DTC ecommerce founders

• ABefore You Book Rome, Write Down Three Names.running first
• BAnother Ecommerce Event? Only If These Three Conversations Are Worth Leaving the Business For.
• CThe Ticket Isn't the Biggest Cost. Leaving the Store Without a Plan Is.

Every founder has flown somewhere for a conference and come back with a notebook and a hangover. The ones who came back with something to act on did one thing differently: they knew the three people they were going for before they booked. Here's how to run that test on Rome in November, with the list in your hand.

• AYour Next Growth Partner Wants a Commission, Not a Retainer.running first
• BYou Have the Product. Who Has the Customers You Haven't Reached?
• CYou Pay Before the Sale. Your Next Partner Gets Paid After It.

The ads get paid before the order arrives. The agency gets paid before you know whether the month worked. There's another kind of growth deal, where a partner funds the promotion and earns a commission on the sales that qualify. The people who make those deals meet in Rome in November. Here's what they'd need to see from you.

• AYour ROAS Is Fine. Your Bank Account Isn't.running first
• BRecord Sales. Still Sweating the Next Supplier Payment?
• CWhat If Scaling the Store Just Scales the Cash Problem?

The dashboard says the campaign worked. The supplier wants paying on Friday. Somewhere between those two facts is the number you actually need: what did the extra orders leave in the business? Here's a way to think about it, and the one growth conversation that changes who pays for the next customer and when.

• AMeta Is Your Landlord. What Happens When the Rent Goes Up?running first
• BYou Own the Stock. How Much Control Do You Have Over the Next Sale?
• CIf One Ad Account Went Dark Tomorrow, How Would New Customers Find You?

You own the product. You paid for the packaging. But if the next customer depends on one ad account staying healthy, part of the business still answers to someone else's rules. Here's the part you can bring under your own.

• AAnother 30 Days of Data. Another Invoice. Where's the Growth?running first
• BYou Fired the Agency. Did You Just Hire Yourself a Second Job?
• CBefore You Sign Another Retainer, Ask Who Gets Paid When You Make a Sale.

Picture the monthly call. Another deck. Another request for patience. Then the next invoice arrives before anyone has answered the question you came with: what changes from here? There's a different kind of growth relationship, and the people who make it meet in Rome in November.

• ARecord Month. Can't Sleep. Who Do You Tell?running first
• BRunning a Brand Is Lonelier Than Anyone Told You.
• CWho Do You Call When the Ads Stop Working and the Supplier Wants Paying?

Someone asks how the business is going. You say "good." Explaining record sales, cash tied up in stock and a supplier payment due Friday would take the rest of dinner. There's a room where you wouldn't have to explain any of it, and it's in Rome in November.

• AIf a Shopper Asked ChatGPT What to Buy, Would Your Brand Even Come Up?running first
• BYou Built the Store. What If the Shopping Starts Somewhere Else?
• CWho Recommends Your Product When You're Not Paying for the Ad?

You can improve every inch of your product page and still wonder whether a shopper will ever reach it. If their first question goes to an assistant instead of a search bar, what would make your brand part of the answer? Nobody knows the full answer yet. But one part of it is a question you can act on this year.

• AThe Ad Translates. Does the Margin Survive the Border?running first
• BYour Landed Cost Went Up. Your Contact List Didn't.
• CBefore You Ship Into a New Market, Who's Checking the Numbers?

The ad is translated. The spreadsheet says the market works. Then you reach the rows labelled returns, settlement and local fulfilment, and realise how many numbers still depend on people you haven't spoken to. Here's how to turn a second market into questions with names attached.

• AGreat Speakers. Wrong People. Sound Like Your Last Ecommerce Event?running first
• BFive Tests Before You Spend Another Euro on an Ecommerce Event.
• CBefore You Buy the Badge, Find Out Who Wants What You're Selling.

A badge proves you paid. It doesn't prove the right people are inside. Before you book another ecommerce event, ask five questions the organiser should be able to answer, and if they can't, keep your money.