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I am kind of surprised that two obvious solutions to the cold start problem are not mentioned:

1. affiliate marketing

2. paid ads

I am not a marketer, but I would certainly consider those 2 options for growth.

Paying for users (he calls it "subsidies") is mentioned but Chen talks about the fact that if you do it at the wrong time and you don't have hard side users or value and you're k-factor is too low, those users just churn. Theres a whole section dedicated to the strategic use of subsidies which have been used to great effect once you have a system of cyclic value generation.

> "Use Paying Up / Subsidies strategically and temporarily, primarily to bootstrap the hard side or overcome initial friction. Focus on building inherent, long-term network value. You should generally avoid deploying significant spending on subsidies until you have validated that the core product provides enough fundamental value to retain users."

Yes, you're right, I totally did not put 2 and 2 together here.

You brought up solid points I did not really consider.

It's likely because they're both indirect and comparatively expensive.

Direct & laser-focused is far more cost-effective in the early days.

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