There are a million free or extremely cheap distribution channels on the internet. My current business with 7 figures ARR was launched almost exclusively on industry forums and there are no connections required to create an Adwords account. There are countless businesses that started on Reddit or even here on Hacker News with a $0 advertising budget.

It's a matter of effort/reward. Yes, you can advertise for free or very cheap on the Internet, but it's harder to achieve the same amount of success as if you were paying and requires you to put in more work, like engaging with the community (which is not trivial).

Of course it's possible to get extremely good ROI on free advertising (especially if your product is excellent or unique), but it's the exception, not the rule.

I was responding to the original claim that a distribution channel requires capital or connections, which from my own experience is a false statement.

You are right that free advertising requires work like engaging in the community, but all startups require a considerable amount of work, and if you have a little bit of online savviness engaging with a community is very easy.

I know that from the time I went from $0 to $10,000 MRR I spent about $100 in online advertising, and I know countless other businesses that have done the same. Maybe if your plan is to create the next Facebook it is harder, but if you have a high quality niche startup, being able to effectively and cheaply advertise yourself for free is hardly an exception. You can always broaden your scope later.