Demand Curve

My post last week struck a raw nerve w/ founders. 130k imps, 308 cmmts, 56 reposts, countless DMs. ...a lot of founders are bleeding in silence. 🤐 If you missed it... I posted about my 7.5yr startup journey where: → My avg. annual salary was $54.7k. → The total opportunity cost was between $1.65M and $2.4M. The response was overwhelming. Thank you for all the DMs, the comments, and the support. (And all the love for my wife, Ashleigh DePopas 😂). A lot of you rightly pointed out that you can't put a price tag on life experience. And I 100% agree. I'm certainly not trying to discount the journey. ("journey before destination"...Sanderson readers ✊) Just trying to have the honest conversation about the financial hit most founders take in silence. The most common question I got was,  "What would you do differently?"  I'm working on a full post with my honest answers to that soon. But the short answer is:  I'd do everything I could to get to an ANSWER faster. Is this product/company viable/scalable? Which brings me back to today... It's the LAST DAY of the early-bird sale for the Demand Curve Growth Program 2.0. We built it to help founders avoid wasting time. The deal ends tonight at 11:59pm EST.  If my story resonated, check it out before the price goes back up. Appreciate you all for being part of this conversation. P.S. Hope you enjoy the launch vid! Had a ton of fun making it using ElevenLabs and Artlist. I think AI is crossing the uncanny valley.

What's the ROI on a failed Techstars startup? My avg. annual salary over 7.5yrs = $54.7k 🫠 My opportunity cost, north of $1.2M. The video below is a time-lapse of that journey.  Don't get me wrong, some of those years were the best of my life. I got to work on something I was passionate about with people I loved. But I want to talk about the economic reality of betting YEARS of your life on a startup. (for most founders) To help you baseline... → We got admitted to Techstars. → We raised $2.4M over the 7.5yrs. → Revenue peaked at approx. $50k MRR Over that 7.5 year period, here's what I actually paid myself: → Years 1-2: $0 → Years 3-4: ~$50k/year → Years 5-6: ~$80k/year → Year 7-7.5: ~$100k/year  (before dropping back to zero at the end) = Total earnings: ~$410,000. Now, let's say I'd stuck with a corporate path (say, product management after my stint at Deloitte)... A conservative estimate: → Base Salary (7.5yrs): ~$1,150,000 → Stock/RSUs: ~$400,000 → 401k Match: ~$60,000 = Total Comp: ~$1.61 Million An aggressive (but still realistic) estimate: → Base Salary (7.5yrs): ~$1,400,000 → Stock/RSUs: ~$700,000 → 401k Match: ~$70,000 = Total Comp: ~$2.17 Million When you subtract my actual startup earnings (~$410k), the direct compensation gap lands between $1.2M and $1.8M. But sadly for me, that's not the full economic cost. Looking at the S&P's returns from that period, the missed compound interest on that unearned cash adds another $450k to $600k to the total. That brings the full economic cost of my 7.5-year journey to somewhere between $1.65M and $2.4M. Looking at these numbers, I honestly feel bad for my wife, Ash. 🫤 She supported us through it. This isn't meant to be a sob story. It's just the statistical reality of entrepreneurship. Studies show around 90% of startups fail. Far fewer actually have life-changing financial outcomes. (Remember, just because a startup doesn't "fail" doesn't mean it's allowing you to retire at 40.) If you're a founder reading this *hate to say it* you're likely making a similar financial sacrifice, whether you've run the numbers or not. The takeaway here isn't "don't do startups." It's that your grit and determination isn't an infinite resource. The goal isn't to bleed for a decade (or 75% of one) to prove a point. It's to get to an answer ("Is this working or not?") as QUICKLY as possible. Or GTFO! Anyway, I bring up this story b/c we just launched our Growth Program 2.0 at Demand Curve. It's built to help founding teams get traction and grow as fast as possible. I wish I had it back in 2016. If any of this resonated with you, if you're feeling stuck or feel like you've been at it for too long, check it out. Or better yet, let's have a real conversation. Connect with me. Send me a DM. Write about your experience in the comments. Hell, email me. Because this is your life, and I think we can help.

"You should give this to every startup founder or marketer you meet." That's what I told Gil Templeton after reading his Startup Positioning Framework. It breaks down how to structure value prop messaging that actually relates to your end users - not just for your website, but across every piece of marketing/sales messaging you produce. We've condensed 8 years of experience teaching growth to 3,000+ startups at Y-Combinator, Techstars, and other top accelerators - and we've identified a pattern... Most founders fall into what we call "The What Trap." They obsess over explaining WHAT they do. → Their features. → Their process. → Their "innovation." But your customers only care about "What's in it for me?" And if you can't answer that in 5 seconds, you've lost them. Here's what happens when you're stuck in The What Trap: → Your messaging is technically accurate but emotionally vacant → People read your landing page and still don't get it (or aren't compelled to convert) → Your CAC remains high because no one understands your value → It "seems" like paid media doesn't work for your business No amount of growth hacks or AI tools will fix this. ✍️ The B.A.D. to B.E.S.T. Framework: Instead of B.A.D. copy → Boastful → Abstract → Dry Create B.E.S.T. copy: → Benefit-Led: What they get, not what you made → Empathetic: Show you understand their problem → Story-Driven: Anchor to a relatable moment → Transformational: Focus on how their life improves Some transformations from the framework: ❌ "24/7 motion-activated cameras" ✅ "Feel safe at home, even when it's just you and a creaky floorboard" ❌ "Advanced AI-powered analytics" ✅ "Stop guessing which ads actually make money" ❌ "Science-based sleep optimization technology" ✅ "Wake up feeling human, not hungover" The first describes "what." The second answers "What's in it for me?" I'm sharing Gil's complete 13-page guide that includes: → The full B.A.D. to B.E.S.T. methodology → Step-by-step exercises for B2B, services, and consumer products → Real before/after examples from actual companies → The "So What?" test to validate every line of copy → Tips for making the pivot from feature-focused to benefit-led This is core curriculum from the Demand Curve Growth Program. Your company's messaging and positioning is the underpinning for all other growth efforts. Fix your messaging first, everything else second. Just leave a reaction, comment anything, and I'll send it over 👇

ever been stuck in FOUNDER MODE? good luck finding your way out

Champagne and poker? Nah. ChatGPT x Gmail x Attio. How I 1.75x'd revenue in 30 days. In June, Justin (our CEO) and I had a realization: Our newsletter sponsorship revenue stream was basically running itself. → 100% inbound inquiries. → Very little "selling" via email. → No sales calls, no outbound. I decided to run a quick sprint. Could I 2x our sponsor revenue in 30 days? ...with minimal effort. Here's what happened: 📊 The starting point: → Basic Notion database as our "CRM" → No unified inbox → Comms scattered across email threads → No systematic follow-up process → No outbound (as mentioned) 🧭 My 80/20 plan: Instead of chasing new leads, I decided to focus on closing brands that already know us: A. Previous sponsors B. Warm inquiries that never converted To reach these people, I'd need to do a couple things: 1. Get organized (select a real CRM to track comms) 2. Set up outbound campaigns 3. Personalize at scale 4. Actually follow up (novel concept, lol) 🛠️ Executing the plan: First, I selected Attio as our CRM. The AI-native features caught my eye. Plus it feels like Notion (which our team uses). Second, I started building my two campaigns. Drafting email copy can take longer than it needs to. I decided to try my hand at vibe-coding a solution. Built a Gmail scraper in 20 mins. Pulled 2 weeks of my REAL sales convos. Fed them to Claude to write campaigns that sound like me. Third, I launched the campaigns. Every email had a custom P.S. line based on the company's actual product. (Research from 💜 🔮 Will Allred at Lavender AI shows this can boost replies by 35%) 📈 Results (as of today, 7/15): → 32% reply rate → 24 deals initiated from outreach → 4 package deals closed so far → 9 deals in active conversation → July/August revenue up 1.75x vs May/June (tracking towards 2x revenue) 💡Some things I learned: → Tools like Attio can consolidate your sales stack We went from Notion + spreadsheets + 3 other tools to just Attio. Meeting recordings, enrichment, sequences all in one place. → Email scrapers are really powerful And everyone can do it. You don't need to be technical. ChatGPT will literally write the code for you. → We need to ramp an "always on" outbound motion This experiment proved we're leaving cash on the table. Setting up recurring campaigns now. → Your "perfectly fine" systems might be broken We thought our sponsorship process was solid. Turns out we were operating at 50% capacity. So the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" Actually seems like pretty terrible advice. With minimal effort, we nearly 2x'd our sponsor revenue. This same approach can work for any revenue stream you've been ignoring. So, what'd you do last night? Party or dig for revenue? Want the full case study + my Gmail scraper code? 💬 Drop a comment or shoot me a DM. --- Full transparency: Attio sponsored this post, but this was a real project we'd already set out to tackle. We still use Attio as our CRM.

The Fastest Way to Kill Your Startup? (It's Not What You Think) A lot of founders think... More channels = More growth It feels intuitive. "Someone will see us on LinkedIn ...then Instagram, ...then they'll get an email, ...then a mailer, ...they can't help but BUY!" But here's what you realize once you're running the play. Every time you add a new marketing channel: - you split your budget. - And your time. - And your focus. (You might actually split your sanity too. Been there 😅) You end up digging a bunch of shallow holes. None of them deep enough to strike water. The worst part: You potentially come away with false negatives on channels that WOULD have worked. If you gave them a little more focus and cash. The smarter move: → Test quickly. → Find your 1-2 channels that work. → Squeeze out all you can. Even if your incremental CAC grows as you saturate a channel, so long as ROAS is profitable, keep rinsing and repeating. Growth isn't about doing more of EVERYTHING. It's about doing more of the RIGHT thing. Who else has come to this realization? 💬 Tag a founder who needs this 👉 Follow for more growth insights 🔔 Join the Demand Curve Newsletter for deeper analysis & breakdowns

Your video ads aren't converting because of weak hooks.   Most brands make the mistake of leading with boring product shots or "Hi, I'm..." openings. But the first 3 seconds determine everything. In this video I break down 5 of the most effective hook types (and I actually use each one while explaining them). Here’s what actually stops the scroll: 🧠 Pattern Interrupt → Break viewers out of their doom scroll → When everyone's polished, something raw wins → Human brain notices what's different 🔍 Curiosity Gap → Create an open loop that demands closure → "The one hook most brands never use..." → Tease without giving everything away ⚡ Problem-Agitate → Your ads aren't converting (problem) → Customers slip through cracks while competitors win them (agitate) → Make inaction feel costly ✅ Social Proof → "I've used these to grow hundreds of clients" → Lead with credibility markers upfront → People trust what others have validated 🔥 Contrarian → "Everything you know about X has been a lie" → Challenge conventional wisdom boldly → Just make sure you can back it up The difference between a scroll and a conversion often comes down to those first 3 seconds. Next week I’ll share the 5 more effective hook types that you should try out. 💬 Comment below and let me know which hook type was your favorite. 👉 Follow for more ad insights that actually work.