What is in here
- 8 cases across 5 companies – Praktika, Toloka (ex-Yandex, now Nebius-backed), Scentbird, Buddy AI and one stealth consumer subscription app.
- The scaling side: $30M Series A closed in under 3 months with revenue ×5 (Praktika); Meta spend ×2 in 5 months at a 27% lower CAC (Scentbird); LTV +32% and LatAm ×1.5 (Buddy AI).
- The efficiency side: acquisition budgets cut 44%, 26% and 22% at Toloka with revenue unchanged, and worker retention up 65%.
- The stop decision: a ~$900k/month Meta ramp held after 50+ concepts failed to reset delivery and only 2 survived a clean pixel.
- Every case follows the same shape – situation, task, action, result – with the hypothesis stated before the work and the outcome measured against it.
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~$900k/month scaling plan stopped · 50+ concepts reset-tested · 2 survived the clean pixel
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$30M Series A · 5× revenue in <3 months
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44% acquisition budget cut · revenue unchanged
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65% retention increase · 26% budget cut · revenue unchanged
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100% fulfillment rate maintained · 22% budget cut
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LTV +32% · LatAm ×1.5 · Turkey launch
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27% CAC reduction · Meta spend ×2 in 5 months
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20% user base growth during pandemic · 5% forecast accuracy
