Matt Anthes (ex-federal campaign strategist, now Founder of Advocators) explains why micro and nano influencers outperform “big name” buys...and how to operationalize an advocate army that actually converts.

We cover fraud in pay-per-view deals, AI’s role from segmentation to virtual creators, and a field-tested flow for activating 20+ localized creators with message variants mapped to sub-audiences.

You’ll learn

• Authenticity > optics: the advocacy model and how to measure real impact.
• The danger of vanity metrics (why per-view pricing gets gamed) and what to track instead.
• Matching creators with 100+ affinity data points and coordinating message buckets.
• AI you can use (audience, creative, VO) vs. AI to avoid (fake faces, fake clicks).
• Why Reddit is rising in discovery and how it ties to search/Gen-AI results.

Connect with Matt

• Website: https://advocators.ai/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewanthes/

• Email: matt@advocators.ai

Work with Adam

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

Founder/operator Dan Newman breaks down a six-month Meta ads test (spoiler: $5,266 in spend for one sales call) and the lessons that matter for small teams: validate the offer first, track outcomes not optics, and invest in outbound + relationships until the engine is repeatable. We also cover persona pitfalls, “free” messaging traps, and where he’d deploy a fresh $5k right now (search + events).

Takeaways

• Proof over dashboards: engagement didn’t translate to pipeline.
• Persona/offer misalignment beats ad tinkering every time.
• Use paid after you have a validated, repeatable sales motion.
• Practical reallocations: Google search + niche events/sponsorships.

Connect with Dan

• Site: https://www.learntoscale.us/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansnewman/

• Email: dan@learntoscale.us

Work with Adam

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call

Brand-side veteran turned collective leader Gabe Wolff makes the case that tidy ROAS and over-engineered account structures distract from what actually scales: a sharp creative angle, a full user journey, and profit-first measurement. We cover misaligned agency incentives, post-iOS14 realities, practical ways to structure campaigns by angle/ICP, and why entry products and retention paths drive LTV more than day-to-day CPA swings.

You’ll learn:

• How outcome-aligned compensation changes behavior and results.
• Why algorithms do the heavy lifting—and how to give them better angles.
• When to keep one “scale” campaign vs. adding controls for inventory/LTV.
• Persona-driven creative that sells (not just formats and hacks).
• The LTV math of entry products, cross-sell, and retention.

Connect with Gabe

• Everything Bagel: https://www.everythingbagel.com/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriel-wolff/

• Email: gabe@everythingbagel.com

Work with Adam

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call

Unpacking real. Ditching noise.