Why the Traction Framework Is Broken (And What Actually Works for B2B SaaS)

Most B2B SaaS founders I work with come to me with the same frustration: they've read Traction, they've tried the bullseye method, and they're still struggling to find that one channel that works. They've tested everything from content marketing to paid ads, following the framework religiously, yet growth remains elusive.

Here's the uncomfortable truth I learned after working with dozens of SaaS clients: the traditional traction framework assumes all channels are created equal and that testing is the main bottleneck. In reality, most B2B SaaS companies fail not because they chose the wrong channel, but because they're treating symptom-level problems instead of addressing the fundamental issue.

After helping clients pivot from expensive paid acquisition to sustainable growth engines, I've discovered that the problem isn't finding traction—it's understanding that distribution beats product quality every time, and most founders are building in isolation hoping the market will find them.

In this playbook, you'll learn:

• Why the bullseye method fails for most B2B SaaS startups

• The real reason paid acquisition burns through budgets without delivering sustainable growth

• How I helped clients discover their actual growth drivers (spoiler: it's rarely what they expected)

• A framework that focuses on validation before optimization

• Why distribution strategy should come before channel testing

Pick up any startup playbook and you'll find the same advice repeated endlessly: use the traction framework to systematically test marketing channels until you find the one that works. The logic seems sound—create hypotheses, run experiments, measure results, double down on winners.

The typical approach looks like this:

1. List all possible channels: Content marketing, paid ads, SEO, partnerships, cold outreach, PR, etc.

2. Prioritize using the bullseye method: Inner ring (most promising), middle ring (possible), outer ring (long shots)

3. Run cheap tests: Small budget experiments to validate channel potential

4. Focus on the winners: Pour resources into whatever shows early promise

5. Optimize relentlessly: Improve conversion rates, lower acquisition costs, scale up

The framework promises that if you just test systematically enough, you'll discover your growth engine. Conferences, accelerators, and growth gurus all preach this same methodology because it feels scientific and actionable.

This approach exists because it addresses a real founder anxiety: the fear of betting everything on the wrong channel. By testing multiple options, founders feel like they're making data-driven decisions rather than gambling on gut instinct.

But here's where conventional wisdom falls apart: the framework assumes your product-market fit is solid and your distribution problem is just a matter of finding the right channel. In my experience working with B2B SaaS clients, this assumption is almost always wrong. Most founders are solving optimization problems when they actually have foundation problems.

Last year, a B2B SaaS client came to me completely frustrated. They'd spent six months religiously following the traction framework, testing everything from Facebook ads to content marketing to partnership outreach. They had spreadsheets full of data, conversion funnels mapped out, and detailed experiment logs.

Their results? Mediocre across every channel. Paid ads were too expensive, content wasn't converting, partnerships were slow to materialize. They were convinced they just hadn't found "their channel" yet and wanted me to help them test more systematically.

But when I dug deeper into their analytics, I discovered something fascinating: most of their best customers weren't coming through any of their "official" channels. The data showed tons of direct traffic with no clear attribution, trial signups that seemed to come out of nowhere, and customers who couldn't remember how they'd originally heard about the product.

This is when I realized we were looking at the wrong problem entirely. The issue wasn't finding the right channel—it was that their actual growth engine was invisible to their tracking systems. After more investigation, we discovered that the founder's personal LinkedIn content was driving most of their quality leads, but because people were typing the URL directly after building trust over time, it was showing up as "direct" traffic.

Here was a company spending thousands testing channels while their best source of leads was happening organically through content that built genuine relationships. The traditional traction framework had them optimizing for the wrong metrics while ignoring what actually worked.

This experience taught me that most B2B SaaS founders are treating distribution like an e-commerce optimization problem when it's actually a trust and relationship-building challenge. You're not selling a one-time purchase; you're asking someone to integrate your solution into their daily workflow. That requires a completely different approach to traction.

After seeing this pattern repeat across multiple clients, I developed what I call the "Distribution Reality Check" framework. Instead of starting with channel testing, we start with understanding what's actually driving growth right now—even if it's messy and hard to measure.

Phase 1: Traction Archaeology

Before testing any new channels, we dig deep into existing data to find hidden growth patterns. Most SaaS founders are surprised by what we uncover.

I start by interviewing the last 20 customers directly: "How did you first hear about us? What convinced you to try the product? Who else was involved in the decision?" The answers almost never match what Google Analytics shows. We're looking for the real customer journey, not the trackable one.

Next, I analyze "direct" traffic patterns. If you're getting significant direct traffic with no clear source, something is working that you're not tracking. Maybe it's word-of-mouth from happy customers, maybe it's the founder's personal brand, maybe it's mentions in Slack communities. We don't start testing new channels until we understand what's already working.

Phase 2: Trust Timeline Mapping

B2B SaaS isn't about immediate conversions—it's about building trust over time. I map out the typical customer's "trust timeline" from first awareness to trial signup to paid conversion.

For most B2B products, this timeline is longer than founders expect. Cold traffic needs multiple touchpoints, educational content, social proof, and often several months of nurturing before they're ready to commit. The traditional traction framework fails because it optimizes for speed when trust-building requires patience.

Phase 3: Channel-Product-Market Fit

Here's where I diverge most from conventional wisdom: not every product fits every channel, and forcing the wrong combination burns money fast.

Paid ads work great for products with immediate, obvious value and short sales cycles. But if your product requires education, has a complex use case, or targets a niche audience, paid ads often bring in users who abandon after day one. I've seen companies waste months optimizing ad campaigns when their product simply wasn't suited for cold traffic conversion.

Instead, I help clients identify channels that align with their product's natural discovery patterns. If customers typically find solutions through research and peer recommendations, we focus on content strategy and thought leadership. If they discover tools through integrations and partnerships, we prioritize ecosystem plays over direct advertising.

Phase 4: Sustainable Growth Infrastructure

The final piece is building systems that compound over time rather than requiring constant feeding. Most traction testing focuses on channels that need ongoing investment—paid ads, events, partnerships that require constant nurturing.

I prefer to identify the 1-2 activities that build momentum over time. This might be programmatic SEO that creates hundreds of entry points, a content strategy that establishes thought leadership, or a referral system that turns customers into evangelists. The goal is to find channels that get stronger with time, not weaker.

The framework looks simple, but the execution requires patience and a willingness to abandon channels that look good on paper but don't align with how your customers actually discover and evaluate solutions.

The results speak for themselves. Instead of spreading resources across multiple "failed" channels, clients typically see 2-3x improvement in lead quality within 90 days by doubling down on what's actually working.

One client discovered that their best customers came through industry-specific Slack communities where the founder was already active. Instead of testing 19 different channels, we systematized his community engagement and built content specifically for those audiences. Their qualified lead volume increased 400% in four months without spending a dollar on ads.

Another client realized their customers typically discovered tools through integration marketplaces. We stopped their content marketing experiments and focused entirely on marketplace optimization and integration partnerships. Their trial signup rate doubled, and trial-to-paid conversion improved by 60% because we were reaching people with actual intent to solve the problem.

The timeline varies, but most clients see meaningful improvements within 60-90 days of focusing their efforts. More importantly, they build sustainable systems instead of constantly scrambling to feed hungry advertising machines.

The compound effects become obvious after 6-12 months. While competitors burn cash on paid acquisition, our clients are building assets—content that ranks, relationships that refer, systems that scale without proportional increases in spend.

Here are the key lessons learned from applying this framework across multiple B2B SaaS clients:

1. Distribution beats optimization—most founders are solving the wrong problem by focusing on conversion rates instead of reaching the right people

2. Your best channel is often invisible—traditional tracking misses relationship-based growth that shows up as "direct" traffic

3. Product-channel fit matters more than product-market fit—even great products fail with wrong distribution strategies

4. Trust timelines are longer than conversion funnels—B2B buyers need months of nurturing, not aggressive optimization

5. Compound channels beat paid channels—focus on activities that get stronger over time rather than tactics requiring constant investment

6. Customer interviews reveal truth—analytics lie, but conversations with actual buyers expose real discovery patterns

7. Founder involvement often drives early traction—personal brands and relationships usually matter more than marketing campaigns for B2B startups

The biggest mindset shift is moving from "testing channels" to "understanding customers." When you know how your best customers actually discover and evaluate solutions, the right distribution strategy becomes obvious.