Underrated SaaS distribution channel: going to conferences where your ICP hangs out. 28 things you get as an indie hacker / early-stage founder: Sales & distribution 1. Direct conversations with potential buyers, without an ad budget or an algorithm deciding who sees you 2. A 10-minute chat beats 100 cold emails 3. Warm follow-ups: "we met at X" gets replies, a cold DM doesn't 4. Live demos on your phone, with instant, honest reactions 5. Trust that takes months online takes minutes in person. People buy from people they've met Positioning & messaging 6. It's much easier to rewrite your value proposition after you've explained it to 20 strangers 7. You see which sentence makes eyes light up and which one kills the convo 8. You hear the real objections ("too pricey", "we already use X") instead of guessing 9. The exact words buyers use, ready for your homepage copy 10. Cheapest pricing test ever: drop your price casually and watch the reaction 11. Your pitch gets better with every chat Market insights 12. You see companies' priorities and trends months before they hit your timeline 13. Coffee-break complaints are the best feature ideas 14. Competitors: their pitch, booth, messaging, who stops by 15. People casually tell you their budget, their stack, and who signs off on purchases 16. You find out who your real ICP is. Sometimes it's not who you thought Content & reach 17. A week of content: takeaways, photos, talk notes, hot takes 18. Tag the people you met, and they'll engage 19. Quick chats with experts you'd never get on a call 20. Speak on a panel or give a talk — instant authority 21. Meet journalists, podcasters, and newsletter writers looking for stories Network 22. Founder friends to share what's working and cross-promote with 23. Online friends become real friends, and those DMs get answered forever after 24. People who'll say "oh, you should talk to my friend/colleague" 25. Someone there already solved the problem you’re stuck on Founder sanity 26. Breaks the builder bubble. You stop shipping stuff nobody asked for 27. Reality check in one day, not months of surveys and landing page tests 28. Motivation: you meet real people who actually have the problem you're solving Are you going to any conferences next year, or skipping them?