Scaling a lead gen network from ~$2M to ~$5M a month

The problem

NexLevel Direct's buyer spend was concentrated in a few verticals. To grow, the network needed new demand, more supply, and a buyer mix that wasn't exposed to any one category. It also had to grow without lead quality dropping — more volume is worthless if the leads buyers receive get worse.

What I did

• Opened the GLP-1 and telehealth verticals, and rebalanced the buyer mix across legal, insurance, and home services.
• Recruited and managed 15+ publisher partners end to end: tracking pixels, funnels, automations, quality enforcement, caps, and payouts.
• Led the media buying team and personally ran ~$75K/month in Google Ads and Meta spend.
• Grew owned-and-operated SEO properties to ~400 organic leads/month, and added email/SMS re-engagement of aged and unsold leads.
• Set pricing across CPA, CPL, and CPQ models.

Monthly buyer spend went from ~$2M to ~$5M — with personal ad spend consistently at or under target CPL.

The result

• Monthly buyer spend went from ~$2M to ~$5M.
• Personal ad spend stayed consistently at or under target CPL.
• Re-engagement of aged and unsold leads added ~$20K/month in incremental revenue.

Tools