Principle 1: Test fast with an MVP
Over 3 years, we tested 350+ products and dropped more than 80% of them within the first few days.
The biggest mistake in e-commerce is falling in love with a product, spending a month building a website and polishing creatives, and even ordering stock before testing demand — only to discover nobody wants it.
This project taught us a golden rule: if a product or offer is fresh and meets strong demand, you don't need to spend ages perfecting its presentation. Its potential is clear from even a basic setup: it delivers results from the first few days, giving you something to improve.
Principle 2: Build on a winning angle
Once you find a product that works, creative becomes the limit on sales volume.
This is where many go wrong. Instead of testing new hooks or formats for a proven angle, they keep creating entirely new angles or try to scale by duplicating the winning ad.
In one case, simply testing different hooks led us, on the 11th attempt, to a creative that spent €35,715 across 11 markets at an average CPA of €3.58.
Principle 3: Defend against copycats and improve unit economics
A familiar e-commerce problem: as soon as sales take off, competitors copy your funnel 1:1 and source a cheap, poor-quality version of your product.
Smaller players often undercut your prices further by operating outside the rules.
How do we respond? We move into more complex products with high barriers to entry and proven demand, while increasing average order value (AOV) and repeat sales (LTV).
That way, smaller resellers simply can't compete with us on unit economics.
Principle 4: Use ad research tools well
We constantly monitor the market through Facebook Ads Library and AdHeart. AdHeart lets us find campaigns that competitors ran and switched off long ago.
For emerging trends and strong creative references, we use Foreplay.
Its strength is a built-in human filter: it contains ads that other creators and media buyers have chosen to save. AdHeart, by comparison, collects everything, including the noise.
Principle 5: Scale across markets
If a product performs well in one country, there's a strong chance it will work in neighbouring markets too. Europe is ideal for this approach.
To limit financial risk, quickly localise the website and your best creatives into the local language, then measure demand.
When you see a positive response and volume, bring in local fulfilment and add the new market to your portfolio.