Jacob Canfield
Marketing · Technology & Finance · Wellness

Sergeant at 19. Doctor at 24. Built it, lost it, building it back.

I'm Jacob Canfield. Seven companies. One exit. A #1 world ranking. An audience of nearly a million — gone overnight. Everything I know about marketing, money, and health was paid for, not theorized. Today I run BNGR, a performance creative agency shipping 1,000+ ads a month for DTC brands — and I write here every day about what failure taught me that success never could.

Headshot
image slot — 4:5, black & white
Grand Rapids, Michigan
7
Companies founded
$10M+
Ad spend managed
1,000+
Creatives / month
2
Army Commendation Medals
01 / Expertise

Three arenas. One rule: receipts.

I only speak on what I've built, lost, or rebuilt with my own hands. Everything below has a scar attached to it.

Marketing

Marketing Expert

Building agencies since 2011 — the first one out of my clinic’s basement. Today: BNGR, shipping 1,000+ ad creatives a month across $10M+ in tracked spend for 20+ DTC brands. Grew audiences of 750,000+ organically, and rebuilt from zero when a platform erased one overnight.

Criteria: verifiable spend · shipped volume · owned audiences
Technology & Finance

Technology & Finance Expert

Investing since 16, starting with my grandmother’s money — and in 2008, with a newborn at home, I watched all of it go to near zero. I rebuilt by mastering the market that broke me: became the #1-ranked Bitcoin analyst on TradingView. Co-founded a software company that has shipped 800+ digital products, and a trading education community used by thousands. Interviewed Sam Bankman-Fried in 2019 — and learned the hard way what diligence really means.

Criteria: skin in the game · systems over signals · lessons priced in
Wellness

Wellness Expert

Doctor of Chiropractic. B.S. in Biomedical Sciences & Biology, 3.9 GPA, math minor. Built a practice from an empty room to a thriving clinic and exited in 2017. Founded a clinical-grade supplement company. I treat health the way I treat business: as a system you either run, or it runs you.

Criteria: clinical training · built & exited · practiced daily
02 / Timeline

The short version

Every chapter taught me something the next one needed. The long version — including the mistakes — is on the About page.

2001 — 2006

U.S. Army — Communications & Intelligence

Enlisted at 17, sergeant by 19. Deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003–2005) in communications and intelligence. Two Army Commendation Medals. Learned that systems, discipline, and calm under fire beat talent every time.

2006 — 2010

Science, then medicine

B.S. in Biomedical Sciences & Biology (math minor, 3.9 GPA) at Western Michigan, then a Doctor of Chiropractic degree at Life University. In 2008 — right after my first child was born — the crash took every dollar I’d invested since 16 to near zero. I started studying markets like my family depended on it, because it did.

2011 — 2017

First businesses

Built Simple Truth Chiropractic into a practice I sold in 2017. Co-founded Grand Apps — a mobile agency started in the basement of my clinic — plus FireEye Design and ClinicVitamins along the way.

2016 — 2022

The crypto years

Became one of the most-followed technical analysts on TradingView and crypto Twitter, co-founded Signal Profits, hosted the Crypto Trader Podcast (including a 2019 interview with a then-unknown Sam Bankman-Fried). Made real calls, real money, and real mistakes — I've written honestly about all three.

2023 — Now

BNGR

A performance creative agency for DTC e-commerce brands. We ship over 1,000 statics, UGC, and AI-animation ads a month, judged on one thing: verifiable performance.

03 / Writing

Latest articles

Daily writing in five buckets: Crypto, Marketing, Business, Scams & Security, and Life.

All articles
Life

Who Is Jacob Canfield? The Full Story

Lansing, Iraq, chiropractic school, seven companies, one very public mistake, and what I'm building now.

Read →
Marketing

What Shipping 1,000 Ads a Month Taught Us About Hooks

The patterns that survive $10M in tracked spend — and the "best practices" that don't.

Read →
Crypto

I Interviewed Sam Bankman-Fried in 2019. Here's What I Missed.

Re-listening to a pre-FTX conversation with the benefit of hindsight.

Read →
04 / Newsletter

One email a week. No fluff.

The best of the daily articles, plus what we're seeing across 20+ DTC ad accounts. The only channel no platform can take away.

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