Application — Growth
The Minimalist ($38.00, 30 variants) has a 51-volunteer wear study behind it. That is the strongest proof MERIT has to sell with.
Who I am
- Former COO of Tabs. Built its creator program to 100M monthly social impressions, and the paid ad engine alongside it.
- Founded Mainstreet, a consumer home-services platform: a team of 70, $25M raised (Greylock, Khosla, YC, Tim Ferriss). It failed.
- Before that: Quintessential Ventures, an early seat at a high-growth startup, and entrepreneur-in-residence at Prehype.
- I'm moving into growth specifically. The creative and top-of-funnel work is what I want to be doing every day.
What I noticed
- The Minimalist is $38.00 and comes in 30 variants. Shade-finding is a story a creator can show on camera in one take, so it belongs in the first seconds of an ad.
- In MERIT's own study of 51 volunteers, 98% said The Minimalist creates healthy looking skin after 8 hours of wear. Your team should approve that wording before any ad uses it.
- Madi's Easy Essentials is $88.00 and carries a named-set code: use MADI at checkout for a free Deluxe Mini Flush Balm in Le BonBon on orders over $75. The named-set format already exists.
What I built
What I'd do here
- My KPI: scale ad spend, hold target CAC. Everything else follows from that, from a $38.00 Minimalist to a set like Madi's Easy Essentials.
- Week to week: launching a bunch of different experiments, losers killed early. One variable per test, starting with the Clean Volume mascara.
- Creators: five-minute-routine makeup minimalists, skincare-first Great Skin users, and mascara lovers, each filming one product in their own words.
- Reporting so you never have to ask. Daily CAC. Weekly what we learned. Monthly cohort payback, split by single product and set.
- Event tracking I'd spec and work through with your team. That part isn't me. Tracking decides whether the first-order bag offer is measurable.
Month one
| Metric | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creators live | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Creator videos / week | 0 | 14 | 28 | 42 | 56 | 70 |
| Landing pages live | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| New ads / week | 12 | 12 | 12–20 | 12–20 | 20 | 20 |
| Unique experiments | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
Creators come on two a week, ten live by week six. Each posts the same number of videos a week, so new ads and landing pages follow the creators: 12 new ads a week at first, 20 by week five. Proposed.
Creator videos a week = creators live × videos per creator. Week 1: 0 × 7 = 0; Week 2: 2 × 7 = 14; Week 3: 4 × 7 = 28; Week 4: 6 × 7 = 42; Week 5: 8 × 7 = 56; Week 6: 10 × 7 = 70.
How I'd start
- Pull the Minimalist wear-study results into a claims sheet your team approves, so every hook uses MERIT's own wording and nothing stronger.
- Brief the first two creators on The Minimalist shade-finding and Clean Volume, one variable per test, with the first order bag offer kept constant.
I'd love to chat if this makes sense. Grab a time here.
Danilo