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Field notes on growth.

What we've learned shipping campaigns, sites, and brands. Practical, opinionated, and free of growth-hack folklore.

FOUNDER PRESENCE · 2026 @justin · Founder in LinkedIn 3-5 posts/week REACH / MONTH 120k impressions 🎙 Podcast guests 4-8 / year CARRYOVER 12 mo inbound Newsletter Bi-weekly OWNED AUDIENCE 3,400 subscribers 🎤 Conferences 2-4 talks/year CATEGORY AUTHORITY compounding 3-5× inbound close rate vs cold paid
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Founder-led marketing in 2026: why presence became table stakes

Founder presence on LinkedIn, podcasts, and community is no longer optional for B2B and SMB in 2026. Here's why it became table stakes and how to start.

TRUEVIEW FOR ACTION · WATCH PAGE Ad "How we audit SEO in 48 hours." Skip in 2s adfirm.net Get your free audit Visit site → AUDIENCE SIGNAL Custom intent (URL-based) competitor sites + "best CRM" queries First-party customer match CRM upload · 12k users In-market: Business Software Google segment · ~1.2M reach RESULT · 30 DAYS Skip rate @ 5s 42% View-through rate 31% Pipeline @ 90d $840k
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YouTube Ads in 2026: the high-consideration playbook

Demand Gen is great for new demand, but YouTube standalone still wins for high-consideration B2B and SaaS. Here's the 2026 setup, creative spec, and audience model.

PROMOTED POST · r/SaaS r/ r/SaaS Hot · New · Top u/honest_founder · 4h Just hit $50k MRR with 2 founders ▲ 412 💬 89 PROMOTED u/adfirm_justin We A/B tested 200 subject lines. Here's what won. After 90 days of testing across our SaaS client list, three patterns won consistently. Sharing the data + the open-rate lifts: Open rate by pattern Specific number · 48% Question form · 38% Read the full breakdown → ▲ 1.2k 💬 168 ↗ Share 94% upvoted · community accepted u/devops_dad · 6h Anyone else hate Linear's pricing change? VS META EQUIVALENT CPM -45% CPA -52% CVR vs cold Meta 2.4× DO ▸ Title in Reddit-native voice ▸ 200-600 word substantive body ▸ Reply to comments daily DON'T ▸ Polished branded image ▸ Hyperbolic ad copy ▸ Ignore negative comments
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Reddit Ads in 2026: the SMB playbook from a hostile platform

Reddit's self-serve ad platform matured in 2025. Here's how to run paid Reddit ads in 2026 without getting community-pilloried — and what actually converts.

BING + COPILOT · CPC ARBITRAGE b Bing best CRM for small SaaS team Ad adfirm.net › crm CRM Built for Small SaaS Teams Try free for 14 days. No credit card. Used by 4k+ teams. Ad competitor.com CRM Software · All-in-One Scale your SaaS sales team. g2.com › best-crm-saas Best CRM for SaaS · G2 Reviews 2026 COPILOT Top picks for small SaaS: 1. Adfirm CRM Strong for 5-50 person teams 2. Competitor X Better for enterprise migration 3. Competitor Y Cheapest entry pricing SOURCES [1] adfirm.net [2] g2.com [3] forbes.com vs Google Ads B2B SaaS audience · same query AVG CPC $3.90 vs $8.40 Google CVR 3.8% vs 4.2% Google CPA $103 vs $200 Google ~50% CPA · same intent
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Microsoft Ads in 2026: the channel everyone forgot is growing

Microsoft Ads quietly grew in 2025 thanks to Copilot. CPCs are 40-60% cheaper than Google. Here's the 2026 setup that arbitrages the gap before it closes.

CREATOR HANDLE · BRAND BUDGET M @maya.builds 28.4k followers · SaaS founder whitelisted META BRAND PARTNERS Adfirm · Advertiser access ✓ Signed agreement on file RUNS AS @maya.builds M maya.builds Paid partnership with adfirm "Honest CRM review" ♥ 8.4k · 💬 312 · ↗ 89 Boosted by adfirm · 3-day campaign VS BRAND-HANDLE EQUIVALENT CTR 2.8× CPM -18% CVR 1.9× CREATIVE FATIGUE +70% Trust transfers · production matches platform aesthetic by default
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Influencer whitelisting in 2026: paid amplification done right

Whitelisting is the highest-leverage Meta tactic most agencies haven't figured out. Here's how to run ads through creator accounts in 2026 — at scale.

1 HERO → 80 AI VARIANTS → 12 SHIPPED HUMAN HERO "48h audit" Founder UGC · phone-shot AI A1SHIP A2skip A3 A4 A5 A6 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 + 68 more variants generated · 56 filtered out TIME · 1 HERO TO 12 SHIP-READY 90 min vs ~12 hours human-only ACCOUNT CPA · WITH AI VARIANTS -18% ASC has more to optimize across
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AI ad creative tools in 2026: what's worth using vs hype

AI ad creative tools went from gimmick to actually useful in 2026. Here's what works (and what's still hype), with the workflow that pairs AI with human craft.

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