How a Canadian startup turned $1k a month into a successful seed round.
6x
more qualified leads
Inbound lead volume was too low to hit the next funding round's targets, the pre-seed budget left no room for slow tests, and the whole business depended on a single market.
Built a paid engine that scaled from $1k to $50k a month - fixing tracking, rapid-testing audiences and creative on small budgets, then scaling what worked into the US.
Billdr is a Montreal-based startup building a digital platform that connects homeowners with vetted contractors for home renovation projects. Founded in 2020, they had raised $500k in a pre-seed round when they came to us - with six months of runway and one shot at the next round.
The challenge
Inbound leads weren't where they needed to be to hit the targets for the next funding round, and the team had to scale fast or risk running out of road. Pre-seed money meant every dollar had to earn its place, and the business was running entirely in Canada - so without expansion, growth would plateau before the funding gap closed.
What we built
We built a paid acquisition engine that scaled from $1k to $50k a month. Each phase built on the last: same team, sharper system, more leads at lower cost.
Strategy and tracking - Month 1
Built the strategy around two main levers: new audiences and new markets. Worked with the product team to fix tracking on user activity, laying the data foundation everything else would depend on.
Rapid testing - Months 2–3
Tested new audiences and creative across channels on small budgets, starting at $1k a month. Found early traction on Facebook ads with the right combination of messaging and targeting.
Scaling and US expansion - Month 4
Scaled spend on what was working and began testing the US market with iterative messaging variants, using split-test data from earlier campaigns to guide creative direction.
Chicago traction - Months 5–6
Found strong traction in Chicago and scaled across all channels. Lead flow hit 605% growth on starting volumes, with cost per lead more than halved - and the playbook then opened up further US expansion.
The results
Six months of testing took Billdr from $1k a month in ad spend to $50k a month, fuelling a successful $3.2m Seed+ round: 6x more qualified leads and 54% lower cost per lead.
“As a high-growth startup, we value their 'always on' approach, where they are constantly monitoring and optimising our campaigns, asking the right questions, updating us regularly, and thinking about the next campaign, so we can stay ahead of the curve. We highly recommend Growthmode as an agency for those who want to grow fast with quality results.”
Joelle Irvine
Head of Growth and Marketing, Billdr
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