How We Out-Marketed Thumbtack and Angi With a Fraction of Their Budget
The full story of growing Pro Next Door from zero to 10,000 users using Google Ads, Meta Ads, and a first-mover bet on ChatGPT Ads.
Alex Dovzhenko, Founder of Growth Choice
Pro Next Door App Screenshot
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David vs. Two Goliaths
Pro Next Door is a platform that connects homeowners and businesses with local service professionals — handymen, pressure washing specialists, cleaners, roofers, remodelers, and more. Think of it as a challenger to Thumbtack and Angi: a smarter, leaner alternative built for a generation of professionals and clients who expect more transparency and control from their service marketplace.
The problem? Thumbtack and Angi have each raised hundreds of millions of dollars. Their marketing budgets dwarf what most early-stage startups can even dream of. They own the top Google search results. Their brands are everywhere — on television, in podcasts, in every home improvement subreddit. They have years of reviews, trust signals, and brand equity that money alone cannot replicate overnight.
Pro Next Door had just closed their first funding round. After splitting resources between development and marketing, we were left with a budget that most agencies would decline for a project of this scale. This is not the story of how we spent our way to growth — it is the story of how we outthought our way there.
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Our Three-Platform Approach
Rather than spreading a limited budget thin across every available channel, Growth Choice designed a precision three-platform strategy. Each channel was chosen for a specific, measurable role in the acquisition funnel — no overlap, no waste, no guesswork.
Channel 1
Google Ads — Owning the Moment of Need
Home service requests are fundamentally different from almost every other product category. When someone has a leaking pipe at 10pm, they do not browse Instagram or consult TikTok. They open Google, type their problem, and call the first credible result that appears. The decision is made in minutes — not days.
Google Ads allowed us to intercept these high-intent, time-sensitive searches at the exact moment users needed a professional. We structured campaigns around service categories — plumbing, electrical, pressure washing, HVAC, roof repair — each with tightly themed ad groups, commercial-intent keywords, and geographic modifiers matched to Pro Next Door's service area.
The result was an average CPC of $2.50 — a remarkable figure for the home services vertical, where national competitors routinely bid $15–40 per click. That precision targeting drove the majority of the 300 monthly job orders the platform sustained throughout the campaign period.
Google Ads Campaign Dashboard
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Channel 2
Meta Ads — Playing the Long Game
Not every home service job carries urgency. Roof installation, bathroom remodeling, fence construction, kitchen renovation — these are considered purchases. People research for days or weeks, compare multiple contractors, and make deliberate decisions. Meta Ads are engineered precisely for this consideration phase: reaching people before they know which platform they'll use.
But we saw a second, less obvious opportunity in Meta that most marketers miss: pro acquisition. A service marketplace without professionals is worthless to homeowners. We built a parallel campaign targeting tradespeople, contractors, and skilled workers by job title, behavioral interest, and life-stage signals — people seeking side income, career changers, and established professionals looking for better lead flow.
This dual-funnel approach — homeowner awareness on one side, professional recruitment on the other — allowed us to grow both sides of the marketplace simultaneously. The result: 500 new pros joining the platform every month, creating the supply density needed to fulfill the demand Google Ads was generating.
Meta Ads Campaign Creative / Dashboard
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Channel 3 — The Secret Weapon
ChatGPT Ads — The Weapon Nobody Else Had
Growth Choice secured Beta access to OpenAI's ChatGPT advertising platform during its early rollout — before the channel was available to the general market. ChatGPT Ads appear directly inside conversations: when a user asks a relevant question, a contextually matched ad appears with a single-click call to action.
The fit for home services was immediately apparent. A user types "what should I do if my toilet is leaking?" — and in the same interface where they asked the question, they see a Pro Next Door ad connecting them to a plumber in minutes. This is not interruption advertising. It is relevance at peak intent. The user is already in problem-solving mode; we simply gave them the most direct path to a solution.
At the time of this campaign, very few advertisers — and almost no competing service marketplaces — were running ChatGPT Ads. Auction competition was negligible. Cost-per-acquisition was dramatically lower than any other channel. And the trust halo of appearing inside a trusted AI conversation elevated conversion rates above industry norms.
This first-mover advantage was the factor that tilted the competitive balance. Thumbtack and Angi were nowhere to be found on this channel. Pro Next Door was the answer.
“When someone asks ChatGPT what to do about a leaking pipe, they see our ad saying a plumber is one click away. That's not an interruption — that's the answer.”
ChatGPT Ads Placement Screenshot
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6 Months, One Funding Round Later
Total Users Acquired
iOS & Android combined
Monthly Job Orders
Across all service categories
New Pros / Month
Across all trades
Average CPC
Across all Google Ads campaigns
Months to Milestone
From launch to 10K users
Series A
Funding Round Secured
Results enabled second funding round
Numbers like these might not make headlines at a Fortune 500 company. But context matters enormously.
We were competing against Thumbtack — which has raised over $500 million — and Angi, which spends tens of millions annually on user acquisition. Pro Next Door was a brand new product with a brand new app, no reviews, no brand recognition, and a marketing budget we cannot disclose due to NDA — but let's say it was audaciously small for a project of this scale.
Within six months, Pro Next Door had a real, active marketplace: thousands of users booking real jobs, hundreds of professionals earning real income through the platform, and enough traction to convince investors to write a second check. We are proud to say Growth Choice remains the agency of record for Pro Next Door today.
Growth Chart — User Acquisition Over Time
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What This Case Study Teaches Us
Urgency is a channel strategy.
High-urgency searches are Google's territory. If your product or service solves an immediate problem, Google Ads should be your first dollar spent. We averaged $2.50 CPC in a competitive vertical by targeting precisely and bidding intelligently.
Meta Ads are a talent acquisition tool.
Most people use Meta to reach customers. We used it to build the supply side of a marketplace. By targeting trade professionals, contractors, and side-hustle seekers, we turned Meta into a recruiting engine that delivered 500 pros per month.
First-mover advantage still exists.
The digital ad landscape feels crowded, but new channels emerge faster than most agencies can track. ChatGPT Ads gave Pro Next Door a genuine competitive moat — contextual placement inside AI conversations, with near-zero auction competition. This won't last. Act now.
Traction is fundable.
Growth results aren't just a marketing metric — they're a fundraising asset. The results achieved in these 6 months directly contributed to Pro Next Door securing their second funding round. Marketing ROI isn't only measured in CAC and LTV.
Written by
Alex Dovzhenko
Founder, Growth Choice
Alex Dovzhenko is the founder of Growth Choice, a performance marketing agency specializing in Google Ads, Meta Ads, and emerging AI advertising platforms. With experience as Head of Marketing at LATOKEN Crypto Exchange, CMO at POD, and roles in Product Marketing at Altss, Alex brings a rare combination of startup grit and enterprise strategy to every client engagement. He also operates Miami Choice Limo, a luxury transportation fleet based out of Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport — a business he actively uses to test and prove the same advertising methodologies his agency deploys for clients.
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Frequently Asked Questions
For home services, Google Ads is the strongest performer for high-urgency jobs like plumbing emergencies or roof leaks, because users are actively searching for immediate help. Meta Ads excels at brand awareness and attracting professionals to your platform. ChatGPT Ads are an emerging first-mover opportunity for reaching users at the exact moment they're researching a problem.