Derin Oyekan

💡 Case Study: How "Boring" Retention Built Our High 8-Figure Empire Two weight-loss brands. Same $40 customer acquisition cost. One founder chases viral campaigns and burns cash. The other builds a "boring" retention machine and cashes out at 3.5x revenue. The Brutal Reality: Weight-loss market CAC swinging from $10 to $100 depending on the season. Some months instant payback, others waiting 3+ months to break even. Revenue growing, margins decent, but we were riding a financial rollercoaster that kept me up at night. The "Boring" Solution: We stopped chasing shiny campaigns and built unsexy infrastructure: ✅ Subscription everything – meal plans, supplements, coaching programs ✅ Strategic upsells at 30/60/90 days (catch them before they churn) ✅ Community accountability – forums and events that kept people engaged The Million-Dollar Results: 📈 Customer retention: 2 months → 9 months 📈 LTV explosion: $99 → $450 (4.5x jump) 📈 Predictable payback: 0-3 months every time 📈 Valuation multiple: 3.5x revenue (industry standard: 1-2x) 📈 Banks fighting to give us favorable debt terms The Real Kicker: Multiple premium acquisition offers rolled in when our retention metrics peaked. Why? Investors don't care about your viral moments. They care about predictable cash flow. Bottom Line: Retention is boring as hell. But boring pays the bills... and then some. 👉 Full breakdown: "Retention is Boring… Until It's Worth Millions" (today's article) 📊 Free tool: Grab the Unit Economics Scorecard to see if you're building wealth or burning cash.

3

You don't have an ops problem. You have a visibility problem. I've worked with dozens of beauty and health brands between $1M and $10M. The ones drowning in chaos? They all say the same thing: "Our ops are broken." But here's what I've learned after watching supply chains collapse, manufacturers lose their licenses overnight, and founders scramble to keep the lights on: The ops aren't broken. You just can't see what's happening. No dashboard. No weekly numbers. No single source of truth. Just gut feel, last month's P&L, and a dozen spreadsheets that don't talk to each other. You're making decisions in the dark. And when you can't see the problem, you can't fix it. So you fix the wrong thing. Or worse — you fix nothing and just work harder. Right now? That blindness will cost you. Freight costs are spiking 30% overnight. Packaging suppliers are flagging price increases nobody budgeted for. Fuel surcharges are landing on 3PL invoices that were rock solid three months ago. The founders who can see their numbers? They've got six weeks to adjust. To renegotiate. To model the impact and restructure an offer before the margin disappears. The ones flying blind? They find out when the P&L lands. By then, the money's already gone. Here's the test: Can you tell me your top 5 metrics right now — without opening a spreadsheet? Stop reading. Actually try it. Revenue. Cash runway. Repeat purchase rate. Fulfilment accuracy. Top 3 priorities this week. If you're drawing a blank, you don't have an ops problem. You have a visibility problem. And that's actually good news — because visibility is one of the fastest things to fix. You don't need a full ops overhaul. You don't need new software. You don't need to hire an ops manager. You need to see your business clearly. Once you can see it, the quick wins reveal themselves. More on that this week. Agree? Disagree? Drop your take below. And if you know a founder who's flying blind right now, share this with them. #beautybrands #dtcgrowth #foundertips #ecommerce

7

3 Comments

Most DTC brands never make it into retail. Not because their product sucks. Not because they don’t work hard. But because they treat retail like it’s just another DTC channel. It’s not. Retail is its own beast with new rules, new expectations, new buyers. If you don’t have: • Sell-through data • Retail-ready packaging • And a founder-led pitch that makes buyers care… You’ll get ignored. This is the same framework we use with brands doing $1M–$30M in DTC, helping them unlock big-box and specialty retail.

29

11 Comments

Cancel your market research budget. No amount of paid focus groups will make up for a founder who isn't willing to engage directly with customers. At Fazit, we've built a multi-million dollar brand without spending a single dollar on traditional market research. Instead, we've focused on something far more valuable: genuine community building through direct founder involvement. Here are 5 practical ways to understand your customers better than any research report could tell you: 1. Start conversations, not surveys We personally respond to DMs, comments, and product feedback—giving us real-time insights into what customers actually want. 2. Test MVPs When we weren't sure about our glitter freckles, we produced a small batch first. We sent samples to friends attending Coachella, one video went viral, and we sold 100,000 units before our full inventory even arrived. 3. Watch UGC obsessively The way customers use (and sometimes misuse) your products reveals opportunities no focus group would discover. When we saw customers placing our freckles on their collarbones, we developed a dedicated decolletage product. 4. Share your development process When customers feel invested in your product journey, they'll tell you exactly what they want next. Building in public creates a feedback loop more valuable than any market report. 5. Use your brand as a research lab Every social post, every product launch, and every collaboration is a data point. Pay attention to what resonates and double down on those signals. Your most valuable insights will come from authentic community connections that cost nothing but your time and attention. What's the most surprising thing you've learned directly from your customers?

47

4 Comments

Most $10M-$100M DTC brands are misallocating budget. They’re over-funding the channel that gets more expensive every year (Meta)… … and under-funding the one that compounds visibility + revenue, and defends the brand long-term (SEO/GEO). Buyer journeys aren’t straight lines anymore. Someone sees an ad, then watches a YouTube review, reads a few opinions on Reddit, asks ChatGPT for a comparison, Googles your competitors, and maybe comes back to buy two weeks later. Skepticism is rampant right now… which means you need content at every touchpoint where buyers are doing their due diligence. Meta only buys you the first click. SEO/GEO keeps your brand visible everywhere else. Your competitor isn’t just buying attention. They’re building a brand buyers can’t avoid.

12

2 Comments

At $25M in DTC revenue, growth wasn’t the problem. Scaling profitably was. We made a deliberate decision to accelerate, not restrain. Creative was the lever. We rebuilt paid social around creative performance analysis and rapid multivariate testing across Meta and TikTok. The goal wasn’t just more ads. It was faster, smarter iteration tied directly to cohort-level LTV data. At the same time, we tightened lifecycle strategy: • Segmented CRM flows based on conversion-driving creative   • Optimized CRO to increase AOV and repeat purchase rate   • Focused acquisition on new customer cohorts with proven 3:1 LTV:CAC durability  Over the next 12 months: DTC grew from $25M to $35M.   Contribution margin expanded from 28% to 31%. Paid social became the #1 acceleration engine for net new customers while contribution margin improved alongside it. That’s the difference between growth and scalable growth. Acceleration compounds when creative, cohort math, and lifecycle infrastructure move together.

2

CHURCH & DWIGHT DISCLOSES TOUCHLAND, THERABREATH & HERO REVENUES During their analyst day today Church & Dwight Co., Inc. disclosed revenue figures for touchland, TheraBreath, and Hero Cosmetics. The growth is epic! - Hero was acquired for 630M at 5.5x sales and 14x ebitda in 2022 - Touchland at an even higher multiple of 6.8x sales and 16x ebitda last year. - TheraBreath HIGHER at $580M at 6.7x sales and 21.5x ebitda in 2021 Using the multiples from the deals, all three brands are worth over a billion: - Touchland at 1.2B representing a 1.4x valuation step up in <1 year - Therabreath at at 2.7B, 4x valuation in 4 years - Hero at 1.9B, 3x valuation in < 3 years

248

7 Comments

Thinking about taking your beauty brand from DTC to big box retail? Watch this first. 👀 I’ve seen it from every angle. From my 14 years in corporate America. From 11 owning a manufacturing facility. From sitting beside founders making the leap into major retailers. And here’s the honest truth. It’s a bumpy ride. Every single brand I’ve supported through that transition, from large established brands to small emerging ones, has faced real challenges once they stepped into big box retail. Retail looks glamorous from the outside. Distribution. Visibility. Scale. But behind the scenes? There are nuances, expectations, and performance pressures most founders are not fully prepared for. In Episode 39 of the podcast, I break down what retailers are actually looking for and what you need to understand before you make the jump. 🎯 If retail expansion is on your radar, this is a must-watch. Watch Episode 39 now. 🎙️✨ Apple podcast https://bit.ly/4queDL3 Spotify audio https://bit.ly/4r9TlDU Youtube https://bit.ly/3Ox8jFi

10

1 Comment