Cubicle to CEO began life as Ellen's done-for-you social media/marketing agency (Ellen Yin Media), built one retainer client at a time starting from a $300/month first project. Only in 2019, after about two years of pure client services, did she brand the education/media side as "Cubicle to CEO" and start pivoting the business toward scalable digital products instead of one-on-one service work.

The first 10-12 founding-cohort spots were filled from leads Ellen generated by posting to her own Instagram Stories to her existing personal following, not from paid ads or an outside list.

The first paying customers were the same 10 people who bought into the discounted presale: $197 each (60% off the planned $497 retail price) in exchange for being taught the course live and giving feedback as it was built.

“I opened up 10 beta spots at $197.00 each. This was a juicy 60% discount.”