once influencers and the press see it, they’ll be fighting to review it.”

He wasn’t being arrogant.

These were his true expectations.

But his whole strategy hinged on a fantasy: that media coverage and viral attention would flow freely — because the product was THAT amazing.

I didn’t want to crush his spirit. Yet I had to say it:

“They won’t. Not automatically.”

Publications now expect a paid pitch.

Influencers depend on brand deals for income.

Even industry insiders are overwhelmed and hard to reach unless there’s something in it for them — attention, exclusivity, or (usually) cold, hard cash.

The cheerfully naïve belief that the world will come running is what I call Inventor Optimism.

Inventor Optimism is a beautiful thing. It gets you through hard nights and self-doubt.

But when it becomes your strategy?

It’s a liability.

Hope is not distribution.

Optimism is not marketing.

You can build the most elegant solution in the world and still hear those dreaded crickets.

Instead:

• Assume no one cares
• Build the interest engine first
• Pay for attention if you have to (and expect you WILL have to)
• And treat any viral moment as a bonus, NOT a blueprint

Otherwise, you risk a crushing fall from “just wait ‘til they see it” to “why didn’t anyone show up?”

Optimism is fuel, not currency.

Product Payoff: While every other startup was chasing growth hacks, Basecamp focused on profitability, clarity, and customer loyalty. They didn’t count on being featured. They didn’t bank on buzz.

Instead, they wrote their own playbook — literally — with books like Rework and It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work.

The result: a profitable, sustainable business built on trust and direct reach.

Free press is great. But relying on it is NOT a strategy. It’s a gamble.

Action for today: Test your launch plan against this uncomfortable assumption:

What if nobody sees it unless you pay for visibility?

Would your strategy still hold? Would your budget collapse? Do you have real levers to pull when organic reach fails?

Treat every free mention or viral spark as a bonus — not a blueprint.

Hope fuels the inventor. But reality powers the launch.

Got a story to tell about how you went viral — or were shocked not to? Hit reply and tell me about it.

Or reach out to my (only slightly jaded) team of product marketing specialists at Graphos Product.