Application — Growth
The tagline Chips That Won't Break in Dip is a ready-made demo, and the recipes and reviews already on the site can prove it.
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
- Sea Salt Tortilla Chips cost $32.00 across three variants. That is a big first purchase for a cold customer, so the first ad has to carry proof, not just a flavor.
- One product page shows 339 reviews at 4.6519175 out of 5. Reviewers describe the crunch and the flavor, so real customer language already exists for hooks, without writing any new claims.
- The site records a guac scoop of 3.1 ounces, a hard number behind the claim of chips that won't break in dip. It is a testable demo no ad needs to invent.
What I built
What I'd do here
- My KPI: scale ad spend, hold target CAC. Everything else follows from that, starting with Sea Salt Tortilla Chips.
- Week to week: launching a bunch of different experiments, losers killed early. One variable per test, so a Lime Tortilla Chips hook is judged alone.
- Creators: home cooks who film the site's recipes, hosts who test a dip, and Takis fans trying Chile Lime Rolled Chips.
- Reporting so you never have to ask. Daily CAC. Weekly what we learned. Monthly cohort payback, read against the $32.00 first bag.
- Event tracking I'd spec and work through with your team. That part isn't me. I'd need it live before we trust any order count.
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 ten by week six. Each posts seven videos a week, so videos climb from 14 to 70. New ads and landing pages follow the creators, so every product gets tested. 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 hook library from the review language on your product pages: crunch and flavor first, in customers' own words.
- Film the break-in-dip test with Sea Salt Tortilla Chips and a heavy scoop, then cut it into the first twelve ads.
I'd love to chat if this makes sense. Grab a time here.
Danilo