The Third Channel: Why Control Beats Cost in Distribution

Every distribution channel has trade-offs.

Cost is not the biggest concern.

Control is.

Take SME lending: companies lending money to small and medium-sized businesses.

They get customers three ways:

1. Brokers: They bring customers. But the customer stays theirs, and they keep earning a cut on every deal.

2. Embedded partners: They put the product inside software businesses already use. Huge reach. But everything moves at the partner's speed, with the partner's name on it.

3. Direct distribution: They spend their own money and time finding customers. Harder and slower. But everyone they win is fully theirs.

None of these are bad deals. Most lenders use all three.

Here's the catch with the first two: the other side is in control.

The broker can take those customers to a competitor tomorrow.

The partner can change the deal terms, or let a competitor into the same app.

That's why a fully owned direct channel is worth the extra cost.

One that compounds over time.

The strongest version we know: the founders and executive team publishing on LinkedIn, where business owners already spend their time. From their personal profiles, because people trust people.

Two reasons it works so well here.

First: no company hands its data or its clients to a name it has never seen. Content makes the platform a known name at scale, before any conversation.

Second: nobody wants this product until the week they suddenly do. A big contract lands, a payment gap opens, and the search starts. The name they already know gets the call. Content keeps the platform present until that week arrives.

Both stack, post after post. And nobody can take that away.