Built a 0→47k Instagram audience that actually converts

The brief

Foundry Athletic launched in 2024 with a strong product (technical training gear, in-house manufacturing) but an undifferentiated brand presence. Their Instagram had 1,800 followers, mostly friends and family. Their CAC on cold paid Meta was $48 — well above their LTV ceiling.

They needed:

• A real organic content engine that built brand equity
• Paid ads that worked because the organic was working
• Both inside the same retainer

What we did

Voice + visual audit (week 1). We spent the first week pulling six months of brand assets, interviewing the founders, and building a 14-page voice + visual standard that locked the brand's point of view: high-output athletes, technical specificity, zero hype.

Content engine (weeks 2–onward). We shifted production from "studio shoot per quarter" to "iPhone-shot, athlete-in-context per week." Lower production value, higher truth value. Engagement rate tripled in month one.

Paid layered on (month 3). Once organic was proving message-market fit, we promoted the top 20% of organic posts as paid ads. CAC dropped from $48 to $2.14 in the first month of layered paid.

What we shipped

• 30 posts/month across Instagram + TikTok
• Weekly content batch: 8 reels, 6 stills, 12 stories
• Athlete content partnership program (12 partners by month 4)
• Paid amplification on top-decile organic posts

The numbers

• 0 → 47,000 followers on Instagram in 11 months
• $2.14 blended CAC across paid + organic-driven traffic
• 9.2% engagement rate on Reels (vs 0.9% industry baseline)
• +340% revenue in trailing 6 months

What's next

We're rolling out a brand ambassador program in Q3 and launching a podcast-format content channel for the founders to deepen the audience relationship beyond product posts.