The Planning Model That Gets You to $5M Won’t Get You to $25M
At $5M, scrappy feels resourceful. At $20M, it feels like chaos with good branding. Because what gets you your first $5M won't get you the next $10M — the system and mindset driving your growth fundamentally change.
Your consumer expects more.
Your category gets more competitive.
The decisions you make (and costs) start compounding fast.
The pattern I keep seeing: teams planning 2026 with the same operating model they used when the business was smaller, even though today's complexity demands something different.
That's why "inspiration" from breakout brands rarely translates. You can't copy Olipop's playbook when you don't have Olipop's founder story, economics, tailwinds, or war chest—but that won't stop the case study carousel. When the planning model doesn't match your stage, strategy breaks downstream — quietly, but expensively.
Most scaling brands are missing the connective tissue: the frameworks that help you prioritize, understand what's driving growth, and make channels amplify each other.
Without that foundation, everyone's busy. Nothing compounds.
So next week (Mon, Dec 8), I'm launching “Make Money, Darling” — a weekly newsletter for founders and operators who need planning tools built for the scale and realities of modern CPG and DTC brands.
Each edition shares insights from the frameworks I use with my $5M–$30M client brands—covering brand strategy, consumer behavior, channels, and P&L-driven planning.
I'm kicking it off with how I'd approach 2026 marketing planning — the same strategic foundations I'd apply inside big CPG, adapted so constraints become a competitive advantage and for the unique 2026 consumer landscape.
If you want a planning foundation that actually supports scale, subscribe here:
