If you’ve been trying to scale but feel stuck... Check these 3. Chances are, one’s not working😉

Here’s the kicker: ❌You can’t shortcut your way to these three. ❌You can’t borrow them. ❌You have to build them. But everyone who grows sustainably gets them dialed in.

You want channels that are net incremental. ✅That drive new demand. ✅That don’t just intercept people already halfway down the funnel. ✅That work for your product, not just your media plan.

Third: INCREMENTAL channel scale. If a channel is parasitic (i.e. it cannibalizes demand, rather than creating it), scale just amplifies the problem.

Creative that works is a magnet for the right users. It self-selects your audience and tells them, fast: ✅ What this is ✅ Why it matters ✅ Why now And that looks wildly different across markets, models, and maturities.

Second: the creative ❤️‍🔥 It’s fashionable to chase “virality” with big OOH swings or ‘edgy’ TikToks. But the best-performing creative is rarely best-practice. It’s the thing that makes your audience stop scrolling and say “I need this.”

That means you can’t rely on blended CAC screenshots from SaaS Twitter or a TikTok DTC teardown. Your economics are a product of your flows. If you don’t control them, your “growth” is probably just top-line noise.

Let’s start with unit economics. You can’t grow if you don’t know what a customer is worth — and how much you can afford to pay for one. Your LTV, churn, payback period, margin… these are product and model-specific. No one else can give you those numbers.

💵You need control over your own unit economics ❤️‍🔥You need to know which creative actually ignites your audience 📈You need scalable channels that are net incremental for you Notice the pattern? “Your,” “you,” “your” None of this is plug-and-play

What does it really take to grow with performance marketing? It’s not a media budget thing. Not a “just scale what’s working” thing. It’s 3 fundamentals, and most teams only ever get 1 or 2 right 🧵 [1/12]

https://t.co/0BiYJySDOo

Learn more here:

The best signals check 3 boxes: 🔹 Quality → Converts = real business value 🔹 Volume → Enough conversions to train the algo 🔹 Speed → Happens within ~24 hours of click Weak signals = wasted spend.

Solution for signal? 💡 Fix it with smart optimization signals: ✅Align signals with real business value ✅Get the right balance between quality and volume ✅Use quality filters (e.g. exclude Gmail signups) Better signals = better customers.

Minor tweaks in your signal = major shifts in your audience. Set the wrong goal? The algorithm will cheat. 🤖 Optimize for clicks? Bots & bouncers. 📝 Optimize for leads? Fake signups. Be careful what you optimize for: It shapes who sees your ad.

If you zoom in really far on the Y-Axis, you'll actually see the green bars 👀 Broad U.S. targeting barely reached 2x the audience of retargeting campaigns 👀 Large audience targeting (14M+) often performed worse than broad Why: Platforms already narrow based on your signal.

Platforms start with a small group of likely converters. Even if you target everyone in the U.S., platforms won’t show your ad to all of them. Instead, they quickly narrow it down based on your optimization signal. Look at this chart for starters:

Think of ad algorithms like a spotlight operator: 🔦 Clear signal → they find the right people 🔦 Vague or misleading signal → they get a ton of false positives Your job? Make the signal crystal clear. [5/12 - we're getting there]

The solutions? ✅ The right optimization signal ✅ Strong first-party data ✅ Creative designed specifically for your ideal customer Platforms don’t use audience targeting the way they used to. They rely on how you define success. Your optimization signal is your audience.

Why? Privacy changes + platform shifts killed granular targeting: ❌ Meta cut off third-party data ❌ iOS updates crushed tracking ❌ People stopped updating their interests Your "perfect audience" is now undefinable through these means.