# Go-to-market strategy

Internal playbook for how TV Anarchy talks to the world. Complements the
engineering roadmap in [`../../roadmap.md`](../../roadmap.md) and
[`../../plan.md`](../../plan.md).

## Positioning

**Tagline:** Napster for Netflix

**Meaning:** People want Netflix's *experience* — browse, continue watching, play
on the TV — but on a *library they control*: their disks, their players, their
network. TV Anarchy is the native app for that stack. Not a Netflix competitor.
Not a tracker. Not a VPN product.

**Subline (supporting):** One app to watch, catalog, and keep your shows alive.

## Three stories (pick one lead per channel)

| Story | Lead for | Proof |
|-------|----------|-------|
| **Personal media stack** | Homelab, self-hosted, Reddit | Working laptop client ↔ always-on host demo |
| **Napster for Netflix** | Press, social, newsletter | 60s video + one-pager |
| **Install federation** | Technical press, act two | Net editions dogfood (Phase 2+) |

Always lead broad press with **Napster for Netflix**. Net federation is paragraph
two or a follow-up post — differentiation, not headline.

## Audience tiers

### Tier 1 — Press & social

- **Need:** Emotion + 30 seconds of proof.
- **Give:** Tagline, one-pager, demo video, FAQ.
- **Hide:** Install steps, mesh enrollment, governor.

### Tier 2 — Technical curious

- **Need:** Architecture credibility, local-first angle.
- **Give:** Founder post, technical appendix, optional public `v2/` specs.
- **Hide:** Operator secrets, hostnames, tokens.

### Tier 3 — Operators & friends

- **Need:** Join guide, hardware expectations, support path.
- **Give:** `docs/operations.md`, mesh QR flow — **not** this marketing kit.
- **This kit:** Only the "why join my install" friend pitch (FAQ).

## Staged GTM (capabilities, not versions)

Do **not** announce "TV Anarchy v2." Ship narrative beats when exit criteria pass.

| Engineering phase | Pressable moment | Headline angle | Block until |
|-------------------|------------------|----------------|-------------|
| **Now (v1 shipped)** | Solo home stack works | "One app for my TV, library, and downloads" | 90s demo recorded |
| **Phase 1 — Net local** | Skip intro learns locally | "Skip intro that learns from you — no cloud" | Merged skip on ≥1 show; privacy grep clean |
| **Phase 2 — Editions** | Cross-device TV facts | "Your laptop and server agree where intros end" | LAN sync <60s dogfood |
| **Phase 4 — Friend mesh** | Federated facts | "Friends share TV metadata, not watch history" | f2f_only + minSources demo |
| **Phase 7 — Thin client** | Play from anywhere | "Phone/roku as remote — server holds the library" | host daemon or equivalent stable |

**First public beat:** solo-fleet (you + always-on host). Federation is act two.

## Channel fit

| Channel | Fit | Recommended asset | Risk |
|---------|-----|-------------------|------|
| Personal blog / newsletter | **High** | founder-post | Low |
| Hacker News | **Medium** | founder-post + technical-appendix | Torrent framing |
| Reddit (r/selfhosted, homelab) | **High** | founder-post (ops angle) | Setup complexity |
| Mastodon / tech Twitter | **Medium** | one-pager + clip | Piracy association |
| Mainstream tech press | **Low** (for now) | one-pager | Legal + polish bar |
| Product Hunt | **Low** | — | Too niche, heavy setup |

## Messaging guardrails

### Say

- Personal / home media library
- Netflix-*like* UX on files you manage
- Local-first: catalog and playback on your hardware
- Companion app for phone (remote + offline flights)
- Future: sync TV *facts* between trusted installs (intro markers, not files)

### Do not say

- "Free Netflix" / "replace Netflix"
- "Download any show" (implies acquisition headline)
- BitTorrent in the first sentence
- Fleet, WireGuard, governor in consumer copy
- "v2 release"

### Legal & trust framing

- Software for organizing and playing media **you have the right to store and play**.
- Net publishes **content-keyed observations** (e.g. intro end times), never paths or
  raw watchlogs.
- Adult / sensitive content: structural privacy (contentKey, k-anon) — not a
  marketing feature.

### Tagline + three arguments (founder / blog — not all for press)

| | Frame | Evidence tier |
|---|-------|---------------|
| **Tagline** | *Napster for Netflix* — UX on a library you own | Positioning ([§7](./academic-research.md#7-napster-p2p-and-the-netflix-era)) |
| **Arg 1** | **Surveillance asymmetry** — tracking data → mass surveillance | Strong (law review) |
| **Arg 2** | **Budget asymmetry** — Netflix killed Blockbuster on price; stacked SVOD → pay more | Strong (surveys + disruption lit.) |
| **Arg 3** | **Resilience** — open source → forkable, unkillable | Strong (OSS lit.); **requires OSS release** |

Local-first is **product design**, not a numbered arg. See [privacy-positioning.md](./privacy-positioning.md) and [academic-research.md](./academic-research.md).

### Piracy objections & surveillance counter-frame

Studios and trade groups will allege piracy facilitation — especially with the
*Napster for Netflix* tagline. Prepared response lives in
[privacy-positioning.md](./privacy-positioning.md).

**Core argument:** Ad-tech and tracking data used for **mass surveillance** mean
incumbent media/ad businesses fail a duty to consumers; attacking local-library
software while selling behavioral graphs is asymmetric.

| Channel | Tone |
|---------|------|
| Founder blog / newsletter | Full founder quotes OK |
| HN / privacy communities | Asymmetry + local-first design |
| Mainstream press | Product fact + press-safe paragraph only |
| Press release | No surveillance polemic — link FAQ |

Never instruct infringement in any channel.

## Deliverable workflow

```
Milestone ships → update FAQ + press-release template
               → record demo if UI changed materially
               → founder-post or short social thread
               → technical-appendix only if architecture changed
```

## Success metrics (GTM)

| Signal | Target |
|--------|--------|
| Demo completion rate (internal) | Stakeholder watches 90s without questions |
| Inbound "how do I install?" | Tier 3 doc ready before broad post |
| Press mis-quote rate | FAQ pre-empts "piracy app" / "Netflix killer" |
| Friend join conversion | Mesh join works first try after friend pitch |

## Open decisions

| # | Question | Recommendation |
|---|----------|----------------|
| 1 | Public repo vs private | Marketing kit public; ops docs stay private |
| 2 | Open `v2/` specs | Yes for builder credibility when posting to HN |
| 3 | Show real show titles in demo | Blur or use clearly licensed / public-domain clips |
| 4 | Name in press: TV Anarchy vs TVAnarchy | **TV Anarchy** in prose; TVAnarchy for binary/repo |

## Related docs

- Product pillars: [`../../README.md`](../../README.md)
- Engineering plan: [`../../plan.md`](../../plan.md)
- Operations (not for press): [`../../../docs/operations.md`](../../../docs/operations.md)