How are you selling without ads?

If not, focus on that first.

If you aren't selling through other channels:

• How are you confident that your product is validated? How did you decide that you have a Product-market Fit ?
• Your Pixel does not have enough conversion data to look for the right audience.
• You do not have Organic Creatives & Captions tested that you can confidently test as ads.
• You do not enough Social Proof or UGC to aid conversions from advertisement

Skipping 'selling without ad' part, will require you to spend money on ads to test & figure out what works, what doesn't in terms of:

• Offers
• Ad copies & Creatives
• Strategy
• Targeting
• Audience
• etc

That requires time, money, and patience. Without capital, it can be tough.

Ask Yourself these first

Please tell me how much time you spend selling your products versus improving your website or ad campaign with $10/day budget.

This is where I see the biggest mistakes made by new e-commerce founders. Spending months or even years trying to perfect their website or ads while not selling their products in any and every way possible.

Listen to DedCool founder Carina Chaz on the Shopify Masters podcast episode:

The Solo Founder Who Did Everything Herself and Still Beat Beauty Industry Giants (2025) - Shopify

She spent the next several months knocking on doors at mom-and-pop shops throughout LA, asking retailers to carry her products on consignment. When you’re operating alone, rejection feels personal and can be paralyzing, but success comes from pushing through.

I lead marketing and growth for a wellness brand that has been in business for over fifteen years and is sold in more than 1,500 retail stores across the United States.

The founder does not have a marketing or advertising background; they have focused on delivering exceptional products.

As a result, word‑of‑mouth referrals generated buzz, leading to coverage in major press, industry magazines, and endorsements from celebrities.

Subsequently, the brand began receiving wholesale orders through online platforms such as Faire, attending trade shows, and working with wholesale representatives.

For fifteen years, they paid little attention to the e‑commerce website; now they finally want to capitalize on it, have approached me, and I have taken responsibility for this channel.

I'm trying to convince you to focus on selling your products no matter what, as an early‑stage founder.

No matter how amazing your website is or optimized your ad setup are, if more and more people do not get to know about your product, then it's useless.

If you're thinking, “Well, that’s why I’m running Facebook ads,” let me tell you this: