Not at all — the real mistake is thinking you have to choose between organic and paid marketing in the first place.
Startups need paid ads to get in front of potential customers quickly. But that doesn’t mean organic strategy should be ignored while ads are running.
In fact, some of the best-performing accounts we manage in Melbourne invest in both from day one. Google ads generate immediate visibility, while foundational organic work (like SEO and brand marketing) compounds in the background.
We run into this internally as well (our agency). While we’re actively working to improve our organic search presence, we can’t afford to pause Google Ads. Turning off paid too early usually means turning off your lead flow entirely.
If you’re a bootstrapped startup with a limited budget like us, focusing on organic strategies can still make sense — just be realistic about the timeline. SEO with minimal link building rarely generates consistent leads in the early months.
Organic marketing only becomes your “worst” decision if you rely on it to deliver the volume of leads that only paid ads can realistically provide.