Rapid growth almost killed this $4M brand.
Last year, I worked with a brand that scaled $1M yearly to $4M in just 12 months.
On paper, it looked like a massive win. But it doesn’t feel like a win.
- Their CAC increased by 50%
- Operational stress leads to 3x more order returns or delays.
- Margins collapsed as they barely broke even.
- And worse, the cash got tight.
They shifted gears and started working on profitable growth. Refined their unit economics.
- Scaled back meta ads to sustainable levels.
- Changed 3PL provider to improve operations.
- Focused on retention for stable revenue. (where we came in)
- Helped them increase their AOV (also a little bit of us here)
- Took longer payment terms with their suppliers.
There’s always a struggle between growth and profitability.
Scaling isn’t bad, but scaling without the right metrics can be deadly for a business.
Growth exposes inefficiencies.
Scaling without fixing them just multiplies your losses.