We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 11 cities confirmed, 322 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city
Grow & market

Why did my marketing channel stop working after a few months?

This is Andrew Chen's Law of Shitty Clickthroughs: every channel decays as novelty fades and competitors pile in. Nothing's broken with you; the channel is just maturing. Constantly refresh creative and keep discovering the next under-priced channel before it saturates.

Go deeper

2 resources, 2 link-checked.

📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

The definitive explanation of why every marketing channel decays over time, from an a16z general partner who wrote 650+ essays on growth.

The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs

From andrewchen.com by Andrew Chen ~8 min read

  • Over time, all marketing channels drift toward terrible click-through rates.
  • Banner CTR fell ~1500x from 1994 to 2011 as novelty and arbitrage disappeared.
  • Win by refreshing creative and finding the next under-priced channel early.
Open andrewchen.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Freemium Intermediate

Based on studying 100+ consumer companies, Lenny shows that lasting growth comes from becoming world-class at one growth engine, viral, SEO, or paid, rather than dabbling in all three.

The Growth Engine: Kickstarting & Scaling a Consumer Business (Step 6)

From Lenny's Newsletter by Lenny Rachitsky ~20 min read

  • Most successful startups run on a single dominant growth engine.
  • The three engines are viral/word-of-mouth, content/SEO, and paid.
  • Pick one and become world-class before layering on a second.
Open lennysnewsletter.com →

People also ask

What growth metrics should I actually track as an early-stage startup? 3 → How do I know if I have product-market fit before I try to grow? 2 → What is a growth loop and why is it better than a funnel? 2 → What are the 'four fits' I need before growth compounds? 2 → How should I set up a simple growth model or dashboard? 3 → How do I calculate my North Star metric when I have both free and paid users? 3 →

Also in D2C

The same ground, over in Run paid ads, our D2C track.

What actually makes an ad creative convert in 2025? 4 → How is Google Ads different from Meta ads for my D2C brand? 3 →

Also in D2C

The same ground, over in Grow organically & retain, our D2C track.

How do I build a referral program that people actually use, not one that just sits unused in my Shopify admin? 4 → Should I be on Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and Pinterest, or just pick one? Where do I actually put my limited time? 4 →

Also in How Founders Use AI

How founders actually use AI for this, over in Ads & Performance Marketing.

How do founders use AI to generate and test ad creatives at scale? 18 → Why use AI for audience research, copy variants, and campaign analysis? 19 →

Also in GTM

The same ground, over in Let the product sell, our GTM track.

What does product-led growth actually mean, and how is it different from just having a free trial? 6 → Everyone says find your aha moment. What is it actually, and how do I find ours? 5 →

Also in GTM

The same ground, over in Keep and grow the customers you win, our GTM track.

When should I hire my first customer success person? 5 → What is net revenue retention and why does every investor keep asking me for it? 5 →
eChai Partner Brands