Paid Acquisition

Also called Paid Media

Acquiring customers by paying for reach, search ads, social ads, sponsorships, as opposed to organic channels. Its efficiency is measured by CAC and ROAS.

Why it matters

Paid acquisition can buy predictable growth, but it is only sustainable if a customer is worth more than they cost to acquire. Founders who scale paid spend before proving that math tend to buy their way into trouble.

For example

A D2C brand spends 5 lakh a month on Instagram ads to acquire customers, and watches CAC closely to make sure each one is worth more than they cost.

Worth your time

Related terms

Customer Acquisition Cost Return on Ad Spend Performance Marketing

Go deeper

See how founders actually handle this on Growing and marketing, part of the Starting Up hub.

eChai Partner Brands