Blog

Field Notes on Growth

Notes on paid media, AI creative, CRO, and lifecycle. Mostly things we've figured out running growth at agencies and SaaS companies. Not recycled best practices.

Start here · The Playbooks

2 guides

Playbook 15 min read

AI Performance Creative: The Complete 2026 Playbook

The full 2026 playbook for AI performance creative: workflow, costs, tools, and the first 30 days of standing it up.

Playbook 14 min read

Paid Media with AI: The 2026 Strategic Framework

AI made paid media variants cheap. It made the strategy harder. Here is the 2026 framework.

Framework 13 min read

The AI Startup Growth Playbook: How Early-Stage AI Companies Acquire, Activate, and Retain in 2026

Most AI startup growth content is rebadged SaaS GTM. The real playbook starts where the unit economics break.

Framework 10 min read

AI Creative Agency vs Hiring Creators vs Building In-House: The 2026 Decision Tree

Three models, different math than 18 months ago. For most growth-stage SaaS between $5M and $50M ARR, the answer is now a hybrid: an AI creative agency for production, plus one internal creative lead for direction.

Framework 11 min read

How to Audit Your Paid Media Program in 2026: A 7-Stage Diagnostic

If I had 30 days and admin access to your paid media accounts, here is the audit I would run: seven stages, ordered from foundational to tactical.

Paid Media 13 min read

Google Ads with AI in 2026: Why YouTube Quietly Beat PMax, Meta, and TikTok

Google Ads with AI is two posts in one. PMax is the easy entry point: algorithm-led, asset-generation friendly. YouTube is the underweighted one: harder to crack on targeting, but the only channel that took our CAC from $75 to $20 on a creator-focused AI SaaS. Here is what AI does and does not solve in Google Ads in 2026, and why most teams are leaving the highest-leverage channel sitting on the bench.

Workflow 7 min read

How to Structure a TikTok Ad Account for AI Creative Velocity

Your AI creative pipeline is producing 20 variants a week. Your old TikTok account structure is killing 17 of them before the algorithm sees them.

Workflow 8 min read

How to Prompt GPT Image 2 for Photorealistic Ad Avatars (5 Templates)

We have run thousands of GPT Image 2 prompts. Here are the five templates we keep coming back to.

Guide 7 min read

What Is Conversion Rate Optimization? A 2026 Subscription Business Guide

Most subscription operators confuse CRO with A/B testing. They are not the same thing, and the difference shows up in your runway.

Guide 6 min read

How Much Does AI Performance Creative Cost? (vs Hiring Creators)

We did the math on what one ad variant actually costs in 2026. The answer is closer to ten dollars than two thousand.

Framework 8 min read

AI Didn't Replace Paid Media Strategy. It Multiplied It.

AI took over the production line in paid media. The strategy work just got harder. Especially at scale.

Guide 8 min read

Best AI Image Model for Ads in 2026: GPT Image 2 vs Midjourney vs Flux

We tested all three on the same 12 ad briefs. The winner was not the one with the loudest brand.

Workflow 8 min read

AI Performance Creative: The Workflow That Cut Our TikTok CPA in Half

Six months ago I would not have run a campaign this way. We did anyway. CPA dropped 50%.

Guide 7 min read

SEO vs GEO: What's the Difference and Why It Matters

Most marketers think GEO is just SEO with extra steps. The data says otherwise. Only 12% of pages that win Google also get cited by AI.

Growth Strategy 6 min read

AI Made Building Free. It Didn't Make Attention Free.

When the cost of building drops to near zero, the cost of being heard goes up. Here's why distribution, not product, is the new scarce resource, and how to prepare before your category saturates.

AI Creative 10 min read

Meta Ads in 2026: Why Creative Testing is the Name of the Game

On Meta and the platforms built like it, auctions are automated and audiences are algorithmic. Creative is the lever that's left. AI didn't make high-volume testing possible. It made it affordable.

Workflow 7 min read

How to Build Your Own AEO/GEO Visibility Tracker

We built a free tool to score how visible our own brand is to AI engines. The five things it tests turned out to drive 80% of all citations.

AI 7 min read

How to Choose an AI Marketing Agency (A Real Checklist)

Most companies choosing an AI marketing agency are evaluating the wrong things. Here's a checklist built from 20+ years on both sides of the agency pitch.

Growth Strategy 10 min read

Mental Well-being and Business Growth: Notes from a Fractional Head of Growth

Burned-out founders do not pivot. They persevere on the wrong path because changing course costs energy they do not have. Here is why treating mental clarity as a strategic asset, not a personal luxury, is a direct input to growth.

Growth Strategy 11 min read

What is a Fractional Head of Growth? 10 Insights for Founders in 2026

A fractional Head of Growth gives you senior-level growth ownership without a $300K full-time hire. Here's what they actually do, when to hire one, and how the role compares to a full-time VP or a consultant.

Growth Strategy 11 min read

Marketing Consultant vs. Fractional CMO: Which One Does Your Business Actually Need?

A marketing consultant advises on a specific problem. A fractional CMO owns the whole marketing function. Here's how to tell which one you actually need, and how much each one really costs.

Case Study 11 min read

Supercharging SEO with AI: My Journey and 5 Actionable Strategies

We took TubeBuddy from one blog post a week to daily publication. Traffic grew 500%. Here are the five AI tactics that did it.

Growth Strategy 11 min read

When to Hire a Fractional CMO (and When to Hold Off): A Decision Guide for Growth-Hungry CEOs

A field-tested guide for growth-stage CEOs deciding whether to hire a fractional CMO now, hire one later, or do something else entirely. Includes the decision framework, 30/60/90 day expectations, and the signals that say wait.

Growth Strategy 9 min read

5 Critical Signs Your Subscription Business Needs a Growth Overhaul

If your MRR has plateaued, churn is outrunning acquisition, or your team can see the opportunity but can't move fast enough, here are the five signs your subscription growth engine needs a rebuild.

Want to know what's actually working?

One conversation. No pitch deck. Just an honest look at what's working, what's not, and where the biggest opportunities are hiding in your growth engine.

Book a Strategy Call

Typically responds within 24 hours