You raised $2M to build product. Not to become a media buyer.
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Start with the basics that actually convert. Proven channels, fast setup.
AI SDRs send 1,000 cold emails/day (2% reply rate). You're building a Twitter following (maybe one post goes viral?). You hired a growth hacker promising PLG magic. All experimental. All high-effort, low-return. Know what's not experimental? Retargeting people who visited your site. Google ads for people searching for your solution right now. The lowest-hanging fruit. And you're leaving it on the table.
Your PH launch killed it. #2 product of the day. 5,000 visitors. Then...nothing. No retargeting campaign. No follow-up. Those visitors are gone. You spent weeks on launch day prep but didn't think about the 48 hours after.
No Pixel setup. No conversion tracking. No retargeting audiences. Just clicked 'Promote' on a post and hoped for the best. Obviously it didn't work. So you decided 'ads don't work for us' and went back to founder-led sales. But the problem wasn't ads—it was that you didn't set up infrastructure first.
You emailed 5 agencies. All of them want $10K retainers, discovery calls, creative briefs, and long onboarding processes. You don't have time for that. You need traction now.
Your first growth hire needs: working analytics, Meta Pixel, conversion tracking, creative assets, a content calendar, and access to your email list. They've been here a while and haven't launched a single campaign yet. This wasn't the plan.
Engineer embedded → Agency matched → Ads live → You never open Ads Manager
Not a consultant. An engineer embedded in your Slack, working with your team. Sets up: GA4 (correctly), Segment, Meta Pixel, Conversions API, LinkedIn Insight Tag, TikTok Pixel. Fixes your broken analytics (yes, your GA4 is misconfigured). Builds retargeting audiences: Product Hunt visitors, TechCrunch readers, demo requesters, churned trial users. Sets up proper attribution for fundraising metrics.
We've tested 50+ agencies and freelancers. Only work with 12 who understand startups. Brief them on your product (you don't write the brief, we do). They inherit working infrastructure, not broken Pixels. They launch ads fast.
First campaigns go live. Low-hanging fruit first: retargeting (those 5,000 PH visitors), Google Search (people searching for your solution), lookalike audiences (find more customers like your best ones). Regular check-ins on CAC, ROAS, conversion rates. Engineering support when things break (they always break). Agency accountability—we fire them if they suck, you don't deal with it. Scale budget as you grow, no renegotiating contracts.
Everything you need to succeed
Every upvoter becomes a retargeting audience. Campaigns live 48 hours post-launch. You spent weeks preparing for Product Hunt. We make sure those 5,000 visitors don't disappear. Retargeting converts 5-10% of free traffic into customers.
Not experimental tactics. Proven channels: retargeting (people who visited your site), Google Search (people searching for your solution right now), lookalike audiences (find more people like your customers). The easiest money you'll ever make.
Accurate CAC, LTV, payback period for investor updates. Conversion tracking that actually works (not 'we think it's around $200'). Attribution for every channel. Your Series A deck has a CAC slide. We make those numbers real and defensible.
Only work with 12 agencies/freelancers who understand startups. No 6-week onboarding. No $10K retainers for strategy decks. They've worked with YC companies, know how to move fast, and inherit working infrastructure from day 1.
Not a Zoom consultant. An engineer in your Slack for 2 weeks. Fixes broken GA4, sets up Pixels, builds retargeting audiences, configures Segment custom events. Your growth hire can start running ads immediately, not in 6 weeks.
We brief the agency. We attend the strategy calls. We handle the onboarding. You get a Slack message: 'Ads are live, here's the dashboard.' That's it. No 3-hour kickoff calls where you explain your product for the 5th time.
Start at $10K/mo ad spend. Scale to $200K/mo. 8% stays 8% whether you spend $10K or $100K. No contract renegotiations. No 'now that you're spending more, our fee structure changes.' Aligned incentives from Day 1.
Launched on Product Hunt, ranked #2 product of the day. Got 5,000 visitors, 200 signups, 12 paid customers ($6K MRR). No retargeting campaign, no conversion tracking, no follow-up. Founder was spending 15 hours per week trying to learn Meta Ads Manager while building product. Meanwhile, trying AI SDRs (1% conversion), founder-led sales (doesn't scale), and posting on Twitter hoping something goes viral.
Day 1: Adside engineer embedded in Slack. Day 3: Conversion tracking working (GA4, Segment, Meta Pixel, Conversions API). Day 5: Retargeting campaign live for all 5,000 Product Hunt visitors. Week 2: Matched with freelance media buyer (ex-Uber growth team). Week 3: First paid acquisition campaigns live on Meta and Google Search.
8% of ad spend + Adside subscription. Setup included.
Forward-deployed engineer, tracking setup, agency matching. No setup fee.
Agency management, engineering support, ongoing optimization
If your Pixel is broken or GA4 is a mess, we fix it first. Only if needed.
No setup fee. Start immediately.
Scale as you grow, same 8%
We want you to start fast. No $5K upfront barrier. Just pay 8% of spend + Adside subscription from Day 1. If you spend $10K on ads, you pay $800 (8%) + $1,000 (Adside) = $1,800 total. Setup is included.
Only charged if your Pixel is broken or GA4 is misconfigured (happens 80% of the time with early-stage startups). We audit your setup first. If it's clean, no charge. If it's a mess (broken events, duplicate Pixels, wrong domains), we fix it for $1,500 one-time. You'll know upfront.
Aligned incentives. We win when your CAC drops and you scale spend. Traditional agencies charge flat $10K/mo whether you spend $20K or $200K on ads. We bet on your success: if you're spending $200K/mo on ads, you're winning, and we should share in that success.
We fire them and map you to a new one. You don't manage this relationship—we do. If performance drops, creative sucks, or they're unresponsive, we handle it. Average time to swap agencies: 5 business days.
No. YC references are just examples because that's our sweet spot (Seed to Series B startups). If you raised $1M-$20M and need to show traction fast, this works for you. We've worked with YC, Techstars, 500 Startups, and non-incubator companies.
The engineer doesn't disappear. They're available for ad hoc support (included in your 8% fee). Pixel breaks? Tracking stops? New conversion event needed? They fix it in <24 hours. You're not left with infrastructure you don't understand.
Yes. We can do engineering-only: setup included + $500/mo for ongoing support. You keep your agency, we just make sure the infrastructure works. Most founders realize their agency isn't great after we fix the tracking, but your choice.
That's fine. Month 1 you might spend $5K testing. Your fee: $400 (8% of $5K) + $1,000 Adside = $1,400 total. As you scale to $10K, $20K, $50K/mo, the fee scales with you. No minimum ad spend required.
If you have runway and want to learn, try Adside self-serve first. If you're post-raise, short on time, and need metrics for your next fundraise, managed service gets you there faster. Honest answer: most founders underestimate how long setup takes (2-4 weeks) and how much they'll break (Pixel fires twice, GA4 tracks nothing). We've seen it 100 times.
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