Startups Don’t Die From CAC. They Die From Inaction Post-Signup.

Read time: 3 minutes.

Welcome to the 115th edition of The Growth Elements Newsletter. Every Monday and sometimes on Thursday, I write an essay on growth metrics & experiments and business case studies.

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Startups obsess over CAC.
They optimise campaigns.
They track cost per lead, per trial, per demo.

But here’s the harsh reality:

You’ve already paid.
You’ve got the trialer.
The user said, “I’m interested.”

And then…

Silence.

No activation.
No handoff.
No movement.
No revenue.

The Real Leak Isn’t at the Top of the Funnel

It’s not Google Ads.
It’s not Meta CPMs.
It’s not even cold outbound reply rates.

It’s the chasm between “signup” and “value.”

That’s where your CAC goes to die.

Where the GTM System Breaks Down

Here’s what we found looking at our own flow:

1. No clear ownership of the first post-signup 60 minutes

2. Sales outreach before any real usage signal

3. Product treating onboarding like a support flow

4. Marketing only tracking form fills, not activation

5. No feedback loop from trialers back to GTM

Everyone owns the signup.
Nobody owns the outcome.

What We’ve Started Doing Differently

[1] Activation is now a tracked GTM metric
→ We monitor: did they launch a campaign, invite a teammate, or hit key onboarding actions?

[2] Sales only engages when intent + signal is clear
→ Viewed pricing, triggered automation, booked demo = go
→ Passive logins = wait, observe, or nudge via product

[3] Marketing measures signal velocity, not just signup count
→ Weekly dashboard tracks trial-to-value time
→ Channels that produce faster activation get budget reallocation

[4] Product builds with Revenue Outcomes in mind
→ No features get prioritised unless they unlock activation or expansion

[5] Everyone is accountable to one shared number:
→ Expansion-Qualified Trialers.

Why This Matters

In 2025, most SaaS businesses won’t die because they didn’t acquire enough users.

They’ll die because they acquired users and then did nothing with them.

Final Word

If you want to grow efficiently, don’t just buy users.
Activate them.
Expand them.
Retain them.

Everything else is noise.

That's it for today's article! I hope you found this essay insightful.

Wishing you a productive week ahead!

I always appreciate you reading.

Thanks,
Chintankumar Maisuria