ML-Implode News - Brandless, Outdoor Voices, and Away: How Venture Capital Ruined a Generation of Direct-to-Consumer Startups

Highly venture-backed DTCs largely have two pathways to longevity and success. They can sell to an incumbent, much in the same way that Bonobos and Jet.com have sold to Walmart, or they can try their luck and go public. The incumbents are willing to overlook the less than ideal DTC economics because what they're buying isn't a business model, it's the other stuff, like data-informed decision-making. So when a company like Harry's that planned to exit by selling itself to another entity suddenly can't, what options remain?
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One of the last questions I had asked Blumenthal[of Warby Parker]--before that news came out--was whether the DTC model was actually sustainable for any of these companies, particularly for the venture-backed unicorns? "It's never been easier or less expensive to start a business, but it's also never been harder to scale one," Blumenthal conceded, which is probably the most damning thing a co-founder of a hyper-popular company with a heavy PR presence hovering on the phone will tell you.

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Brandless, Outdoor Voices, and Away: How Venture Capital Ruined a Generation of Direct-to-Consumer Startups