Application — Growth
Red Clay already runs six personal code pages, from MOLLY20 to MEGAN15. That's the start of a creator engine.
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 MOLLY20 page opens with "Shop my favorite products below" and offers 20% off a first order plus free shipping from $45. A creator landing page already exists.
- The Whole Shebang, $48.00, shows 19 reviews. Red Clay Classics and both À la Carte packs show zero. Proof sits on one gift box only.
- Hot Honey, $14.00, pairs "100% pure USA wildflower honey" with habanero, and it also sits inside Southern Staples and the Carolina Duo. One hook can sell three products.
What I built
What I'd do here
- My KPI: scale ad spend, hold target CAC. Everything else follows, including whether Hot Honey or The Whole Shebang leads.
- Week to week: a bunch of different experiments, losers killed early. One variable per test: oysters, fried chicken or margaritas.
- Creators: Southern home cooks for Hot Honey on fried chicken, home bartenders for Spicy Margarita Salt, pitmasters for Pitmaster's Chili Crisp.
- Reporting so you never have to ask. Daily CAC. Weekly what we learned. Monthly cohort payback, MOLLY20 buyers beside paid.
- Event tracking I'd spec and work through with your team. That part isn't me. Same for matching CARO15 orders to ads.
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 join two a week, 0 to 10 by week six, each posting the same number of videos, so weekly videos climb from 14 to 70. New ads go from 12 to 20 a week and landing pages from 1 to 9, following the creators. 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 every order placed with the six personal codes and see which products those buyers chose before any ad gets written.
- Shoot the first hooks on Hot Honey over fried chicken and Original Hot Sauce on wings, straight from your recipe pages.
I haven't seen your ad account or your numbers, and I've never sold condiments. Everything here comes from redclayhotsauce.com.
I'd love to chat if this makes sense. Grab a time here.
Danilo