u/JeckieSwallow

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. My girlfriend remembered offhand that I mentioned once hating when people are late without texting, and she has never once not given me a heads up since. It was so small but I remember thinking, okay, she actually listens. I've noticed it's never the big dramatic moments that do it. It's usually something weirdly specific that you almost missed. Curious what that moment was for other people, whether it was something they said, something they did, or just a habit you noticed over time.

I run marketing for a small B2B SaaS startup. 5 people, bootstrapped, no series A or anything.

We have a small budget and I keep going back and forth between two completely different approaches.

Plan A: go all in on brand building. Thought leadership, case studies, long form content, building authority. Takes time but supposedly pays off in the long run. Problem is the founders want results now.

Plan B: pure performance marketing. Google ads, LinkedIn ads, cold email, direct response. Everything trackable, everything measurable. We get leads this month, not next year. But margins are tight and ad costs keep going up.

I know the textbook answer is "both". But we dont have the budget for both. So I have to pick one.

For anyone who's been in this spot – which way did you go and how did it turn out? Do you regret going too brand heavy too early? Or did performance marketing burn through your budget without building anything sustainable?

I'm curious about the effectiveness of this approach. If people receive money and housing without conditions, doesn't that remove the motivation to seek treatment or get a job? How do Americans view this policy? Does it actually help people escape homelessness?