How to Read a CAC Number Without Lying to Yourself
Customer acquisition cost is the metric founders quote most and calculate worst. Four common mistakes, and a cleaner way to do it.
Jake Morrison
@jake.growthGrowth marketer in Austin for early-stage startups. Experiments, funnels and honest numbers.
6 articles444 clapsJoined May 1
Articles
Why I Deploy on Fridays, and the Tiny Script That Lets Me Sleep
The internet says never ship on Friday. As a solo builder with a day job, Friday evening is often my only chance, so I made it safe.
Founders, Your First 100 Customers Won't Come From Ads
Paid acquisition feels scalable, but early on it mostly buys you expensive confusion. What actually works for the first hundred.
We Stopped Hacking Our Newsletter and Open Rates Nearly Doubled
Clickbait subject lines, aggressive popups and giveaway signups grew our list fast. Undoing all of it was the best decision we made.
Our Landing Page Test Lifted Signups 31 Percent. Then It Didn't
A cautionary tale about small samples, early peeking, and the regression to the mean that quietly erased our big win.
The Five-Step Funnel Audit I Run in My First Week at Any Startup
Before running a single new campaign, I map the funnel and find the leak. Here is the exact process, with real numbers from one audit.
