Performance Marketing Freelancer — Paid Ads for Early-Stage Startup (US/Canada Concept Validation)

We're an early-stage startup launching a curated, in-person social experience: device-free group dinners, mixers, and small-group meetups designed to spark real friendships among verified members. Think "anti-loneliness, anti-doomscroll" — intentional offline gatherings in a digital-burnout world.We've validated early interest in one market and now want to test demand in the US and Canada. We need a hands-on performance marketer to run a small-budget validation campaign and tell us, with data, whether North Americans will sign up.The one question we're answering: Will people in the US/Canada pay attention to — and sign up for — curated offline social events?Scope of work

Set up ad accounts, conversion tracking (Meta Pixel/CAPI, GA4), and UTM structure

Build 2–3 campaign variations testing different audiences, hooks, and angles (e.g., loneliness/connection, digital detox, "make friends as an adult," singles/mixers, professional networking)

Instrument the core conversion goal (waitlist signup / email capture)

Run campaigns over a 3–4 week window on a defined test budget

Optimize based on performance

Deliver a readout: CPL, CTR, conversion rate, CPM, best-performing audience + message, and a clear go/no-go recommendation per city/segment

You should have

Proven paid-acquisition experience for consumer/social/events products in the US/Canada

Strong Meta (Instagram/Facebook) + Google hands-on skills — Meta will likely carry this

Ability to build tracking and read the data, not just spend

Bonus: experience with demand-validation / waitlist "smoke test" funnels, or with events/community/dating/social apps