The storyHow they got there
Corey Haines didn't want to start an agency. He had built Swipe Files — a popular marketing newsletter — and had an audience of SaaS founders and growth marketers who trusted his taste. When constraints forced the decision, the audience did the selling.
Conversion Factory launched in July 2023 with a landing page built in one week and no paid marketing. The first client signed within two weeks without a call — they had read enough of Corey's work to not need one. The $1,000 paid audit was the front door: low risk for clients, high conversion to retainer. $36K MRR arrived within two months.
Clients paid $6K–$20K/month on subscription tiers for async SaaS marketing work. By year two, Conversion Factory was above $83K/month — built on the principle that an owned audience compounds faster than any paid channel.
Channel MixWhere the growth actually came from
Most case studies hand-wave channels. Here's the rough allocation — not in dollars spent, but in users acquired — across the routes that actually mattered.