How I find the real problem
Why sales go up and profit doesn't.
So the thing is, a lot of founders come to me selling more and keeping less. Pricing, marketing, customers and teams are managed separately, and nobody looks at how they affect each other.
Let me explain how I read a business, using the same examples I use with founders.
How I diagnose
I read three parts of the business together.
Money. Customers. Marketing and sales. Most founders look at them one at a time, with a different person for each. The real cause almost never sits inside one of them. It sits where they overlap.
That's why I review the numbers, the customers and the channels before I say anything. Then you get a broad list of fixes, and the investment picture upfront.
What founders tell me
“We need more sales” can mean four different things.
- 1A thin marginYou sell a lot and keep very little of each order.
- 2A leaking websitePeople come, look, add to cart, and leave.
- 3A channel with no repeat buyersEvery customer is a new customer you paid for.
- 4A team spread too wideEveryone does a bit of everything, and nothing gets finished.
Each needs a different fix. More ad spend solves only one.
“Stop chasing your top line. Start tracking what's left.”
From one of my reels on marginsThe breakdowns
Six things I explain again and again.
Each one is a single idea from my reels, with one picture to make it stick.
A stall at a mela, or a kirana shop?
One-time sales versus customers who come back.
02Your marketing is an Indian wedding
Every platform has one job. Don't expect one to do them all.
03Topline is not what you keep
What's left after product, platforms, shipping and ads.
04An inch more on the box
Beautiful packaging that quietly costs you at scale.
05Call your abandoned carts
They saw your ad and nearly paid. Ask them why they stopped.
06You at every shoot
The founder doing every job, versus a team that runs without her.
Who is teaching this
I built a D2C brand from home and sold it in 2024.
Before that, close to 30 years of work across 9 countries: Big Four consulting, aviation, banks, sales. Now I work inside founders' businesses as their Fractional Cofounder. 145 clients and counting.