Marketing after launch
Months of building, then a launch post. Nobody was waiting because nobody knew.
Timing
For early-stage founders with a real budget
Marketing
Marketing
for startups
Marketing for startups should answer one question before it spends serious money: will people pay? I help you test that with a landing page in 10 days.
Free: a 30-minute call, an action plan and a price range in writing.
Where founders lose moneyBuilt for a year,
Built for a year,
launched to silence
Most early marketing mistakes are expensive because they come late.
Every channel at once
A bit of TikTok, a bit of LinkedIn, a newsletter and a podcast. Nothing gets enough budget to learn from.
FocusVanity metrics
Followers and pageviews grow. Paying customers do not, and the deck still shows a hockey stick.
Data
How it works
Reviews that
Reviews that
win the next customers
Before calling, customers read reviews. I help you collect them and reply in a way that builds trust.
- Review request after the visit
- A reply to every review
- Reviews visible on Maps and in AI
What works earlyA lean
A lean
startup marketing kit
One landing page
The problem, the promise, how it works, price or waitlist, one call to action. Fast and easy to change.
Small paid tests
A few weeks of Google or Meta ads at a modest budget to compare messages and audiences. Results in days, not months.
Analytics from day one
GA4, pixels and events for signups and payments, so every test has a clear answer.
Founder-led content
Your story, the problem you saw, what you are learning. Cheap, honest and often the best channel early on.
Prices in CAD
Lean starting
Lean starting
packages
Final prices in Canadian dollars. Ad tests need a budget paid directly to Google or Meta; I usually suggest about $1,000 a month for a meaningful signal.
■ Start[01]
from $1,950 CAD
Landing page plus analytics. The fastest way to put an idea in front of real people.
- Copy, design and build
- GA4, Tag Manager, pixels
- Waitlist or checkout
- Live from 10 days
Marketing audit and strategy[02]
$2,400 CAD
Audience, positioning, value proposition and a testing plan with budgets.
- Customer and competitor research
- Test plan for 3 months
Google + Meta[03]
$1,200 CAD
Setup of both channels for testing; management $1,200/month, cancel with a month's notice.
- Message and audience tests
- Reports every two weeks
ProcessFrom hypothesis
From hypothesis
to evidence
CallYour idea, target customer, stage, runway and what you need to prove next.
HypothesesTwo or three messages and audiences to test, with success criteria written down.
Build and launchLanding page, tracking and ads, all registered to your company.
Read the resultsA plain report: what worked, what did not, what to test or scale next.
Related launchesNew projects
New projects
I launched
Lucky Mafia ClubVietnam
Website with event sign-up and a player ranking for a new club. The project has just launched; I'll share results once there are hard numbers.
See the case study →KagenoishiJewellery brand, Warsaw
Sales website, order CRM, ads and a bot for a young brand. The project has just launched; I'll share results once there are hard numbers.
See the case study →Marketing for startups is a series of experiments
Early on, you do not need a brand campaign. You need evidence. Marketing for startups is about turning assumptions into tests: who has this problem, which words make them click, and will they pay or at least join a waitlist? A landing page and a small ad budget can answer those questions in weeks, long before you spend a year building features nobody asked for.
I am direct about one thing: I work with founders who have a budget for both the work and the ads. If the money is not there yet, a one-on-one consultation can help you plan tests you run yourself, and that is often the smartest first step.
A simple testing loop
- Write the hypothesis. "Owners of small dental clinics will book a demo for automated recall texts."
- Build the smallest page that explains the promise and asks for a clear action.
- Drive targeted traffic through Google or Meta with two or three message variants.
- Measure the action, not the click: signups, demo requests, preorders.
- Decide: double down, change the message, or change the audience.
Each loop takes two to four weeks. Three or four loops usually tell you more than months of guessing. A landing page built on clean code is fast to change between loops.
Choosing the first channel
| If your customer... | Start with |
|---|---|
| Searches for a solution already | Google Search ads |
| Does not know the solution exists | Meta ads with a clear problem hook |
| Is a specific job title in a company | Direct outreach, then LinkedIn |
| Lives in a tight community | Founder content, partnerships |
One channel done properly beats five done halfway. Once one channel works, the second becomes much easier to test.
Canadian specifics founders often miss
CASL applies from your first email. If you collect waitlist signups, add a clear consent checkbox and record it; sending promotional messages without consent can bring serious penalties. Privacy matters too: PIPEDA federally, and Quebec's Law 25 if you have users there, which requires consent for tracking. Set up analytics with consent from day one, so you are not rebuilding everything before your first enterprise customer asks.
Language can also be an early advantage. Many Canadian startups are founded by immigrants who know a community's problems from the inside. If your first customers speak Polish, Ukrainian or Russian, I can write the test pages and ads in their language.
Talk to the people who sign up. A short call with ten early users often explains a test result better than any dashboard. Ask what they tried before, what almost stopped them, and what they would pay. Those answers become the copy for the next landing page.
When to move beyond tests
Once a channel brings paying customers at a cost your model can support, it is time to build properly: a full website, a CRM, regular campaigns and reporting. That is the moment for a marketing strategy with a budget and targets, rather than more experiments.
If your startup is a software product, see marketing for IT and SaaS companies for the next stage. Consumer brands may find marketing for online stores closer to their path.
FAQ
Founders
Founders
ask me
Do you work for equity?
No. I work for a fee, in stages, under a written agreement. That keeps things simple for both sides and leaves your cap table clean. If the budget is not there yet, a paid one-hour consultation at $70 can help you plan what to do yourself.
How much should a startup spend on marketing tests?
Enough to get a clear answer. For most consumer and small business products, a few weeks at around $1,000 a month in ad spend gives a useful signal. B2B products with expensive clicks may need more, or a different test like direct outreach.
Can you help with grant or funding applications?
No, that is outside my work. Many Canadian startups use programs such as IRAP or provincial funds, and those need specialists. I can provide the marketing plan, research and numbers that often go into those applications.
Who owns the accounts and the code?
You do. Ad accounts, domain, analytics and website code are registered in your company's name from the start. If you hire a marketing lead later, they inherit everything with full history.
Next step
What do you need
What do you need
to prove next?
Tell me about your idea, your customer and your runway. I reply within one business day, or book a free 30-minute call.
- 9 short steps
- No obligation
- I reply personally
- I reply within 1 business dayPersonally, by email or on WhatsApp, whichever you prefer.
- A 30-minute call, freeI ask about your business, customers and budget. Beforehand I review your website and ads.
- A proposal with a price, in writingWhat I’ll do, by when and for how much. You decide with no pressure.
MarketingStep 1 of 9
What do you need most?