Use case
Founder led video ads: the founder talks to camera about the product
A founder led video ad is the founder talking to camera about the product, the price or a hard question. Cutroom turns one phone video of the founder into a finished 9:16 ad.
In short
- A founder led video ad is the founder talking to camera, usually answering a real customer question.
- A founder can say things a brand account cannot easily say, like why the price is what it is.
- The best topics are the questions you already answer on sales calls and in customer emails.
- Cutroom does the editing: you upload one video of up to 3 minutes and get a captioned 9:16 ad back.
- A 30-second ad costs 110 credits, so twenty founder ads cost 2,200 credits and fit in Basic.
- Longest video you can upload
- 3 min
- Until your edit comes back
- ~1 min
- Basic, about 22 founder ads a month
- $39.99
Why founder led ads work
People believe a founder because the founder built the product and knows the answers.
- The founder can admit a limit or name a competitor without it sounding like a trick.
- The founder can explain why the product costs what it costs, because they set the price.
- You do not need to be a natural on camera. You can film it as many times as you like and keep the take you like best.
The same point from a brand account and from a founder
Admitting a limit
- Brand account
- Sounds like a policy
- Founder
- Sounds honest
Explaining a price
- Brand account
- Sounds defensive
- Founder
- Sounds like the reason
Explaining a choice
- Brand account
- Sounds like marketing
- Founder
- Sounds like a decision someone made
| Brand account | Founder | |
|---|---|---|
| Admitting a limit | Sounds like a policy | Sounds honest |
| Explaining a price | Sounds defensive | Sounds like the reason |
| Explaining a choice | Sounds like marketing | Sounds like a decision someone made |
What to film
Every question you answered on a sales call or in an email this month is a possible ad. Here are six to start with.
- Why your product costs what it costs.
- What a competitor does better, and why you chose differently.
- Who should not buy it.
- Why you removed a feature.
- What happened when a customer used it the wrong way.
- The question you least like answering, such as why you cost more than a rival.
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
How to make a founder ad with Cutroom
You film one answer. Cutroom edits it, and you change it by changing its words.
- Cutroom keeps the lines you say, so if you lost the thread, film the take again and upload the better one.
- To add a clip, you highlight a phrase and the clip plays over exactly those words.
- You stay on screen for most of the video. The style you pick before you upload sets the pace, and even on the fastest styles the clips Cutroom adds cover at most 52 percent of it.
- Cutroom drafts a headline for the opening seconds, and you can write your own instead.
- The edit comes back in about a minute, so a founder ad can be finished the same day you film it.
One founder video into an ad
Answer one question
One video, up to 3 minutes, on a phone
Upload
Cutroom writes out every word and makes the first edit
Place your clips
Highlight a phrase and a clip plays there
Export
A 9:16 MP4 with captions
What a finished founder ad looks like
You get a 9:16 MP4 with the captions in the picture, ready to upload in your ad account.
One frame of a finished founder ad
A headline over the opening, a clip on the words that name something, and captions on every word.
How many founder ads to make
Only 5 to 8% of ads become winners, according to Motion's analysis of 550,000+ Meta ads. So one or two founder ads are not a real test.
- Twenty answers cost 2,200 credits, which fits in one month of Basic at $39.99.
- Premium gives you 5,000 credits a month, enough for about 45 ads.
- Film answers to different questions, because each question reaches different people.
What it costs
A 30-second ad costs 110 credits: 100 for the edit and 10 for the export. Exporting costs 20 credits per minute of video.
Cutroom plans and 30-second ads per month
| Plan | Price | Credits | 30-second ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, no card | Your first video, made within 7 days | 1, with a Cutroom mark |
| Lite | $19.99 a month | 1,250 | About 11, no mark |
| Basic | $39.99 a month | 2,500 | About 22, plus avatars and generated music |
| Premium | $79.99 a month | 5,000 | About 45 |
| Top-up | $39.99 once | 2,500 | About 22 more |
Plan: Free
- Price
- $0, no card
- Credits
- Your first video, made within 7 days
- 30-second ads
- 1, with a Cutroom mark
Plan: Lite
- Price
- $19.99 a month
- Credits
- 1,250
- 30-second ads
- About 11, no mark
Plan: Basic
- Price
- $39.99 a month
- Credits
- 2,500
- 30-second ads
- About 22, plus avatars and generated music
Plan: Premium
- Price
- $79.99 a month
- Credits
- 5,000
- 30-second ads
- About 45
Plan: Top-up
- Price
- $39.99 once
- Credits
- 2,500
- 30-second ads
- About 22 more
What Cutroom does not do
Cutroom edits videos of a real person talking. Everything else about the ad happens in your ad account.
- An avatar cannot stand in for the founder. Cutroom's avatar add-on makes a presenter from a photo and a voice-over, for 350 credits a minute on Basic and up, but a founder ad only works with the real founder.
- Cutroom only exports 9:16, so it does not make widescreen videos for your website.
- Cutroom takes up to 3 minutes per video, and each video you upload makes one ad.
- Cutroom does not run your ads. You upload the MP4 in your ad account.
Questions people ask
- What is a founder led ad?
- It is an ad where the founder talks to camera about the product, usually answering a question customers really ask. It is often filmed on a phone and runs as a vertical video ad.
- I am not comfortable on camera. Can I still make founder ads?
- Yes. Film it as many times as you need, and upload the take you like best. A 30-second ad costs 110 credits, so trying again is cheap.
- What should a founder ad be about?
- A question you already answer on sales calls: why the price is what it is, what you removed and why, who should not buy it, or what a competitor does better.
- How long should a founder ad be?
- Short. LinkedIn recommends 15 to 30 seconds for its video ads, and Google recommends under 60 seconds for YouTube Shorts ads. Cutroom keeps the lines you say, so write and film it to that length.
- Is it risky to build ads around one person?
- A little. If the founder gets busy or leaves, the ads stop. Film a colleague or a customer as well. Cutroom edits every video the same way.
- How much does a founder video ad cost with Cutroom?
- 110 credits for a 30-second ad. Twenty ads cost 2,200 credits, which fits in Basic at $39.99 a month. Your first video is free, with no card.
Film your answer to the question you get most on sales calls, and have an ad today. Your first video is free.