👷Are You a Builder or a Distributor?

A simple framework if you're confused about careers in tech

You liked my last post breaking down B2B vs B2C in tech, so here's another simple duality that I wish I'd applied earlier: Product vs Distribution.

When you hear about what tech companies do, business models get complicated really quickly. Like Snowflake ("cloud-based data storage featuring built-in governance, FinOps, and observability") or even more complex…Skild AI ("foundational models for robotics”).

Even more overwhelming when you're trying to figure out where you'd fit.

But here's the thing: Every company does the same 2 things to make money:

1. BUILDS a product

2. DISTRIBUTES it to customers

That's it. Here’s how to use it to think about different business models in tech.

This works for every business

Simple - Lemonade stand: Your product is lemonade, distribution is your stand and "Lemonade $2" sign (RIP 25-cent lemonade).

Complex - Snowflake's product is data warehouses for businesses. Engineers and PMs build it, sales and marketing distribute it to financial institutions, retail, healthcare companies, etc.

Non-tech - Investment banking (where I started)—product is transactions (M&A deals, IPOs), distribution is decades of brand prestige, client lunches and senior banker relationships.

So the natural question to ask yourself: Am I a builder or a distributor?

Quick self-assessment

• As a kid, did you love building science fair prototypes (builder) or filming YouTube videos (distributor)?

• What sounds worse: debugging 100,000 lines of code or sending 10,000 emails no one opens? If the first sounds better, you’re probably a builder.

• Do you get excited about growing audiences and closing deals (distributor), or diving deep into problems and crafting solutions (builder)?

Variations of building vs. distributing

Building looks different everywhere depending on what your product is:

• At SaaS companies: Building = writing code or helping engineers write code

• At marketplaces (e.g. DoorDash): Building can mean recruiting restaurants to improve selection or hiring delivery drivers

• At service companies (e.g. a consulting firm or a content agency): Building and distribution can blur together. At a content agency, for example, you’re distributing your services, but your services are…distribution

Distribution varies wildly too:

• Duolingo (and other consumer APPs): Viral marketing, no direct sales (sales happen within the APP)

• Snowflake (and other B2B SaaS): Enterprise sales teams, technical content, industry partnerships make up the distribution

• DoorDash (and other marketplaces, or operations heavy businesses): Physical geographic expansion is a major mode distribution, in additional to traditional marketing (DoorDash beat UberEats in market share on US food delivery by “distributing” to the suburbs first)

• It all comes down to how you reach your customer in different industries.

The relative importance also varies

Product-led growth (developer tools, APIs): Product excellence drives growth, so builders are more crucial to the business. Think Stripe, for example, or any business with lots of APIs—developers love it, so it spreads.

Distribution-first plays: Most consumer products are distribution-first. Cluely is a great example of a recent team that very publicly said, "we want to get this out quickly, the product will catch up."

“But entrepreneurs need to do both!”

True…but most have a spike:

• Airbnb founder Brian Chesky: Design background (product)—obsessed over user experience details like making hosts feel like "belonging anywhere," which became their core differentiator

• LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman: Community building (distribution)—leveraged his network from PayPal and venture capital to get the first million users through strategic partnerships and referrals

• Anthropic team: Technical depth (product)—built Claude from scratch with constitutional AI techniques that most other companies couldn't replicate

The AI plot twist

AI is forcing everyone to do more of both:

For builders: Speed of coding has never been faster, so even great product teams need to get ahead on distribution. Lovable is a great example of a company that won against other no-code tools through better distribution, not just product.

For distributors: Many parts of marketing and sales are getting automated. You need to build AI agents and workflows, not just run campaigns.

What about Finance, HR, Ops?

The Product vs Distribution framework focuses on revenue-generating functions. Finance, HR, G&A are critical but not core revenue drivers. These roles don't always fit neatly in my framework, but here's how I think about it:

Put it in context: Strategic Finance doing acquisitions = building. FP&A planning budgets = enabling building.

Operations depends: Strategy & Ops at Uber = building. BizOps at Google = internal consulting (enabling).

Bottom line

As generalists, a lot of us have a solid base in both building and distributing exactly what the future needs. But develop your spike to become T-shaped (or π-shaped, apparently that's what we're saying now).

Some job ideas for builders vs. distributors:

🛠️ BUILD Roles

• Product Manager

• UX/UI Designer

• Software Engineer

• Data Scientist

• Program/Project Manager

• Strategy & Ops (at ops-heavy businesses)

📣 DISTRIBUTE Roles

• Marketing

• Account Executive

• Business Development

• Partnerships

• Customer Success

• Community Manager

• Revenue Operations

🔁 HYBRID Roles

• BizOps/Strategy & Ops

• Founder/Co-founder

• Chief of Staff

• Solutions Engineer/Architect

Question for you: Are you naturally a builder or distributor? Hit reply—I'm curious how this framework lands with fellow generalists.

Tech Jobs I'd Apply to This Week

Curated US roles (mostly) for generalists in tech with ~2+ years of experience.

Typically includes: Strategy & Ops / BizOps / GM, Chief of Staff, GTM, Program/Project Manager, Product & Product Marketing, etc.

• Generalist – Chai Research (AI, Seed, SF)

• Head of Growth – Thrivory (Fintech/Healthcare, Early stage, Remote)

• Product Operations – GrowthX (AI, Series A, NYC/Remote)

• Marketing Operations Analyst – Zinc (Background Checks, Early stage, London)

• Customer Success Lead – PlayAI (AI, Seed, SF)

• Customer Success Manager – Tennr (Healthcare AI, Seed, NYC)

• Biz Ops – Cartesia (Voice AI, Seed, SF)

• Finance Associate – Pump (Cloud SaaS, Series A, SF)

• Project Manager – Pareto AI (AI Data Platform, Series A, SF/Remote)

• GTM/Sales/Product Mgmt (Multiple roles) – Profound (SEO SaaS, Series A, NYC)

• BizOps and Strategy – Notion (Productivity SaaS, Late stage, SF)

• Head of Operations – Uppership (Logistics, Early stage, DE)

• Associate, Finance & Strategy – X‑energy (Energy/Nuclear, Private, Rockville, MD)

• RevOps – Pocus (Sales GTM Platform, Early Stage, SF)

• Finance AI Strategist – Rogo (AI/Fintech, Series B, NYC)

• Account Manager – Agentio (AI SaaS, Series A, NYC)

• Strategic Finance – Jasper AI (AI Writing, Series A, Remote)

• Chief of Staff – Crisis Text Line (Non‑Profit/Health, Private, Remote)

• Product Partnerships – Tabs (AI/Fintech, Series A, NYC)

• Manager, Program Management – Walmart (Retail/Tech, Public, San Bruno, CA)

• Revenue Operations Manager – ChiroHD (Healthcare SaaS, Private, Remote)

• RevOps – Vanta (Security Compliance SaaS, Series C, Remote)

• VP Finance – SAM Labs (EdTech, Private, Remote)

• Finance & Ops – Temelio (Marketing Tech, Late stage, NYC)

• Founders Associate – Cardo AI (AI, Early stage, NYC)

Reply to this email if you have a job you’d like me to share!

Resources/what I’m reading

• Female founded startups that recently raised and are hiring

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