#22 - How to build a profitable DTC business

DTC is not always full of fresh hot takes, but Ovadia Labaton, the Co-Founder of The Perfect Jean (“TPJ”), is unapologetically full of them.

From the start, Ovadia and his co-founder Zach were not set on building an unrealistic, VC-backed DTC business, which dramatically changed their growth strategy.

From a clever working capital setup with their suppliers to free up operating cash to setting ROAS targets through well-calculated unit economics down to contribution margin, Ovadia and team have been able to scale TPJ to a much larger opportunity than they expected, all while keeping the brand lighthearted and avoiding mass opinions in the DTC Twitter fray.

Give a listen to our full conversation below:

🍎 Apple

🎧️ Spotify

📺️ YouTube 

Some of Ovadia’s 🌶️ takes from our chat:

• [06:42 - 07:55] The importance of Contribution Margin

• [12:02 - 13:09] The Kidbox “VC bet” that didn’t work out

• [14:13 - 14:56] The Perfect Jean is building a Calm and Profitable Business

• [31:31 - 32:23] Surviving zombie eComm brands 

• [35:20 - 36:34] Shopify is the dominant eComm SaaS, but has many problems to address

Some of data 🛠️ Ovadia highlights:

• Lifetimely

• SourceMedium

• Salvit

• EdgeMesh 

• M2 Attribution 

Thanks tuning in to #22 of DVLU - we couldn’t (..well we could actually since we’re not getting paid) do this without all of you.