Momentum is everything

When Nothing Happens

Products with network effects don’t grow gradually—they either take off or fade away. At their core, network effects make a product more valuable as more people use it. But that only happens after reaching critical mass—the tipping point where the network starts reinforcing itself. Until you reach that point, the network effect doesn’t exist.

This is why momentum is everything. If you don’t build enough energy, you’ll never know if the network effects will kick in.

Creating Momentum Through Hustle

Momentum doesn’t happen on its own—you have to create it.

Sometimes, products take off due to blind luck. An unexpected viral moment or a sudden surge of attention can make something spread overnight. But waiting for this kind of luck is a bad strategy. It’s completely out of your control.

Another way to succeed is by recognizing opportunities before others do. If you’re deeply skilled in a field, you develop an instinct (gut feeling) for spotting early signals of a breakout success. You see patterns that others miss and position yourself accordingly. But that skill takes years to develop—and most never do.

The most effective way to build momentum is through sheer force—persistence, hustle, and relentless execution. That means going all in. No "Plan B". For a concentrated period of time, you do everything in your power to make your product impossible to ignore. You talk to every potential customer, show up at every relevant event, get on podcasts, and flood every possible channel with your message. You push so hard that, eventually, the market responds. Conversations start happening without you, people try your product just because they keep hearing about it, and momentum takes on a life of its own.

The Moment of Truth

Now, you’ve reached critical mass. This is the moment of truth—the moment you find out if what you’ve built is actually working.

If the network effect is real, you’ll feel it immediately. Users will be engaging more, new people will be joining organically, and value will start compounding on its own. Growth will accelerate, and the product will take on a life of its own.

But sometimes, you hit critical mass, and nothing happens. Users are present, but they aren’t interacting in a way that makes the network stronger. That means your assumption about the network effect was wrong. Either the interactions don’t create enough value, or the product isn’t solving a big enough problem.

This is why hitting critical mass isn’t the finish line—it’s the test. If the network effect is real, growth accelerates. If it isn’t, the momentum you created will start fading. That’s when you need to decide: double down and refine, or pivot before you waste more effort on something that won’t scale.

The Ember That Decides Everything

Think of it like starting a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together. In the beginning, all you have is friction—generating heat but no flame. If you stop too soon and momentum dies down, nothing happens. But if you push through, an ember forms. Small, but powerful enough to ignite something much bigger.

Network effects work the same way. Before critical mass, it doesn’t matter how well-designed your product is—if too few people use it, the network effect can’t emerge. A marketplace with too few buyers and sellers is useless. A social app with no users is empty. Until enough people interact in a way that compounds value, the network doesn’t exist.

If you can’t build momentum, the network effect never activates. If you can, it takes on a life of its own. There is no in-between.

Some products take off by chance. Others succeed by seeing the wave before it forms. But the ones that last? They’re built by those who refuse to wait and instead create the conditions for momentum to take hold. Those who push through long enough to create the spark that turns into a fire.

The difference between success and failure isn’t just the product—it’s whether the fire ever had the chance to start.