About Your Ad Coach
Advertising experts. A clearer game plan.
We help businesses make sense of advertising — connecting the offer, the campaign, the funnel, and the systems behind the next sale.
From competitors to partners
Before they worked together, Curt Maly and Nick Bridges competed for the same buyers and sellers in Austin, Texas. Both were real estate investors using online advertising to generate business. After three years competing online, they joined forces in 2010 to found Black Box Social Media.
The goal was practical: help other businesses use paid social to generate leads and sales they could measure. Over time, the work grew beyond the ad itself. Clients needed the landing page, the follow-up, the sales process, and reporting that connected the pieces.
Your Ad Coach is owned by Black Box Social Media, LLC. It brings that hands-on advertising experience to businesses that need a clearer strategy, practical support, or the knowledge to run campaigns themselves.
Operators, not theorists
Our founders bring different strengths to the same problem: how to turn advertising activity into informed business decisions. Curt focuses on the message and the market; Nick leads technology and the systems behind client growth.
Curt Maly
Co-Founder
Curt started selling at 15, working the phones at a call center in Yutan, Nebraska. In corporate consulting, he worked with clients including Apple, Microsoft, and the U.S. Postal Service. As an Austin real estate investor, he used online advertising to compete for buyers and sellers before co-founding Black Box Social Media in 2010.
His experience spans the offer, the message, and the practical work of getting campaigns into the market. He has been featured in the Boston Globe and What’s Working Now, and contributed to Mark Victor Hansen’s Writings From the Heart.
Nick Bridges
Co-Founder
Nick has worked in sales and marketing since 2001, when he graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in International Business and Marketing. He started a real estate investing company in 2007 and spent the next three years competing with Curt in Austin’s online real estate market.
When they joined forces in 2010, Nick brought the technology and systems perspective that remains central to the work: making the funnel, the tools, and the reporting work together so the team can see what is happening and decide what comes next.
How we work
Start with the business, not the dashboard
The offer, audience, and funnel matter before a campaign ever scales. We look at the goal and the customer journey, then use research and performance data to decide what to build, test, or fix.
Explain the why
Transparency and communication have always been part of the Your Ad Coach approach. You should understand the plan, what the numbers are telling you, and why the next decision makes sense — not just receive a report full of clicks.
Test before you push
A game plan is not a guarantee. Lean tests help separate promising creative and messaging from ideas that do not earn more budget. The point is to learn before spending more, not to make every campaign look like a winner.
Give straight answers
Not every business needs an agency. Some need an offer diagnosis, some need help building and testing, and others want to keep advertising in-house. We would rather help you choose the right level of support than send everyone into the same program.
What makes the approach different?
We treat the ad as part of a system, not an isolated deliverable. Campaign creation, audience targeting, creative, performance analysis, and the funnel all affect the outcome. Looking at them together helps keep the conversation focused on the business rather than on a single metric.
You can work with us at different stages without pretending every stage needs the same solution. That is why Your Ad Coach includes a done-with-you Sprint, Full Agency for proven offers, a research-led Ad Audit, and DIY training.
Who we help
- Businesses with an unproven offer: the 90-Day Sprint brings structure to Build → Test → Scale.
- Businesses with a working offer: Full Agency supports disciplined execution and scale.
- Teams that need diagnosis: the Offer & Ad Account Audit researches the market and delivers a 60-day testing plan.
- Founders and in-house buyers: Micro-Budget Mastery and the ebook offer a DIY route.
- Owners thinking longer term: Growth-to-Exit focuses on systems with future transferability in mind, without valuation promises.
Hear it from clients
Our Testimonials page brings together client interview quotes about working with Curt and Nick, including experiences with strategy, advertising, funnels, and training. Individual results vary; past performance does not guarantee future results.
Let’s find your next play
Tell us what you sell, what is working, and where you are stuck. We can talk through which path makes sense — including when the right first step is getting the offer ready for traffic.