I expected distribution to be a launch checklist.
Build the product, write a few posts, share the link, and wait for the first developers to arrive.
That was naive.
I am building Reachdev, an early-access marketplace where developers can create a public profile, define their contact rules, and eventually let companies pay to reach them. The product thesis is simple: a developer's attention is scarce, so contacting them should require more intention than clicking “send” on a free database.
The product is now far enough along that the uncomfortable part is no longer theoretical. I have to answer a practical question:
Can I get the right developers to discover this, understand it, and create a profile before there is a marketplace on the other side?
The first distribution data is small, but it is useful precisely because it is small.
What the first week actually said
From September 7 to 13, Search Console recorded 49 impressions and 0 clicks for Reachdev. One visible query was related to developer portfolios, but it was still ranking around position 65.
GA4 recorded 2 organic-search sessions, 2 form_start events, and 1 profile_published event. The main hero CTA recorded 0 clicks in that window.
These are not traction numbers. They are a baseline.
The honest reading is that the site is not yet getting enough qualified attention to tell me whether the marketplace thesis is right. But the numbers already rule out one tempting conclusion: publishing more generic SEO pages is not, by itself, a distribution strategy.
The product has two problems, not one
It is easy to describe Reachdev as a marketplace problem:
- developers need to create profiles;
- companies need to find relevant developers;
- companies need a reason to send a thoughtful message;
- developers need to trust the contact rules.
But before any of that, there is a distribution problem. The first developer has to understand the product without seeing marketplace liquidity. They are being asked to create a useful public profile today in exchange for a better contact surface later.
That means the early-access product cannot depend on a promise that is not live yet.
For now, creating a profile is free. Developers can describe their specialty, skills, work mode, availability, and contact price. Payouts are not available during early access. Company access is still opening carefully.
That constraint is important. It is better to say exactly what exists than to use future payments as a shortcut to acquire low-intent signups.
What I am changing
1. The developer profile has to be useful before the marketplace is liquid
The first value is not “someone may contact you one day.” It is a public link that explains:
- what kind of work you do;
- what you want next;
- where you work best;
- what evidence supports your experience;
- what a useful first message should contain.
If the profile is only a placeholder for future demand, there is no reason to share it. If it is a clear professional surface, it can be useful even while the network is small.
2. Acquisition needs a narrower question
“Would developers use a better recruiting marketplace?” is too broad to test.
The more useful questions are:
- Would a senior backend or platform engineer share a profile link instead of a CV or portfolio link?
- Which contact rule feels protective rather than transactional?
- What information is missing before someone trusts the early-access product?
- Does the profile help a developer explain their availability without opening the door to generic outreach?
Those questions produce product decisions. Impressions alone do not.
3. Content should document the work, not hide the absence of scale
The recent articles about recruiter spam, developer portfolios, founder validation, and signal-first GitHub recruiting all point at the same problem from different angles. They are useful only if they help a reader make a decision or challenge the product thesis.
The next piece should therefore be more explicit about the experiment: what is live, what is not, what the early numbers mean, and what I am asking developers to test.
That is also a better fit for build-in-public than pretending Reachdev already has a dense developer pool or a working payout network.
What I am not going to claim yet
I am not going to call a profile “monetised” while payouts are unavailable.
I am not going to use a simulated recruiter message as evidence of demand.
I am not going to turn a small number of form events into a conversion-rate success story.
And I am not going to solve a distribution problem by producing an endless sequence of articles aimed at vaguely related keywords.
The next useful proof is simpler: can a few relevant developers create profiles, share them, and tell me whether the profile and contact rules are worth keeping?
If you are the developer I am looking for
You do not need to believe in the marketplace thesis.
I would rather hear that the price signal feels wrong, that the profile asks for too much work, or that you already have a better way to control recruiter outreach.
If you are a senior backend, platform, DevOps, SRE, data, or infrastructure engineer in Europe, you can create an early-access profile on Reachdev.
Creating a profile is free. Payouts are not available during early access. The useful outcome for me is not a signup at any cost; it is learning whether the profile gives you a better public way to explain your work and your boundaries.
If you try it, tell me the first thing that made you hesitate. That is probably the next product decision.
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