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act · playbook library

Listen and reply plays

Answering people already asking.

In Playbook library

Answering people who are already asking. The motion behind most first customers: find the thread, answer the question in their words, and only then say what you built.

lead → playbook → listen and reply plays → campaign

Answer first, pitch never first — The reply has to be useful with the product removed. The link comes after they ask, or in the next message.

Inside the window — Most asks are answered within a day. A reply three days late helps nobody and reads as a pitch.

A person sends it — VibeDraft finds the thread and drafts the reply. The founder posts it, every time.

what it is, in industry terms

Listen and reply plays: the motion in one paragraph.

Answering people who are already asking. The motion behind most first customers: find the thread, answer the question in their words, and only then say what you built.

Social listening — also: community-led selling · Watching the places buyers talk and answering in public, in their words.

Signal-based selling — intent-based outbound · Reaching people right after they show the problem in public, and only them.

Reply guy (done well) — engagement-led growth · Being the most useful reply under posts your buyers already read.

Speed to lead — response time · The thread gets answered within a day; the play only works inside that window.

how it works

The loop every play in this motion runs.

  1. Watch the watering holes

    detectors on subreddits, X searches and forums for asks and pain

  2. Judge the match

    is this a real person with the problem, inside the window?

  3. Draft the answer

    in the founder's voice, using the thread's own words; no link

  4. Founder posts it

    edits are logged; the edit distance is a label

  5. Follow up only on a reply

    a DM or a second reply once they answer, never before

  6. Measure per place

    traced signups per subreddit, search or forum; kill places that never convert

  1. Watch the watering holes — detectors on subreddits, X searches and forums for asks and pain
  2. Judge the match — is this a real person with the problem, inside the window?
  3. Draft the answer — in the founder's voice, using the thread's own words; no link
  4. Founder posts it — edits are logged; the edit distance is a label
  5. Follow up only on a reply — a DM or a second reply once they answer, never before
  6. Measure per place — traced signups per subreddit, search or forum; kill places that never convert

the catalog

Every play in this motion.

Library cards summarize each step (when, channel, what).

Community answers

Find the thread where someone asks the question your product answers, and give the best answer in it.

channels
Reddit, Hacker News, X
time
30 min a day
triggers
Taking stock, Doing it by hand, Tried it and it failed
steps
  1. day 0 · Reddit · HN · X · Answer in the thread
  2. day 2 · same thread · Follow up, only if they replied
  3. day 7 · X, your account · Turn it into a post
metric
replies, then visits
kill
10 answers and 0 visits: change where you're looking, not the wording.
offer
The answer itself. The product only if they ask.

Founder-led outbound

Reply to the person who posted the pain this week, with one useful fix. Not a pitch.

channels
X, email
time
20 min a day
triggers
Tried it and it failed, Unhappy with their current tool, Trying again
steps
  1. day 0 · X reply · Reply to the pain post
  2. after a reply · X DM or reply · Carry the conversation
  3. day 3 · X DM · One nudge, only if they engaged
metric
reply rate, then signups
kill
30 sent and fewer than 3 replies: the signal or the opener is wrong.
offer
One specific fix for what they posted. A trial only after they ask.

Beta tester recruiting

Ask in public for a small number of specific people to try it free, set each one up yourself, and get their feedback on a call.

channels
X, Reddit, email
time
1 hour a day for a week
triggers
Doing it by hand, Tried it and it failed
steps
  1. day 0 · X, or a subreddit that allows it · The call-out
  2. after a reply · DM · Qualify and invite
  3. day 3 · call or DM · Feedback call
  4. day 10 · DM · Ask for the quote
metric
testers who use it twice
kill
10 testers set up and none use it a second time: the pain isn't sharp enough yet. talk to them before building more.
offer
Free access during the beta, and you set it up with them.

Replies to bigger accounts

Pick 10 to 20 accounts your buyers already follow and leave the most useful reply under their new posts within the first hour.

channels
X
time
20 min a day
triggers
none in particular: runs on a schedule
steps
  1. week 1 · notes · Pick the accounts
  2. daily, first hour · X reply · Add one thing
  3. once · X bio · Fix your profile
metric
profile clicks from replies
kill
3 weeks under 10 profile clicks a week: you picked the wrong accounts. swap them.
offer
None. Your profile does the selling.

Community story posts with proof

Tell the real story, with numbers, in the places your buyers already gather.

channels
Reddit, Discord, Facebook groups
cadence
daily
metric
traced signups per community
kill
Three communities posted in, no traced signup, or more than one post removed

Comparison interception

Be the answer in every "alternative to" thread, with the page you already wrote.

channels
Reddit, X, forums
cadence
weekly
metric
traced signups per reply
kill
Under 1 signup per 20 replies after two weeks

Listen and reply where they already talk

Sit where buyers describe the problem, answer in their words, and never pitch first.

channels
Reddit, forums
cadence
daily
metric
traced signups per place watched
kill
No signup from any watched place in three weeks

Signal-based outbound for deals of $1,000 or more

Message people who just showed, in public, that they have the problem. Only when a deal is worth the effort.

channels
cold email, LinkedIn messages, calls
cadence
daily
metric
meetings booked, and the share that close
kill
One hundred messages sent, under two meetings booked

failure modes

Four ways this motion goes wrong.

Pitching in the first reply — A link in the first message gets removed, downvoted, or ignored. · catch itdrafts never carry a link in the first reply; links go on a traced URL in the follow-up

Late replies — Answering a two-day-old ask reads as spam. · catch itfreshness is part of the judge; stale matches are discarded with a reason

One place, all the effort — A single subreddit that never converts eats the whole budget. · catch itmeasure traced signups per place; kill places by the play's own rule

Sounding like a bot — Replies drift into one template and people notice. · catch itedit distance and edit locus on every draft; variants tested one knob at a time

data to capture

What every play in this motion records.

Same data rules as everywhere in this guide: log every move with the play id and version, the plays that were eligible, and the odds of the one chosen.

record

  • the thread, the match and the judge verdict for every reply drafted
  • the draft, the posted text, edit distance and which part was rewritten
  • the reply's place (subreddit, search, forum) and a traced link for every follow-up
  • removed or reported replies (the counter-metric)

label

  • they replied, stated the pain, joined, by place
  • removed or reported: a negative label
  • the founder's edits: a preference pair

trains

  • which places convert (per-place yield)
  • the reply drafter, from draft-versus-posted pairs
  • the match judge, from founder real-or-not labels

test

  • reply-first versus DM-first follow-up, randomized per lead
  • one opener variant at a time; kill rule as the pre-set stop rule

Library playbooks are the 22 on the Playbook Library page. A person always sends the first message to a stranger.