Episode · 2026-03-24
Paid Ads are Crude?!
Paid Ads are Crude?! | Best Content on the Internet | Dan Vinson Joins
Rundown
Chris Hall and Colin open by tearing into a weekend's worth of VC hot takes calling paid ads 'crude' and inferior to organic growth, backing their rebuttal with ad-revenue stats and stories of organic-only brands getting flipped after adding paid spend. Kickstarter veteran and backpack founder Dan Vinson joins to talk launch strategy, rucking as a fitness trend, and behind-the-scenes 'featured effort' content, before the hosts close with a rapid-fire review of recent ad campaigns and product launches.
Takes from this episode
The VC narrative that paid ads are inherently bad is detached from reality, and even organically strong brands should layer paid spend on top rather than treat it as an either/or.
I just think that this overall view of paid ads being bad is stupid, honestly. I think it's dumb and it's totally detached from reality.
An organic-only brand was undervalued specifically because it refused paid ads; adding paid spend after acquisition multiplied its resale value roughly 200x.
I acquired his brand. I immediately started running ads and then sold it for 200X more
Winning a Kickstarter launch requires founders to go in already convinced they'll win and to personally hustle (messaging friends, emailing family, chasing press) rather than expecting a lucky break.
it's it's make It's going into it knowing you're you're going to win ahead of time.
Group endurance challenges like rucking are emerging as a distinctly masculine-coded fitness trend worth brands paying attention to.
there's something about it that feels masculine to me
Behind-the-scenes 'featured effort' content, like packaging production and founder day-in-the-life videos, is an easy, underused organic content win for DTC brands.
I think something like this should be on everybody's social calendar.
Google, Meta, and Amazon combined will out-earn all of traditional media ad spend by 2028, undercutting the idea that social/platform advertising is a lesser channel.Prediction
Google, Meta, Amazon each bring in more ad revenue than all of traditional media ad spending combined combined by 2028.