This is a placeholder post. Blake will fill this in with full content.
ROAS is a lagging indicator
If you're optimizing purely for ROAS, you're optimizing for the past. The best performance marketers I know think in margins, cohort LTV, and payback periods — not just in-platform return metrics.
What "thinking like an operator" actually means
It means asking: what's the contribution margin on this product? What's the payback period on a new customer? At what LTV does this CAC become sustainable? These aren't finance questions — they're the questions that determine whether your campaigns should scale or stop.
The founder advantage
Having built and run my own brand from scratch changed how I approach every client engagement. When you've personally felt the weight of margin pressure, you optimize differently. Less vanity, more business impact.