Ads amplify product-market fit, they do not create it, so if the organic version of your motion is not working, paid will just make the failure faster and more expensive. Start with branded and competitor search on Google, where intent is highest and the cost per lead is a fraction of non-brand. Save LinkedIn for tightly targeted campaigns when your deal size can carry it, because it is materially more expensive per click. Budget honestly: a seed to Series A team testing properly is looking at 20,000 to 50,000 dollars a month, not 3,000, and roughly nine in ten campaigns fail on launch. Run it as a testing programme across platform, audience, creative, offer and landing page, and kill things fast.
3 resources, 1 India-specific, 3 link-checked.
Shopify's performance marketing lead on channel order (Google search first, LinkedIn reserved for tight B2B targeting because of cost), team structure and incrementality. The rare paid conversation that is not selling you an agency.
On Lenny's Newsletter by Timothy Davis with Lenny Rachitsky 75 min listen
Open lennysnewsletter.com →Gives you the numbers before you commit: 20,000 to 50,000 dollars a month to test properly at seed to Series A, roughly 90 percent of campaigns failing at launch, and the five variables worth testing. It also says plainly that ads amplify product-market fit rather than create it.
From GTMnow (GTMfund) by Rex Gelb 20 min read
Freshworks' early marketing approach documented properly: what they measured, what they spent on, and the argument that below two million dollars ARR you should do product marketing and lead generation only. The India cost discipline in it is the part US playbooks never give you.
From SeedToScale by Accel by Rachit Parekh long read
How inbound, content and demand gen reads from a different seat.
The same ground, over in Get your first customers, our Starting Up track.
The same ground, over in Grow organically & retain, our D2C track.
