Application — Growth
Your $11.99 Pre-Workout Sample Kit makes a first purchase low-risk. It could be the front door for paid social.
Who I am
- Former COO of Tabs. Built its creator program to 100M monthly social impressions, and the paid ad engine alongside it.
- Founded Mainstreet, a consumer home-services platform: a team of 70, $25M raised (Greylock, Khosla, YC, Tim Ferriss). It failed.
- Before that: Quintessential Ventures, an early seat at a high-growth startup, and entrepreneur-in-residence at Prehype.
- I'm moving into growth specifically. The creative and top-of-funnel work is what I want to be doing every day.
What I noticed
- The Pre-Workout Sample Kit costs $11.99 and holds Prolific and High Volume samples, so a shopper can try a stim and a non-stim pre-workout before spending $30–45 on a full tub.
- Free shipping applies to USA orders over $60, yet the Select Protein - Variety Pack lists at $59.99, one cent under that line. Bundles near the threshold are an easy upsell.
- Free shipping comes with a catch: the site says carrier-enforced age-verification fees still apply, and a "NY Adult Signature Requirement" item sits in the catalog at $0.00. Ads should set that expectation.
What I built
What I'd do here
- My KPI: scale ad spend, hold target CAC. Everything else follows from that, whether the order is a Pre-Workout Sample Kit or a full tub.
- Week to week: launching a bunch of different experiments, losers killed early. Select Protein, Versa Energy and the sample kits each get their own hook.
- Creators: lifters who train daily, pre-workout users, and home cooks making Protein Pancake & Waffle Mix. One variable per test.
- Reporting so you never have to ask. Daily CAC. Weekly what we learned. Monthly cohort payback.
- Event tracking I'd spec and work through with your team. That part isn't me. Free shipping and age-verification fees need clean order data.
Month one
| Metric | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creators live | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Creator videos / week | 0 | 14 | 28 | 42 | 56 | 70 |
| Landing pages live | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| New ads / week | 12 | 12 | 12–20 | 12–20 | 20 | 20 |
| Unique experiments | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
Creators come on two a week, up to 10 live by week six. Each posts seven videos a week, so 70 by week six. New ads and landing pages follow the creators, and experiments grow from 2 to 6. Proposed.
Creator videos a week = creators live × videos per creator. Week 1: 0 × 7 = 0; Week 2: 2 × 7 = 14; Week 3: 4 × 7 = 28; Week 4: 6 × 7 = 42; Week 5: 8 × 7 = 56; Week 6: 10 × 7 = 70.
How I'd start
- Build a claims sheet from your product pages, so every ad line for OleaPure, Haze Sleep Powder and Select Protein uses wording you already publish.
- Brief the first creators on the sample kits, because a low-priced trial is the easiest first order to ask a stranger for.
I'd love to chat if this makes sense. Grab a time here.
Danilo