Application — Growth
Mark and Becca Sperry's family has kept bees since the 1920's. That story should be working hardest on the $21.99 beeswax block page.
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 1 lb Beeswax Block sells at $21.99, and its description lists candles, wood polish, beeswax wraps, lip balm, soap, lotion bars and leather conditioner. That is many buyers on one page.
- Raw Unfiltered Honey comes in three sizes: 2 lb at $25.00, 5 lb at $54.99 and 10 lb at $99.98. Each size is a different order, so each needs its own ad.
- The site offers a 15% coupon when you choose a product, and free shipping via USPS or UPS, while orders ship within 1-2 weeks. That gap needs a plain line in every ad.
What I built
What I'd do here
- My KPI: scale ad spend, hold target CAC. Everything else follows from that, from the $21.99 beeswax block to the $54.99 5 lb honey.
- Week to week: launching a bunch of different experiments, losers killed early. One variable per test, honey and beeswax tested apart.
- Creators: candle makers, DIY soap and lip balm crafters, and home cooks who make hot honey or honey popcorn, each filming the product in use.
- 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. Your coupon and free shipping offers need clean tracking first.
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 |
Two creators come on each week, from 2 live to 10 live by week six. Each posts the same number of videos a week, and new ads and landing pages follow the creators. 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 own pages: what you say about the beeswax and honey, in your wording only.
- Brief the first creators on the one-pound beeswax block and the raw honey, each filming a single use start to finish.
I'd love to chat if this makes sense. Grab a time here.
Danilo