ICYMI: Rounding Up Great Founder-Focused Content from the DTC Sphere
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DTC sellers are super busy. The amount of content for DTC sellers is crazy. The only logical thing to do is help you all filter through the noise
Lucky you, busy DTC founder, for stumbling upon this blog post!
Between managing your business and keeping up with what seems like an endless flow of content, I know how hard it is not to feel like you’re always missing out on something.
So, here’s what I hope is a nice touch of helpfulness: some of the best recent DTC content out there, all in one place.
Because if Content is King, Curation is its COO.
And since I spend most of my plenty of time listening to and reading tons of DTC content, I thought: what’s better than rounding up the ones that most deserve your attention?
And squeeze in my personal takes here and there ;)
I’ll try to do it every couple of weeks, so with no further ado, here’s the first batch.
1) Jon Blair on Discounts
Jon Blair of Free to Grow CFO, on why seeing discounts just as another expense puts things in perspective. Meaning that discounts aren't good or bad; they are a tool. On the one hand, you need to be on top of them, and they can drive you to the ground. On the other hand, they can be really useful. Read on LinkedIn.
2) Ashvin Melwani on Meta ads
Ashvin, CMO and Co-Founder at Obvi, with some solid advice on how to master Meta ads because, after all, “the days of launching a few ads and watching sales roll in are DEAD.” Read on LinkedIn.
3) Drew Fallon on Ghost’s Acquisition
Drew Fallon’s take on KDP acquiring Ghost from October, which has an approximate 3X sales multiple, and he assumes about a 13X EBITDA multiple, very solid numbers and valuation (approximately $1.6B). Read on LinkedIn.
4) Fallon on LTV:CAC’s status for DTC pros
More from Drew, as he’s going on about using LTV:CAC ratio in ecommerce.
My personal take here is that the premise for using LTV:CAC, especially when basing the LTV on gross sales, is fundamentally flawed in DTC/ecommerce due to the fact that this is an inventory-heavy line of business with a significant COGS portion.
A better metric to look at is the CAC payback period, which is not based on gross sales (generally based on gross margin) and doesn’t make assumptions about the customer's lifetime value. Instead, it multiplies the new MRR by a gross margin percentage. Read on Twitter.
5) Jeremy Horowitz on your neighbor’s grass
Jeremy from Let's Buy a Biz! on “the grass is greener on the other side”, with comps between SaaS, e-commerce, and agencies. Really insightful way of looking at things (love things with life-lesson subtext). Read on LinkedIn.
6) Alex on high-season tactics
Alex provides her 18K X followers with some solid tips on how to prepare for BFCM - and beyond if you read carefully. I especially like the concept of keeping it very clear and simple. That’s the way to go. Read on Twitter.
7) Garry Tan on avoiding the race to the bottom
Garry Tan, YC CEO, came on My First Million - and while he is slightly full of himself (but hey, he has the right to be), he brings a super inspiring story. And a bunch of some really interesting points.
Especially on the need to create content as a differentiator, specifically in the consumer world, as the marketplace has been perfected and it's a race to the bottom.
Another point that I thought was interesting, particularly from such a successful VC, is the simplicity of the process at Y Combinator, from the registration form to the interview to the lack of formality. This is a real cut-to-the-cutter mentality that has led to crazy returns. Sometimes, simple does the job.
Not sure if I fully agree with his take on how fast AI will overtake corporations, though, but definitely food for thought for founders and corporates, on how AI will make businesses leaner and better. Listen on Spotify.
8) The Operators on Tariffs
Following Trump’s election, a really interesting discussion here regarding domestic production and tariffs and China’s place in the world economy.
Questions like what is considered manufactured in the US and the new CIT rate (possibly 15%) are discussed, along with whether the tariffs will lead to inflation (they think that the tariffs may not apply to consumer goods) and whether you should keep operating as you do. The biggest players are going to be influenced first; it is not clear how or if the smaller ones will be influenced. Also, this is an interesting take on America’s role as a builder. Listen on Spotify.
That’s it for this time. Make sure to follow Finaloop or me on social media for more roundups:
That’s what we’re here for.
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