This ad has the worst CPA in the ad set. And I'm not turning it off.
→ Top spender
→ CPA: $125
→ Cost per add to cart: $21
On CPA alone, it looks like the first thing to cut.
But look at the cost per add to cart. It's right in line with the rest of the ad set ($19), and cheaper than the #2 spender ($22).
So it's bringing people into the funnel just as cheap as everything else. It just isn't the ad that closes them.
That's normal for a top spender:
→ It reaches the most new people
→ Those people add to cart, then come back later and buy through another ad
→ Or they simply just haven't bought yet
Turn it off and the ads under it will suffer (i've seen this 100 times)
When a top spender's CPA looks bad, check the cost per add to cart before you touch it.
36 days ago I started an e-commerce brand from literally $0.
Today we hit 20K on TikTok + 7K on Instagram.
No big team. No secret formula. Just testing, learning, executing and showing up every single day.
Consistency compounds. 📈
Happy with the progress, but we’re just getting started.
Got any questions about the process? Drop them below ���
In fact half the people I meet in beach clubs in St Tropez / Marbella are doing exactly this: one year it’s crypto, then an Amazon brand, then an AI lead-gen agency, then solar panels or some subsidised renovation business.
Make €1m here, €2m there, shut it down when the margins disappear, spend six months travelling, then come back with the next “coup.”
I used to think this was just unserious entrepreneurship, but some of them have become genuinely very good at it. Their real business isn’t crypto, AI or solar panels. It’s being early.
They spot a new distribution channel, regulatory distortion, shortage or wave of hype before everyone else, build something around it very quickly, then leave before the market gets crowded.
There’s no attachment to the product or industry because the company is only the vehicle. What actually compounds is the cash, contacts, execution speed and instinct for where the next trade will be.
The old founder wanted to build one company that would outlive him.
The new one wants enough wins that he never has to depend on one company at all.
You won't unlock new scale with your ads until you become better at storytelling.
Humans have always used stories to pass down knowledge, teach lessons, and shift beliefs.
The ancient Greeks couldn't explain thunder and lightning. So they told a story… Zeus, king of the gods, throws lightning bolts down from the sky when he’s angry. Suddenly a terrifying and unexplainable event was understandable.
That's what stories do, they make sense of the world in a way facts alone can't, it's how our brains are wired. And that same wiring is why storytelling works so well in ads today.
When people scroll, their guard is up. They know what a normal ad looks like and they skip it instantly (in this scenario you already paid for that view and got nothing back)
But a story told in a format that's native to the platform bypasses their guard and lets you put a narrative in their head. That's why a story can completely shift how someone thinks about their problem and how to solve it.
Instead of you telling them your product is the best for xyz (which they'll resist), the story leads them to that conclusion themselves.
There's a chemical reason why this works too. A good story triggers dopamine (which drives attention and memory) and oxytocin (which builds trust).
Storytelling ads also help you reach more new people.
Because good stories hold attention and drive engagement, the algorithm sees them as content people actually want to consume. So it pushes them into colder audiences and rewards you with lower CPMs.
Compare that to a straight hard-selling ad that only reaches the small pool of people already in-market.
Good stories get you into the bigger, colder audiences. And those people enter your funnel already believing in your solution because they've consumed your story.
The formats working best for us right now:
- AI Animation Ads (these come in so many fun formats, once you have your messaging dialed in, go ham and test a lot of variations)
- Yapper Ads
- Native statics + long form copy
So here's what to do next:
put your phone in your pocket, go for a walk without any music, podcast, or scrolling tiktok , just raw dog it, and while walking try to think of ideas for stories around your current best working angle.
Then write down your ideas in your notes app.
Then come home, make yourself a bit less sober using your drug of choice, normally a beer and a ciggy does it for me, and try to write a good storytelling ad and run it.
Do that a few times and get better at it.
That will be your next unlock.