It’s Dec 22.
I saw Jason Leow’s post about "Trusting the process" trending today. It’s a great sentiment. We all need to hear it, especially when MRR flatlines.
But let’s be real for a second. Trusting the process only works if the process isn't obsolete.
Looking at my git commits from 2025, I realized something uncomfortable: Coding is no longer my bottleneck.
I built a new MVP last weekend using Cursor and the new Claude model. It took me 12 hours. Three years ago, that would have taken three weeks.
If I can do this, so can everyone else. The barrier to entry for "Building" has collapsed.
So, if code is a commodity in 2026, what is the asset?
Distribution.
I’m an engineer. I like logic. I hate "creating content."
I despise opening video editors. Staring at an empty timeline in Premiere feels like staring at a syntax error that I can't debug. It’s messy, subjective, and takes hours.
So for the last 6 months, I didn't do it. I just shipped code to nobody.
To fix this for 2026, I decided to stop trying to be a "Creator" and start acting like a Developer. I built a pipeline to treat media exactly like I treat a deployment.
Here is my "Headless" Marketing Stack:
1. The Logic (Input)
I don't brainstorm "viral ideas." I just look at my support tickets or Reddit threads.
I grab a problem, paste it into an LLM, and say: "Turn this into a 45-second script. Hook in the first 3 seconds. No fluff."
That’s my source code.
2. The Compiler (Rendering)
This was the missing piece. I needed something to "compile" that text into a video file without me touching a mouse.
I’m currently using Textideo for this.
I don't treat it as a creative tool; I treat it as a render farm. I feed it the script, it matches the stock visuals/captions, and it spits out a .mp4.
Is it Oscar-worthy? No.
Is it good enough to get 10k views on Reels/Shorts while I sleep? Yes.
Most importantly: It reduced my "editing" time from 2 hours to 4 minutes.
3. The CI/CD (Shipping)
Buffer or Metricool handles the rest. Schedule it and forget it.
We need to redefine "Full Stack" for 2026.
It used to mean React + Node + Postgres.
Now, it means Product + Media + Automation.
If you’re sitting there optimizing your database queries but your distribution pipeline is empty, you’re optimizing the wrong thing.
I’m done fighting the algorithm manually. I’m automating it.
Discussion:
For those of you who successfully pivoted to "marketing-first" this year, what’s the one piece of your stack you can't live without?
Would you use an AI co‑pilot that turns your startup idea into an execution roadmap?
I totally agree with the marketing approach first. Recently, I tried Replit, a ChatGPT-like SaaS builder that generates a SaaS from user prompts, so yes, the code-first approach is slowly fading.
For marketing, I use only Reddit, and your link is handy for expanding to TikTok and YouTube. Thank you for sharing.