Application — Growth
Soylent has a rating with 9,907 Reviews, yet the home title talks about plates, not proof.
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
- Soylent complete meal - original costs $48.00, and the offer reads "get free shipping on orders over $50!". A first pack lands just under that line.
- Savings read Subscribe & Save 10%, 14%, 25% and "Subscribe and save up to 29% on every order". On Soylent complete protein powder - vanilla at $29.99, one ad, one figure.
- Home title: "Let us take a few things off your plate." Elsewhere: "9,907 Reviews". An ad can pair the promise with that proof.
What I built
What I'd do here
- My KPI: scale ad spend, hold target CAC. Everything else follows from that, even the $133.00 best sellers bundle.
- Week to week: launching a bunch of different experiments, losers killed early. One variable per test: subscribe saving, flavor, hook.
- Creators: desk workers with Soylent complete coffee - mocha, lifters mixing protein powder in a blender bottle, busy parents.
- Reporting so you never have to ask. Daily CAC. Weekly what we learned. Monthly cohort payback, which matters for prepaid plans.
- Event tracking I'd spec and work through with your team. That part isn't me. Subscribe and one-time orders need split tracking.
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 join two a week, ten live by week six. Each posts the same number of videos a week, so videos climb from 14 to 70. New ads and landing pages follow, from 12 to 20. 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
- Pull each Soylent product page's review count and subscribe saving into one claims sheet, so no ad promises what the page lacks.
- Recruit two creators who already mix shakes at their desks or the gym, and brief them on one flavor.
I haven't seen your ad account or your numbers; everything here comes from your public site.
I'd love to chat if this makes sense. Grab a time here.
Danilo