If a microbe can redefine life, what's the startup equivalent?

The Nautilus piece on a “rogue microbe” redefining what counts as life got me thinking: Startups have the same problem most of us operate with rigid definitions of “growth” and “marketing channels.”

We tend to think: . Ads = a channel . SEO = a channel . Social = a channel

But then someone posts a casual comment on Reddit or drops your link in a Slack group or mentions your product in a small Telegram chat and suddenly that’s the thing driving real traction.

It feels like the “rogue microbes” of growth are hiding in plain sight. Maybe we’ve been defining channels too narrowly.

So my question is: What’s the strangest, smallest or most “unexpected” channel that ended up driving meaningful growth for you?