The real reason DTC brands fail (it's not ads)

Hey founder,

Let me tell you something I've never really talked about publicly.

Last month, I audited a brand doing $8M annually. Great ads. Strong creative. Solid conversion rates. From the outside? Crushing it.

From the inside? Bleeding cash.

Stockouts every other month. Inventory they couldn't move. Suppliers who couldn't keep up when marketing wanted to scale. Freight costs that made profitable months unprofitable.

The founder kept saying: "We just need better ads."

But that wasn't the problem.

The Myth of "Growth Problems"

Here's what most DTC founders believe is blocking their growth:

• Not enough traffic

• Not enough ad budget

• Not enough creative angles

• Not enough conversions

But here's the truth after working with hundreds of brands:

The real blockers to growth are almost always operational.

Ads can scale. Media buyers have frameworks. Agencies have playbooks.

Supply chain? It's unpredictable chaos, unless you design it properly.

And nobody teaches founders how to do that.

On our podcast with our partner, Speedfulfill, I broke down the exact moment I realized supply chain was the real growth engine.

The 10 Silent Killers

After 17 years, I can spot these patterns immediately:

Inventory mismanagement — You're either out of stock (losing revenue) or drowning in inventory (losing cash). Most brands ping-pong between both.

Wrong unit economics — You think you know your COGS, but do you know your true landed cost? Duties, freight, prep fees, storage fees. I've seen brands discover they lose money on every unit.

Supplier dependency — One vendor. One country. One point of failure. When they're late, you're late. When they raise prices, you eat it.

Bad freight decisions — Always choosing air because you're always behind. Never optimizing container loads. No strategy, just reaction.

Quality failures — Refunds. Chargebacks. One-star reviews. Quality issues don't just cost money — they cost trust.

Slow lead times — You can't launch on time. Can't restock fast enough. Always catching up, never strategic.

Weak cash flow — Money trapped in POs. No payment terms. No visibility into when cash goes out vs. when revenue comes in.

Zero communication — Marketing scales without telling supply chain. Finance budgets without ops input. Everyone operates in silos. This is where brands break.

Poor NPD strategy — Launching products with no competitive advantage. No market testing. Just hope.

Operational chaos — No SOPs. No data. No dashboards. Just firefighting every single day.

Sound familiar?

I built a diagnostic tool that helps you identify which of these is killing your margins.

Here's What Changes When You Fix This

Every failure has a solution:

✔ Stockouts → Forecasting + lead time planning
✔ Cash crunch → PO cash flow system
✔ Bad COGS → Sourcing + negotiation
✔ Slow lead times → PERT timelines
✔ No visibility → The 10 Flywheel Reports
✔ Supplier issues → Vendor diversification
✔ Defects → Quality systems with RCA
✔ Overbuying → ABC analysis + ROP systems
✔ High freight → Packaging + mode optimization
✔ Misalignment → Connect all departments through one flywheel

This isn't theory. This is how you build a brand that scales without breaking.

Your Quick Self-Audit

Answer these five questions honestly:

1. Have you stocked out in the last 6 months?

2. Do you know your true landed cost?

3. Do you rely on one main vendor?

4. Do you forecast your inventory?

5. Do you track cash flow for your POs?

If you said "no" to more than two, you just found your bottleneck.

In my latest YouTube video, I'm breaking down all 10 failures with real examples and tactical fixes.

Until next time,
— Lara