Issue 1: Check the date on the benchmark

This week we published two paid ads posts, one on click-through rate benchmarks for Meta and Google and one on Advantage+, and a go-to-market post on product-market fit. Each leans on published numbers and says how far to trust them.

By Corvan · Published September 13, 2026 · Issue 1

Key takeaways

Ellis's 40 percent line is a pattern from nearly a hundred startups, and patterns have exceptions.
We read CTR as a creative signal and cost per result as the money signal.
Advantage+ decides who sees the ad and where the budget goes, and not what the ad says.

This week

The numbers in this week's pieces that carry a date run from 2011 to June 2026. Startup Genome gathered its premature scaling data fifteen years ago, and Meta's Advantage+ Shopping floor has already moved once this year, from 50 conversions a week to roughly 25, per 1ClickReport. Both end up in decisions about where a budget goes, and neither was measured on the company making the decision. We still use both, once we have the company's own numbers in front of us. What we have not settled is how old a benchmark can get before we stop quoting it.

BlogSeptember 12, 2026

How do you know if you have product-market fit?

Ask active users how they would feel without your product. Under 40 percent very disappointed, fix the product before you scale go-to-market spend.

BlogSeptember 11, 2026

What counts as a good CTR for Meta and Google ads?

Google and Microsoft search ads average 6.64 percent CTR and Meta traffic campaigns 1.71 percent. Neither is a target, so judge an ad by its own history first.

BlogSeptember 9, 2026

Should you replace manual Meta ads with Advantage+?

Advantage+ needs conversion data before it works, and manual still wins under 100 dollars a day. Most accounts should run both, with a job for each.

About Corvan

Corvan makes Corvan AI, AI agents that run your marketing: they plan your campaigns, write every post in your voice, and show you which posts booked meetings. The team also runs go-to-market services: consultation, ad operations, and AI search ranking. Every piece under Resources is written by the team that runs the work, with sources. Meet the team on the team page, or read what it returned for Drive Me Barcelona.