₹1 Crore Revenue to Payroll Crisis in 90 Days | Sumedh Bachal

₹1 crore monthly revenue. Dead in 90 days.

A D2C skincare brand in Bangalore hit the milestone in March 2023.

Founder posted about it on LinkedIn. 200 likes. Investor DMs. Office party.

By June, they couldn’t make payroll.

Nobody lied. The revenue was real. The customers were real. The death was also real.

Here’s what nobody asked during the celebration.

CAC was ₹1,100 per customer. Average first order: ₹800. Every new customer was a ₹300 loss on arrival.

“They’ll come back and the math will fix itself.” That was the plan.

88% never came back. Bought once. Vanished.

CAC payback period: the months it takes for a customer to earn back what you spent acquiring them. If that number is longer than your runway, the ending is already written.

Uss LinkedIn post pe 200 likes aaye. Kisi ne ek baar bhi nahi poocha: per customer kitna kama rahe ho?

Everyone celebrated. Nobody did the math.

The scary part isn’t that this brand died. It’s that most people watching had no idea it was dying.

-SumedhBachal

UnitEconomics #StartupFinance #BusinessFinance #FinancialStorytelling #CashFlow

Photo by Per Lööv on Unsplash