Deep Growth

Director

Research and Growth

The earth is not flat. And neither should your acquisition ads' performance be.

Having worked in-house for years, I take an in-house view to Growth. We audit, sometimes do research and come up with a roadmap to growth for our clients. Whether through acquisition campaigns (usually Google or Meta Ads) or via work on customer journeys. Our audits usually uncover a nugget or two that can unlock growth.

Testimonials at https://startupmarketer.co/about/ otherwise all other info is on https://researchandgrowth.com

Growth Director

Lintbells | Home of YuMOVE

Meta Ads Consultant

The Electric Car Scheme

Paid Search Acquisition

arena.online

Paid Search Consultant

Perceptycs

I'm no jack of all trades, so in some cases I partner with individuals and teams who pack a punch.

Growth Advisor

LIMINAL

Paid Acquisition Consultant (Meta + Google)

Sweaty Betty

Onto

Did you hear that? Neither did I. Electric cars are quiet beasts. 

As Europe's largest electric car subscription services, Onto helped thousands of B2C and B2B customers drive electric cars for the first time. Having raised more than £340 million in funding, my job was to sensibly spend a big portion of that money.

Working with a team of talented individuals we drove digital and offline campaigns (e.g. Linear TV) and as well as improved the customer journey on web and app. As a monthly subscription business, no sentence was complete without a mention of our LTV:CAC ratio.

Head of Growth

Most companies with £1,000+ customer LTVs experience poor performance on paid acquisition because they're using the wrong playbook.

They're using DTC and ecommerce strategies - optimising for quick conversions, pumping out generic creative which lead to high CACs and low quality leads.

Long conversion cycles require a fundamentally different approach.
At Deep Growth, we work with B2B companies and high-LTV B2C businesses to align your acquisition strategy with how your customers actually buy.
Over the past 10 years, I've worked with companies on profitable growth when sales cycles stretch beyond 30 days:

→ Ben (Employee Benefits Platform)
Led a transformation project to move upmarket into enterprise, reworking their Google Ads strategy and prospect experience while optimising HubSpot dashboards for longer, complex sales cycles. This proof of concept changed how they approach enterprise acquisition.

→ The Electric Car Scheme (Electric cars as employee benefits)
Scaled their Paid Search beyond previous limits by building custom offline conversion automations between Pipedrive and ad platforms. Restructured accounts to focus on what actually drives pipeline, not just leads. Result: Record YoY growth.

→ Onto (Car Subscription)
Faced the challenge of introducing an entirely new concept to the UK market. Built a rapid creative iteration machine that produced contextual ads helping drivers understand car subscription without the hard sell. Became Europe's largest car subscription company by seeding the benefits of car subscription  across Meta, Google, and Reddit.

Our Deep Growth methodology is built specifically for long conversion cycles.
We focus on three core pillars:

✓ Platform Architecture - Setting up Google and/or Meta to track what matters: pipeline influence, not just last-click conversions. Attribution that actually reflects your sales cycle.
✓ Journey Optimisation - Mapping the real conversion journey and optimising touchpoint for progression.
✓ Contextual Creative - Developing ads that plant seeds early, nurture consideration, and accelerate decision-making when prospects enter their buying window.

The uncomfortable truth about high-LTV advertising:
The best prospects aren't ready to buy today. They might not even know they have a problem yet. But when they are ready - in 3, 6, or 12 months - you need to be the obvious choice.
This requires patient capital, better tracking, and creative that educates without preaching.
Unlike other agencies we optimise for more than just MQLs.

Ready to fix your paid acquisition?
DM me with your challenges.

Chris Winterhoff

RAMDAM

CEO - co-founder

Match Group

Our startup was acquired in 2016 by Match Group (Tinder, Match, Meetic...) where me and my team were specifically tasked with developing Artificial Intelligence products within Match Europe. We launched the first ever dating chatbot, starting on Facebook Messenger, then cross-platform, which engaged with millions of users per month across the globe in 10 different languages.

Director of Innovation

Mindsay

Destygo is a platform that allows travel companies to build a smart assistant for their travelers.

Board Member

Pretty Fun Therapy (acquired by Match Group)

A "Social Discovery Lab"​ that develops disruptive solutions to connect people through their mobile device.

2014: We release successfully Playme!, 1st game to meet new people on iOS (may 2014) and Android (October 2014). http://goplayme.com

2015: As we reach the 100K monthly active users milestone on Playme!, we decide to go one step further and develop PlayAround, a B2B tool that allows mobile applications to add a social discovery experience. We raise 260K€ in May and we launched our SDK on Quiz Run, 1st trivia game in France.

Mediastay

In charge of the casual gaming platform Games Passport and the free lotery Website Kingoloto
- 1M daily active users
- Strong gaming licenses as “Who wants to be a millionaire” or “Money Drop”
- 15 people team management

Chief Product Officer

Universal Music Group

In-charge of all digital business development at Universal Music.
Develop innovative business models and new ways to promote Universal acts

- OFF TV : First online music channel created by a major company - www.off.tv
- Music videos : CPM Advertising Revenue (Web & Mobile) development
- Videogames : launch of a whole range of music videogames (Nintendo WII, Microsoft Kinect) in Europe and North America.
- iPhone/mobile apps : development of iPhone apps with innovative business models (inApp purchases, ticketing, advertising etc...)
- B2C Revenue : Development of digital music shop (iPhone&mobile apps, merch shops...)

Head of Digital Development

- Consumer data collection program through web partnerships, advertising campaigns, artist websites, enhanced CDs, etc

- Direct To Consumer strategy for all Universal Music products (digital sells, merch, CD...)

eCRM manager

Hippo Sounds

Having spent a year in South Africa after my engineering, I created a music label in France promoting South African Hip Hop. I went on to sign a deal with Warner Music and sold 100,000 units of the single, “Living in da Ghetto” from Soweto's hip hop band Gomorra.

I also started to manage worldwide famous band Tahiti 80
- 3 albums / 500.000 sales worldwide (including 100.000 in the US and 200.000 in Japan)
- In charge of  the band’s business and artistic development: label and publishing contracts, touring, Internet development, merchandising, band’s studio management, etc.

Founder

Warner Music/Gallo (South Africa)

Publishing/export – development of Gallo music export in France and Europe (largest record company in Africa)

Publishing/Export

Orange

Technical internship : R&D study on DRM encryption for mobile devices

Internship

I’m Xavier, Co-founder and CEO of Ramdam — the fastest way to scale authentic creator ads.

After an early career at Universal Music, I co-founded a startup acquired by Match Group in 2016, where I led the AI team for several years. In 2020, I launched a consumer app that skyrocketed thanks to TikTok creator ads—an experience that showed both their massive impact and the pain of managing them.

That’s why we built Ramdam in 2023: the #1 solution for any app developer spending over $100K/month on social media ads. We make it seamless to get high-performing creator ads, at scale and on brand, thanks to data-driven automation.

Today, we’re proud to support some of the biggest app developers worldwide in scaling faster and smarter with creator ads that truly perform.

Always happy to connect if you’re curious about how to take your ad growth to the next level.

Xavier de Baillenx

Yesterday, I spoke at the Meta Gen AI Ecosystem event about a topic on everyone’s mind:

“AI replacing creators… really?”

At Ramdam, we’re experimenting with Gen AI tools, building with AI operators, and testing how far AI video can go, with human creativity driving everything.

And the more we test, the clearer it becomes. You need:
→ AI to scale human creators.
→ Humans to scale AI creators.

AI + Humans = the formula that works

A huge shoutout to the amazing people I got to share the stage with: Sébastien Fernandes, Florent Facq, Mathieu Pecquenard, and Lola Abourmad - Musicant.

This was my second time pitching at Meta Paris, and every time it’s an inspiring crowd and a truly warm welcome. Thank you, Pierre Valzer and Marie Candylaftis, for having me!

One out of three posts on the internet today claims something like:

“Generate AI UGC while you sleep." 
"Comment AI to get the workflow.”
(some BS about an AI agent you will never use and that, even if you manage to use it, will never deliver a real top-performing ad)

Here’s the reality:
- You need to select the right model depending on the brief:
Veo 3.1 for natural TikTok-style talking videos
Sora 2 (even better, but more unpredictable)
Wan 2.2 for proper ad replicates
Kling, NanoBanana, Seedance… depending on the need

- Almost 100% of the time, you need post-editing: timing, subtitles, transitions

- Around 10-20 generations on average to get a usable take
(≈ 20 USD in technical cost with Sora 2 or Veo 3.1)

- A skilled AI operator and talent to steer the models, iterate, fix, refine, and deliver something truly on-brand

So no, there is no magic formula, no “30 min to install the agent and get hundreds of AI UGC overnight at no cost”.

But you can absolutely get amazing content with real top-performing potential
(see an example and a replicate in the comments).

It looks like magic… but there’s still human work and talent behind it.

And no, that doesn’t mean it can’t scale.
It absolutely can. Just not through a plug-and-play AI agent that supposedly takes less than an hour to install through n8n.

If the topic interests you, happy to chat

One of our clients hit 288M+ of views across multiple creators from a single brief.

(With a copy/paste system anyone can use.)

Most marketers spend hours on creator selection, trends, and production… but skip the part that drives the biggest results: the brief.

We’ve tested thousands of briefs, videos, and creators to figure out what separates consistent campaigns from one-hit wonders.

Now, we’ve put everything together in one guide: Brief like a pro

Inside, you’ll find:

- The structure of a strong brief (with real examples)
- How AI and humans work together to make briefs faster and better
- Data from our top-performing campaigns
- Why trends are your best shortcut to repeatable success

This is the same system we use to scale creative performance at Ramdam, and it works.

Curious to see how top-performing briefs are built?
Comment “briefs” to get the ebook.

Can’t wait? You can find the link in the first comment 👇

Ever notice how AI always acts confident… even when it misunderstood you completely?

AI won’t say, “Are you sure?”

It just goes ahead and does the thing, right or wrong.

That’s why briefing AI operators is nothing like briefing creators.
Creators push back. They ask questions, test the app, try the feature, adjust their tone, and give you real feedback.

AI can’t do any of that.
It can’t scroll through your product, can’t feel what a frustrated user feels, can’t pick up context or emotion unless you spell it out.

So the brief becomes everything:
→ describe the emotion and intention
→ describe the dialogue
→ describe the pacing
→ describe the persona
→ describe the “don’t you dare do this” parts

Miss a detail, and AI fills it in with something you probably didn’t mean.

At the end of the day, AI will do what you asked,
so we need to get better at asking.

You can find an AI brief example in the comments 👇

A productivity app just turned one of the most universal frustrations on the internet into a viral moment.

Wispr Flow built a TikTok around the idea of rejecting a rejection, 
and it instantly connected with millions of people because:

The Gmail screen is familiar, but more than anything, everyone has opened a rejection letter at some point and wished they could undo it with a single tap.

The video has already crossed 10M+ views, and what’s even more interesting: 
creators are now running with the exact same concept, which is the clearest sign an app has found a top-performing format worth doubling down on.

We analyzed what makes this concept work, and the secret is all in the simplicity of the formula:

→ Open with an unconventional hook (rejecting a rejection).
→ Tie it to a scenario everyone knows: the Gmail screen.
→ Use a sped-up voiceover to keep the rhythm fast and scroll-proof.
→ Swap music for a trending sound to boost retention.

Simple. Native. Addictive.
That’s how you stop the scroll.

At Ramdam, this is the kind of breakout format we study closely, 
because once you find your top performer, the smartest move is to replicate, refine, and scale it.

Examples in the comments 👇

Your creative research process is officially obsolete.

That’s not hyperbole. The official release of Gemini 3 Pro this week just made that a fact.

You know that 80% of “strategy” that’s really just...
→ Manually scrolling the TikTok Ad Library.
→ Paying for 3 different spy tools.
→ Guessing which viral trends might work for your product.
→ Spending 2 days on research before writing a single script.

That entire workflow just died.

The new generation of AI, led by the launch of Gemini 3 Pro, is not just “helping” anymore. It’s doing the entire pre-production research loop.

Here’s the new workflow:
Old way: 10+ hours of manual research to maybe find one insight.
New way: A single 30-second prompt.

I literally asked it: “Analyze the top-performing competitor ads from the Meta/TikTok libraries for [Product X], cross-reference them with current viral hashtags, and propose 3 creator scripts that highlight my product’s unique features.”

In minutes, it delivered.

It didn’t just find ideas. It analyzed what’s working, why it’s working, and connected it directly to a unique selling proposition.

Is it perfect? No.
It’s not going to replace a great Creative Strategist.
The “human layer” is still crucial: for validation, for nuance, for that final 10% of genius.
But the 90% of manual grunt work? It’s gone.

The time saved is astronomical. As of this week, this is the new baseline. While you’re still building your research deck, your competitors are already in production with 5 data-backed briefs.

Of course, a mind-blowing brief is only half the battle. 
You still have to make the video (with real creators or AI).

(And yes, solutions like Ramdam remain the most efficient way to get that done. 😉)

You survived Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

You spent the budget, fought the CPMs, delivered the campaigns. But now what?

Earlier this year, I did my first podcast in English (!!)
I joined Greg Kihlstrom on The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström® to talk about a moment most brands overlook:

Q5: the weeks right after the holidays where performance goes up and competition goes down.

Right after the holidays is when:
→ ad costs drop
→ people rethink their goals
→ attention resets
→ and competition finally calms down

This is where smart brands win.

We talked about:
- why Q5 is a huge opportunity
- how AI + micro-influencers help you scale fast
- why January is the new “unknown peak season”

If you’re tempted to unplug after BFCM, fair enough, 
but this is the moment most brands underestimate.

Take a listen, and let me know what you think.
Link in comments 👇

taplio

The Battle

Chris Winterhoff

Xavier de Baillenx

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreXavier de Baillenx's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Chris Winterhoff

Xavier de Baillenx

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Xavier de Baillenx's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreXavier de Baillenx's LinkedIn Performance