PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.01
Get set up to run ads.
ObjectiveCreate your own ad accounts and put Google Tag Manager on your landing page. 45 minutes, on your laptop. Meta, Google, LinkedIn.
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.02
First, the pulse of the room
Hands up
01
Who has run paid ads?
NeverTested with a small budgetRunning nowRan them, then paused
Hands up
02
On which platform?
MetaGoogleLinkedInTikTokChatGPT
Hands up
03
What do you sell, and to whom?
Software to companiesConsumer or prosumer productEcommerce or marketplaceServices
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.03
00
Before we start
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.04
Why do this now?
The platforms will not retarget below a minimum audience
100 people
Website custom audience. Lookalikes want 1,000 or more as a seed.
300 members
Matched audience, after LinkedIn matches your visitors to profiles. Often takes weeks.
Display
100 active users
In the last 30 days. The easiest bar to clear.
Search, YouTube
1,000 active users
In the last 30 days. Search retargeting is the last one you unlock.
Why the floors exist
Privacy
Too small a crowd, and you could tell who is in it.
Learning
The algorithm needs enough people to find a pattern.
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.05
Every platform is the same four layers
Meta calls it
Google calls it
LinkedIn calls it
ChatGPT calls it
1
Campaign
The goal and the budget.
Campaign
Campaign
Campaign group
Campaign
2
Audience
Who sees it, and what you pay per click.
Ad set
Ad group
Campaign
Ad group
3
Ad
Creative, copy and landing page.
Ad
Ad
Creative
Ad
4
Conversion
The one event you optimise toward: demo booked, signup, purchase.
Pixel event, e.g. Lead
Conversion action
Conversion, from the Insight Tag
Conversion event, from the OpenAI pixel
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.06
01
What “set up” actually means
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.07
What each platform needs from you
Meta
Google
LinkedIn
ChatGPT
Tag Manager
A personal login
A personal Facebook profile. Yes, yours. It is the admin.
A Google account on your company domain
Your personal LinkedIn profile
An OpenAI account on your work email
The same Google account as Google Ads
A business container
A Business Portfolio (Business Manager). The ad account lives inside it.
Nothing, the account is the container
A Company Page you are an admin of
An advertiser account at ads.openai.com
A GTM account, one per company, with one web container
A page or presence
A Facebook Page for the company. Instagram account recommended.
Nothing, ads go to your website
The same Company Page, with admin rights
Nothing, ads go to your website
Your landing page, and someone who can edit its code or site settings
Payment
A card on the portfolio
A card. Billing country and currency are permanent.
A card on the ad account
A card. Self-serve in the US and a handful of countries.
Nothing, it is free
Verification
Business verification, start it now, it takes days
Advertiser verification when Google asks
Nothing
Every campaign is reviewed before it serves
Nothing, but the snippet must be live on the site
Missing a Page or a Company Page? Create it now. Five minutes, and nothing else can start without it.
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.08
Create your ad account, then the base tracking
Google Ads
Gotchas
•Currency, time zone and billing country can never be changed
•The guided flow builds a Smart campaign that spends on day one. Pick “create an account without a campaign”
•Turn off auto-apply recommendations
Meta
Gotchas
•Create a Business Portfolio first. An ad account on a personal profile gets restricted at the first review
•Country and currency arrive pre-filled with Los Angeles and US dollars, and are permanent
•Start business verification tonight, it takes days
LinkedIn
Gotchas
•No Company Page you admin, no ad account. Create the page first
•Currency and the linked page can never be changed
•The account sits “On hold” until billing is added
Google Tag Manager
Gotchas
•Country arrives set to the United States and can never be changed
•The container type locks the moment you click Create. Pick Web
•Nothing works until the snippet is on the site. Half our audits find it missing
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.09
Google Tag Manager on your landing page
01
Create the container
One account, one web container.
02
Paste the snippets on every page
Head and body. In Framer or Webflow, site settings.
03
Publish it empty, then check
Open your site with Tag Assistant. The container must show up.
04
Add the three base tags
Google tag, Meta pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag. Trigger: All Pages.
05
Preview, then publish
Each tag fires on load. Publish. The audience starts now.
Next step, not tonight: one conversion event on a thank-you page. Jeremy’s ads-audit workshop covers it, and so does Workshop 2 on Oct 1.
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.10
02
Let’s create accounts now
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.11
Scan the guide for your platform and follow along
Google Ads
Google Tag Manager
Your ad platform first, then Google Tag Manager. Everyone does the GTM one.
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.12
Mistakes we see in every audit
No conversion tracking
Spend with 0 conversions. The platform optimises for clicks, and clicks are cheap for a reason.
Landing page that doesn’t convert
Unclear what you do, no obvious next step, slow to load. Half the clicks bounce. Fix the page before you buy more clicks.
Keeping the platform defaults
Google: search partners, Display network, broad match and auto-applied recommendations are all on by default. Meta: Advantage+ audience widens targeting to whoever clicks. Turn them off on a small B2B budget.
Changing things every day
Each change restarts learning. Two weeks of daily edits is two weeks of no data.
PAID ADS FUNDAMENTALSADSIDE × YC FOUNDERS · SEP 3, 2026P.13
You’re set up. The first campaign is next.
Come find us tonight, or email gui@adside.ai and rob@adside.ai. Workshop 2 is Oct 1 at Wefunder.