In the Early Stages of Digital Products, Distribution Beats Technology – with Carsten Bohling (Founder Homerockr, ex EventInc, ex InnoGames)

Why Sales and Marketing Are Massively Underestimated for Early Product Success – and Product-Led Growth Is No Fit for Bootstrapped Startups

In the sixteenth episode of the PRODUKTKRAFT Podcast, I talk to Carsten Bohling. Carsten is a marketing professional with stints at companies including the Hamburg game developer InnoGames and EventInc – and in 2023 he went out on his own as a solopreneur with Homerockr, an app for managing your home. What makes him special: Carsten doesn’t come from product management, but from marketing. He had to pick up product skills himself along the way. What he learned and where he was surprised, he shares openly in our conversation.

A central theme of the episode: why are sales and growth still more important in 2026 than the possibilities of vibe coding with Lovable and co.? Carsten built Homerockr on Bubble – deliberately low-tech, deliberately pragmatic. Because his lesson is clear: the tech stack is secondary if distribution isn’t right. We talk about why product-led growth rarely works for bootstrapped startups, why you should start with a sales strategy before the product is finished, and which growth hacks – from SEO and quizzes to a consistent niche strategy – actually make a difference.

We also get to the misconceptions about marketing that exist in the product management community. Because the assumption that growth will come on its own if only the product is good enough rarely holds up against reality. What product people need to understand better, where the unease about sales comes from, and where the focus should be when bootstrapping in 2026 – you’ll hear all of that in this episode. It’s worth a listen!