Track 5: Marketing & Growth — Cost Estimate¶
Owner: Ken (solo developer + marketer) Budget: $0 — all marketing is organic and uses free tools No paid ads until revenue or funding No paid tools — use free tiers only (Canva free, Vercel free, PostHog free, etc.)
Monthly Cost: $0¶
Track 5 has zero cloud or tool costs. All marketing tasks are organic: - Social media (Twitter/X, TikTok, Instagram, Telegram) — free - Landing page hosting — Vercel/Cloudflare Pages free tier - Analytics — PostHog/Mixpanel free tier - Design — Canva free tier or AI-generated - Email marketing — Resend/Loops free tier (<1000 contacts) - Content — written by Ken, AI-assisted
One-Time Costs: $0¶
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Logo design | $0 | AI-generated (Midjourney/DALL-E) + Canva free |
| App Store developer accounts | $0 | Already have / will budget separately if needed |
| Domain name | $0 | Already owned or use free subdomain |
Budget NOT Recommended Yet¶
| Item | Why Not | When to Reconsider |
|---|---|---|
| Paid ads (Google, Meta, TikTok) | No product-market fit signal yet | After 500+ organic users with >30% 7-day retention |
| PR agency | $6-20K/mo — premature | After traction + funding |
| Full-time marketer | Wait until MRR > $10K | Revenue milestone |
| Paid influencer campaigns | Wait for Track 4 viral signal | After Telegram Mini App viral coefficient > 1.0 |
| Canva Pro | Free tier is sufficient | Only if content volume demands it |
Comparison: Marketing Cost vs User Acquisition¶
| Scenario | Monthly Spend | Expected Users/mo | CAC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic only (build-in-public) | $0 | 50-200 | $0 |
| With influencer gifts (future) | $100-200 | 200-500 | $0.20-1.00 |
| With paid ads (future) | $1,000-4,000 | 500-2000 | $2.00-8.00 |
Target: Keep CAC at $0 for as long as possible. Telegram Mini App (Track 4) is the primary free acquisition channel.