• Social media is not a universal growth channel; the right channel depends on the type of business, per TechCrunch's report of the Disrupt session.
• Gamma's CEO says creator marketing only works if creators understand and can articulate the product's value for each customer segment.
• Engine's CEO says phone calls and events still reach an offline client base that many companies ignore.
• Google Ventures' Crystal Huang points to recurring use, rising use and referrals as the early evidence that a following is real.
• The panel's shared message is that keeping an early following matters more than winning one quickly.

A TechCrunch Disrupt panel made a plain argument: an early following does not have to be viral, and it is only worth having if it lasts. TechCrunch reports that the founders of Gamma and Engine and a Google Ventures partner each described a different route to customers, from matched creators to cold calls. For founders in any ecosystem, the useful question is not how loud the launch was but whether usage persists afterwards.

Creators work when matched to a segment

Gamma CEO Grant Lee told the panel that a product serving many use cases needs creators who each target one segment. TechCrunch quotes him saying consultants and the marketers who build decks for a chief marketing officer are different audiences. He also said founders are better served spending real time with creators, because if they cannot articulate the product's value, the effort will fall flat. The point is segmentation and briefing, not simply handing out a platform.

The phone still works

Engine CEO Elia Wallen offered the counterweight. TechCrunch reports the travel company bootstrapped its way to $150 million in bookings before taking outside funding, and that it used events and still employs many people who pick up the phone. Wallen said some companies refuse to do this or do not know how to do it well, and are missing a very large offline client base. In his words: "The phone still works."

Retention is the real signal

Crystal Huang, a general partner at Google Ventures, framed the test for investors. TechCrunch quotes her asking whether usage data shows it is recurring, increasing and spreading as users refer friends. She also looks for super fans who want to promote the company or even work there, and said a startup needs ways to create evangelists who are passionate about the product. Early retention data, in her telling, separates a following from a spike.

What to take from it

The evidence here is a single conference session as reported by one outlet, and the speakers describe their own companies, so it is a set of practitioner views, not a benchmark. Even so, the verdict is clear: choose channels to fit the customer, and judge success by retention and referrals, not by reach. Founders who can show those numbers rising will have a stronger case than those showing only attention.