Growth
Fix the funnel before you fill it
Pouring traffic into a leaky funnel just wastes money faster. If signups don't activate or trials don't convert, acquisition isn't your problem yet.
More traffic can't fix a leak
The instinct when growth stalls is to get more users. But if the users you already have don't reach value, or don't convert to paying, adding more just wastes money at a higher rate. A leaky funnel doesn't need more water — it needs the holes patched first.
Find the leak
Instrument the steps: visitors, signups, activation (reaching the core value), conversion to paid, retention. Look for the biggest drop-off. If lots sign up but few activate, you have an onboarding problem, and no amount of ad spend fixes it. If they activate but don't pay, it's a value or pricing problem. The leak tells you what to work on.
Acquisition is the last problem, not the first
Spend on acquisition when the funnel below it converts — when a new user reliably becomes an activated, paying, retained one. Until then, every dollar of traffic mostly leaks out the bottom. Fix the funnel first; then filling it actually compounds.
- Adding traffic to a leaky funnel wastes money faster.
- Instrument the funnel and find the biggest drop-off — that's what to fix.
- Spend on acquisition only once the funnel below it reliably converts.
Find where your funnel leaks
Cadenly's Startup Advisor pinpoints whether your problem is activation, conversion, or acquisition — before you spend.
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