Why do most DTC brands fail?

Five recurring reasons. The pattern: unit economics that worked at $30K MRR break at $300K MRR + nobody catches it until cash runs short.

Unit economics don't scale

Founders fall in love with early CAC ($25 from warm audience) and forget it'll be $80 at scale (cold audience, ad platform competition). The brand looks healthy until you scale 5x — then it breaks.

Creative volume gap

Production capacity (5-10/mo) never matches need (50+/mo). Ad performance bleeds out over 6 months. Founder thinks 'we need better targeting' — they need more creative.

Founder spread too thin

Solo founder doing product + marketing + ops + CS + finance. Each function gets 20% of attention. The brand is mediocre at everything instead of great at one thing.

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