Free Field Guide · The Advantage Series № 05

The $0 to $1B Playbook

The numbers that matter in a consumer brand, and where the good, great and dead lines sit at each stage.

A handful of numbers tell you how a consumer business is really doing, as long as everyone defines them the same way. This is how Mike defines them, and where he draws the good, great and dead lines from the first dollar to a billion. For DTC, omnichannel and CPG brands.

Instant access · No spam · Unsubscribe anytime

Cover of The $0 to $1B Playbook

What’s Inside

Six numbers, four stages, three bars for each.

  • №01

    The definitions first: LTV, LTR and the one ratio Mike uses.

  • №02

    Margins, satisfaction and discounts, calculated the same way every week.

  • №03

    $0 to $1M: get your margins right.

  • №04

    $1M to $10M: one channel, and retention.

  • №05

    $10M to $100M: the incremental customer.

  • №06

    $100M to $1B: omnichannel.

  • №07

    What broke at 10K, 100K and 1M meals a week, plus a scoring sheet for your real numbers.

About the Author

Mike Wystrach

Mike built and sold Freshly, a direct-to-consumer food brand, to Nestlé for over $1.5 billion. He is the co-founder of Petfolk and managing partner at Cutting Horse Ventures, where he invests in early-stage consumer brands. He writes weekly in The Advantage on what it actually takes to build — beyond the highlight reel.

Get the guide. Read it tonight.

Drop your email below and the PDF lands in your inbox, plus a weekly note on building better, smarter, faster.