Growth & Marketing

Should I even be running paid ads at this stage?

A starting point

Only if you already have retention and a clear sense of what a customer is worth; otherwise you're paying to fill a leaky bucket. Most early startups can't profitably acquire on Meta or Google and should exhaust founder-led and organic channels first. Paid is an amplifier for something that already works, not a substitute for it.

Go deeper

Read

📄 Article
Free Beginner

Startup Handbook: Customer Acquisition Channels

From julian.com by Julian Shapiro Long-form guide

Why we picked it

A blunt, practical guide from Demand Curve's founder on which paid and organic channels fit which business, and why most startups can't profitably buy ads early on.

  • Most companies cannot profitably acquire on Meta/Google without high margins or strong referrals.
  • Match the channel to your product's format, targeting, audience, and device.
  • Great creative and a promise-keeping landing page beat obsessive targeting.
Open julian.com →
📄 Article
Free Intermediate

The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs

From andrewchen.com by Andrew Chen ~8 min read

Why we picked it

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

  • 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 →

People also ask

How do I know if my paid ads are actually profitable? Compare customer acquisition cost to the contribution margin a customer generates, and demand payback inside a few months (or a single order for D2... Intermediate 2 resources → What makes a paid ad actually convert? The creative does 80% of the work, not the targeting: a scroll-stopping hook, one clear promise, and a landing page that keeps the exact promise th... Beginner 2 resources → How do I pick which paid channel to start with? Match the channel to how people already look for what you sell: intent-driven search for problem-aware buyers, feed-based social for discovery and ... Intermediate 2 resources → How much budget do I need to test a paid channel properly? Enough to get a statistically real read, usually a few hundred conversions per channel before you judge it, not fifty dollars over a weekend. Set a... Intermediate 2 resources → How do Indian D2C brands keep paid acquisition sustainable as CACs rise? Winning Indian D2C brands stop renting attention and build owned media, content engines, and community so they aren't fully dependent on Meta and G... Intermediate 2 resources → 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 ch... Intermediate 2 resources →