3 Questions Before Approving Paid Search (any other paid channel) Budget for scaling your SaaS

Your CMO just asked for $15K/month to "test paid search."

Do you approve it?

Here are the 3 questions to be answered before signing off:

QUESTION 1: Do we have the infrastructure to evaluate this properly?

You can't evaluate what you can't measure.

What we need to see:

✓ Attribution in place: Can you connect demo → opp → close?

✓ Tracking working: Can you see full funnel from click to revenue?

✓ Baseline metrics: Do you know current CAC/LTV for existing channels?

If "no" to any of these:

→ Don't approve budget (yet). → Fix attribution first. → Otherwise, you're flying blind and will kill something that could have worked (or fund something that doesn't).

Cost of getting this wrong: $50K+ in wasted spend + wrong strategic conclusions.

QUESTION 2: Is the team using stage-appropriate success criteria?

Most CMOs pitch paid search with the line, "We'll see 3-4x ROI."

Red flag.

You won't see 3-4x ROI in months 1-6. (If they think you will, they're either lying or don't understand the channel.)

What we need to see:

✓ Phase 1 metrics (Months 1-3): Setup quality, targeting accuracy, tracking viability

✓ Phase 2 metrics (Months 4-6): CPA trends, conversion rate optimization, efficiency trajectory

✓ Phase 3 metrics (Months 7+): Pipeline contribution, ROI, blended CAC impact

If they're pitching month 3 ROI:

→ They're setting themselves up to fail. → Push back. Ask for stage-aware metrics. → Otherwise, you'll be in a "let's circle back" loop every month.

QUESTION 3: What are the kill criteria?

"Let's try it and see" is not a plan.

What we need to see:

✓ Time commitment: Minimum 6 months (anything less = waste money on learning phase (depends on lead/deal volume), quit before payoff)

✓ Budget commitment: $10-15K/month minimum (below this = too slow to learn - depends on niche, i.e. available monthly search/lead/deal volume for specific ICP/use case)

✓ Clear milestones: → If \[X metric\] by month 3 → Continue → If \[Y metric\] by month 6 → Scale → If \[Z metric\] by month 6 → Kill

Example milestones:

"If CPA is above $1,500 at month 6 → Kill it. If CPA is $1,000-1,500 → Hold flat, reassess month 9. If CPA is below $1,000 → Scale to $25-30K/month."

If they don't have kill criteria:

→ This becomes an indefinite commitment with vague "give it more time" extensions. → Don't approve without clear exit ramps.