The Challenge
The founders had built a premium fragrance brand from zero to $3.2M in annual revenue over four years, entirely through direct-to-consumer channels. The product was excellent, the brand had genuine following, and repeat purchase rates were strong. But every venture investor they'd spoken to had given them the same feedback: the business is interesting, but the financial story isn't there.
The founders didn't understand what that meant. Their accountant was producing accurate accounts. The margins looked fine. Revenue was growing.
They came to us six months before a planned fundraise, frustrated but determined.
Our Process
We started by doing what investors were implicitly asking for — telling the financial story in a language that unlocks institutional capital.
Unit economics rebuild. DTC brands live or die by cohort economics. We rebuilt the company's customer acquisition and retention data from Shopify and email platform exports into a formal cohort model: customer acquisition cost by channel and campaign, 12-month repurchase rates by cohort, lifetime value distribution, and payback period by channel. This data existed; it had never been organised.
Revenue quality analysis. We separated recurring revenue (subscribers, replenishment purchasers) from one-time buyers, showing that 34% of the customer base was generating 71% of revenue through repeat purchases. That concentration — in the right direction — was a quality signal investors could underwrite.
Growth model. We built a bottom-up three-year model with three scenarios, each grounded in channel-specific assumptions tied to real data. We paid particular attention to the wholesale expansion thesis — the founders believed retail was the next phase, and we built a credible unit economics case for why wholesale accounts would be accretive, not dilutive, to the overall model.
Investor-ready materials. We prepared the CIM, financial model package, and investor FAQ. We also ran warm introductions through our network to four consumer brand investors who were actively deploying in the GCC market.
Key Outcome
The unit economics story was the unlock. Investors had been seeing a revenue chart with no explanation of the engine underneath it. When we showed the cohort data — specifically, that Year 2 customers generated 2.8x the gross profit of Year 1 customers despite lower acquisition cost — the conversation changed from "interesting brand" to "investable business."
Results
- ·4 term sheets received over a six-week process — more than the founders had expected
- ·Series A closed at a valuation that gave the founding team meaningful dilution protection for future rounds
- ·Lead investor was a GCC-focused consumer brand fund with active portfolio companies the brand could cross-sell through
- ·Wholesale expansion commenced within three months of close; first retail accounts signed within the first year
- ·Founders retained majority control — deal structure negotiated to protect founder equity at future Series B on the basis of performance milestones