Once upon a time, in a land far, far away... A guy, let's call him Mark, used to sell those metal detectors that help people find loose change at the beach. Mark had sold a version 1 of his metal detector through distributors and retail stores. In other words, he had ZERO direct contact with his ultimate customers. All his sales came via these retailers and distributors, who owned all the contact with the real buyers. Then Mark came out with an improved v2 of his product... which I guess helped people find more loose change, more quickly? Trouble was... Mark didn't have the money to make a bunch of new copies of his v2 so he could get them out into retail stores... ... and he didn't have the money to advertise his new product and attract customers directly. The bank also wouldn't give him a loan to do either of those two things (to advertise, or to make a bunch of new v2 instances). So here's my riddle to you: What would you do in Mark's situation? I'll tell you the following: This is a real story, with a real happy outcome. Mark did one magic marketing and sales thing, which got him more sales than he could handle, and made him about a half million dollars out of the gate. I could tell you what Mark did... Except I think it will be more fun and instructive if we think about it together, and figure out some possible solutions ourselves. (If you happen to know Mark's story for real, don't spoil it for others. Let them guess and figure it out.) So what would you do? Where would be the first place you would turn? Or if you don't want to jump in too quickly, what other information would you need in order to make a decision about what to do? Ask away, and if I have the answers based on what I know of Mark's story, I'll tell you. Either way, sound off in the comments below, and let's what we can figure out.