Case study
Reel Paper: $0 to $24M ARR across DTC, Amazon, and retail
- Role
- Co-founder and CMO, P&L owner
- Category
- Consumer goods, sustainable essentials
- Results
- $0 to $24M ARR in two years, three channels at scale
- Recognition
- Featured in Forbes
The situation
Sustainable paper is full of brands that never escape the DTC bubble: high CAC, low reorder rates, and a hard ceiling on growth. Reel Paper set out to compete in DTC, on Amazon, and in big-box retail at the same time.
Most brands fail at this. Each channel has its own logic, margin structure, and customer behavior, and a playbook built for one breaks in the others.
What I did
- 01
Owned the P&L from day one. As co-founder and CMO, I built the team and owned every channel decision.
- 02
Gave each channel a different job. DTC acquired customers, Amazon grew basket size, and Target drove trial.
- 03
Built a lifecycle engine for each channel. Retention and reorder programs were designed around how customers actually bought in each place.
- 04
Kept one brand voice. Positioning stayed consistent everywhere, so growth in one channel lifted the others.
- 05
Built the operating layer. Internal systems and outside partners handled the complexity without pulling focus from the commercial plan.
Results
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| ARR | $0 to $24M in two years |
| Channels at scale | 3 (DTC, Amazon, retail) |
| Recognition | Featured in Forbes |
What this means for your brand
Going omnichannel is not adding channels. It is deciding what each channel is for and measuring it that way. Without that, Amazon cannibalizes DTC and retail becomes an expensive billboard.
Planning your move into Amazon or retail?
Related: Fractional CGO vs. fractional CMO