I spent $100 on Reddit ads. Got 0 conversions.

I was looking for quick results and quick money. Like many first-time founders, I jumped into the Reddit Ads dashboard and started spending.

I spent $100 over 4 days and got zero conversions.

Not a single one.

Why I thought it would work

I had just launched PostClaw, a tool that helps you manage all your social media from one chat interface. The idea felt solid, and the landing page looked decent. I just needed people to see it.

Paid ads seemed like the obvious shortcut: pay money, get traffic, get customers. It felt like simple math.

But it wasn’t that simple.

What actually happened

The clicks started coming in, 100 in total. People were landing on the page.

But then they left right away.

I refreshed my dashboard every hour for four days, watching the spend go up while conversions stayed at zero. It’s that sinking feeling when you realize the money is gone and you have nothing to show for it.

The problem wasn’t the product—it was me. I wasn’t ready for paid ads. I had no tested copy, no retargeting, and no trust built with the audience. I just threw money at a problem that money couldn’t solve at this stage.

What I did instead

I stopped the campaign, took a breath, and wrote a post.

It was just an honest post on IndieHackers about what I was building, where I was at, and what I was learning. No budget, no targeting, no ad creative.

9 signups.

Then I committed to organic growth, posting three times a week on Reddit and IndieHackers. I started building in public, sharing real numbers, and being honest about what was working and what wasn't.

9 days later: 35 customers.

The math that hurts

| Approach | Spend | Duration | Customers |
| Reddit Ads | $100 | 4 days | 0 |
| Organic content | $0 | 9 days | 35 |

I spent $100 and got nothing. But when I shared content for free, I gained 35 customers.

Why organic actually works

Paid ads act like a megaphone, while organic content starts a conversation.

On Reddit and IndieHackers, people aren't scrolling to buy things. They're there to learn, share, and connect. An ad interrupts that. A genuine post about your real experience joins it.

The IndieHackers community especially is full of builders. They can tell when someone is just trying to sell to them, but they respond to people who are honest about their journey.

Paid ads also need infrastructure I didn't have: battle-tested copy, a proven conversion funnel, and retargeting sequences. Without that, you're just lighting money on fire and hoping someone notices the glow.

Where I'm at now

I now have 35 customers, and the number is growing. I’m still posting three times a week.

I'm not saying paid ads are dead — I'm saying they're a scaling tool, not a launch tool. You need to know your conversion rate, your CAC, and your LTV before you start paying for traffic. I knew none of those things.

Focus on building your organic growth first. Learn what makes people convert. Then, if it’s working, consider paying to reach more people.

I don’t plan to run paid ads again anytime soon.

Have you ever spent money on paid ads early on? What did you learn from it?