How to find your first sales channel

Bootstrapping vs. venture capital: Growing a business without investors series | Part 2

This blog is written by Clay Upton, entrepreneur, patent holder, and founder of Bloom Growth. Read his full bio below.

INDEX

• Sales without spam
• What is a “megaphone” sales channel?
• How to choose the right megaphone
• Case study: How Traction Tools used a coaching community
• Final tips for building early traction
• What’s next: Part 3 in the series

Sales without spam

When you’re bootstrapping a business, there’s no room for bloated sales budgets or months of trial and error. You need your first customers now—without cold outreach, paid ads, or hiring a sales team.

My most valuable piece of advice? Find a megaphone.

What is a “megaphone” sales channel?

By megaphone, I mean an existing audience that already trusts someone else, and plug your product into that trust. This is how many early-stage startups validate their offer and get revenue rolling without building an audience from scratch.

Your goal is first revenue and a pathway to sustainability. A megaphone will allow you to amplify your sales process, ideally for free.

A megaphone is a person, group, or platform that already has the attention of your ideal customer. It could be:

• A business coach or influencer
• A professional community
• A podcast or newsletter
• A niche platform or club

Your goal is to borrow their reach and credibility. When done right, a single megaphone can generate enough sales to get you to breakeven—and beyond.

Even better? If the megaphone is still growing, it creates a natural tailwind for your business. You’re not just accessing customers today—you’re gaining exposure to tomorrow’s customers too.

How to choose the right megaphone

If you’re starting from zero, look for a megaphone before you settle on your product. The idea is to fall in love with the audience first. You’ll use that connection to discover what they want, validate your idea, and make your first sales.

Ask yourself:

• Who already has the trust of your target market?
• What tools or systems are they currently using?
• Could your product become a natural complement to what they offer?

Spend time in that community. Talk to members. Ask what they’re missing. Once you’ve found an idea that gets real interest, then offer pre-orders. That’s your first signal of product–market fit.

Case study: How Traction Tools used a coaching community

When we built Traction Tools, we started with a very specific megaphone: a community of business coaches. These coaches taught a structured execution framework that our tool supported perfectly.

First, coaches introduced the tool to their clients. Naturally, their clients trusted the coaches’ recommendation. The beautiful part? No hard sales were needed—the coach had already sold them on the process

By the time the client reached our funnel, they were already warm. That’s the power of a megaphone with high trust and strong alignment.

This is where keywords like “coaching tools for business consultants” and “executive coaching business system” come into play, because if your product supports their mission, you become a win-win or no-deal extension of their service.

Final tips for building early traction

Finding a sales channel when bootstrapping isn’t about hustle—it’s about alignment and amplification. Follow these four steps to get there faster:

1. Start with the audience: Build where people are already listening.
2. Use structured systems: Align your offer with an existing framework or coaching model.
3. Focus on warm leads: Let someone else warm them up, then you step in with value.
4. Don’t overcomplicate: Pre-sell your idea. If no one buys, adjust and try again.

If you’re working with leadership teams or coaching clients, your best channel might be hiding in plain sight—a trusted process, a goal-setting framework, or a software tool they already use.

Look for where “business execution system for teams” or “scaling a business with structured meetings” becomes part of the conversation. Then, insert your product into that flow.

What’s next: Part 3 in the series

In part 3 of this series, we’ll talk about how to build an MVP (minimum viable product) that focuses on one core problem, gather feedback, and make smart decisions before investing in scale.