“We've been running on Instagram and Facebook and it's been pretty productive to the point where it's almost net spend zero — we spend a dollar in advertising and then we make a dollar in revenue. With a 30-day trial you end up with up to a 90-day float — that's the key.”

Net-zero ad spend — $1 in, $1 out, every dollar buys a user

Alex's bar for paid acquisition isn't profit, it's break-even on first-cycle revenue. At net-zero ROAS, every dollar of capital eventually returns as a dollar plus a paying user who'll renew — exactly the math that justifies raising and deploying venture money on ads.