Last Agency
• edtech
tilden/learn

tilden learn.

Cutting Tilden's lead-to-enroll cost from $94 to $37 across two product lines in eleven months

The Build | The Run | The Handoff

tilden/learn
status

16 months standalone

what was bleeding

Tilden ran two products: a K-12 supplemental program and an adult-upskill track. They shared a paid account, two creatives, and a $94 cost per enrolled student. The founder couldn't tell which product was profitable on a marginal dollar.

months 0–3

the build

Months 0-3 we split the accounts, rebuilt landing pages per product, and introduced a real attribution model that didn't credit Google for the brand-search clicks the parent had already decided on. Lead-to-enroll started moving in week six.

months 3–12

the run

By month eleven, cost per enrolled student fell from $94 to $37 on the K-12 line and $156 to $61 on adult. Conversion windows shortened. We added a parent-referral mechanic that drove 18% of K-12 enrollments by month ten.

mid-chapter — the numbers
Cost per enrolled student dropped from $94 to $37Cost per enrolled student dropped from $94 to $37

Cost per enrolled student dropped from $94 to $37

months 12–15

the handoff

Maya, hired in month five as a growth coordinator, was running both accounts by month twelve. We sat in on enrollment-week reviews through month fourteen and then stopped. The playbook was 38 pages with a separate appendix on attribution.

months 15–18

the exit

We left in January. Tilden launched a third product line in April that Maya scoped, briefed, and shipped. We heard about it from the alumni newsletter.

what marcus said

What Marcus Tilden said

We'd been with two agencies before. Both wanted to keep adding scope. Last Agency wanted to keep removing it. By month ten they'd built the function, hired Maya in alongside us, and were already planning their last invoice. The day they left, I asked Maya if she felt ready. She said the playbook was so detailed she was annoyed they'd left anything for her to do. They trained her into a job that fired them — and they were proud of it. I've been in tech for fifteen years and never seen that.
Founder avatar: MTMT
Marcus TildenFounder & CEO · Tilden Learn · Toronto
results, not prophecies

the numbers that stopped moving when we left.

  • ROASn/a — measured on cost per enrolled student
  • CAC reduction61% K-12, 61% adult line
  • revenue scale$3.1M → $7.9M ARR
  • time to in-house14 months

more graduates.

• the offer

same shape engagement. your name in this slot next.

Twelve to eighteen months. Fixed scope. We build the function, run it, train your hire, hand over the playbook. Then we're gone.

tell us what's bleedingback to the work