Once tracking is set, spend $100,000 on ads to learn in two to three weeks if your product will sell
Three channels are enough to start, and two to three weeks tells you whether to scale or rethink, with the full test running about three months.
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch · 20Growth: How to Build a $100M Growth Engine: Lessons from Wispr Flow and Superhuman | Why You Should Do Paid Ads Today and How To Do Them | How to Build the Best Referral Programs and How to Crush UGC with Matt SwulinskiMatt Swulinski, the growth lead at Wispr Flow and Victor who previously led growth at Superhuman, tells early founders to start paid ads right away. For him, paid is the fastest way to prove a self-serve product can scale, and to learn it before organic marketing ever could.
His test is simple and cheap by startup standards. If you have raised a $3 million to $5 million seed round, set aside about $100,000 to find out if people actually want your product once money is behind it. Use that money to refine messaging, test creative, test funnels, and test positioning within a week on paid, work that takes longer through content, podcasts, and user interviews.
Spend it on only three things. Swulinski calls them "the core three of any acquisition engine": Meta, Google, and lifecycle, meaning email, text messages, and push notifications if you have an app. Meta and YouTube catch people with video, Google catches people already searching for a solution, and lifecycle nudges the ones who do not buy the first time. He says a startup can reach its first $1 million to $10 million in annual revenue on just those three, and warns against adding TikTok, Reddit, and other channels before you can run the first three well.
Do not spend before two basics are in place. You need a product that people genuinely like and tell friends about, plus working conversion tracking on your site or app. Once you have about 50 conversions, the ad systems have enough data to find more people like your best customers.
Then launch, run two or three cycles of creative tests, and watch what happens over two to three weeks. You will know whether you can start scaling or need to rethink the ads, the landing page, the page speed, and even the screenshots in the app store. Plan on about three months for the full test, and keep fixing those small levers as you spend or the results will plateau.
Questions people ask
What exactly do I need to set up for lifecycle?
Lifecycle means the messages you send after someone visits, signs up, or trials but does not buy. That is usually email first, plus text messages and push notifications if you have a mobile app, often set up as automatic reminders, onboarding tips, and limited offers.
How do I know my conversion tracking is ready for that first 50?
You need one clear action for the ad systems to learn from, like a trial start, subscription, or app download, firing correctly on your site or app. Most startups use a product analytics tool plus Meta Pixel and Google tags, then test a purchase themselves to confirm all 50 events are being counted the same way.
What if I cannot afford $100,000?
The $100,000 is a rule of thumb for a $3 million to $5 million seed round. If you raised less or sell a low priced product, start smaller on one Meta campaign and one Google search campaign, but keep the same structure: limited channels, clear tracking, and fast creative tests.
What if I have no customers yet?
He says product excellence comes first, with customers already coming in the door and telling friends about the product before paid can work well. Without that base and working conversion tracking, he would wait on paid spending.