How I ended up working only on subscriptions
The short version
- 2009: Started in ecommerce after college.
- 2012: Launched my own fashion brand, IndiaRush.
- 2019: Closed it after scaling past $20M. Retention sat under 20%.
- 2019 to 2024: Generated $63M in email revenue for DTC brands.
- 2024: Went all in on subscriptions.
- Today: 80+ DTC brands and 30+ subscription programs, on Recharge, Skio, Stay AI and Loop.
The long version
IndiaRush grew on ads. Customers bought once and rarely came back.
Every new customer cost more to win than the last. The brand wound down because it could not keep the customers it paid for.
So I started an agency to fix retention for other brands. We built email for DTC brands.
The flows looked great. Subscribers still left.
The turn came with a $5M subscription brand losing 22% of its subscribers every month. Klaviyo was running, Recharge was billing, the ads were working.
We called their customers and found the real problem. People weren’t using the product, so they never saw results, so they had no reason to stay.
The answer sat in three places email can’t reach: the offer they subscribed to, how often the box arrived, and what happened when they clicked cancel.
We rebuilt all three as one system. Monthly churn fell from 22% to 9% in 60 days.
That system became the Subscription LTV Maximizer™.
The Subscription LTV Optimizer™ came next, for brands whose system is built and whose numbers have stopped moving.
I stopped selling email. Now I only work on subscription programs, and I read every account myself.
I share what I learn every week on YouTube and LinkedIn, and in the newsletter.
- In Ecommerce Since 2009
- 80+ DTC Brands
- 30+ Subscription Programs
