As calls for improving diversity increase, many VCs are silent Over the past two weeks, there's been a flood of direct-to-consumer startups issuing statements about steps they will take to better support the black community, and build more diverse companies. But venture capitalists have remained largely quiet. "People are scared -- even though they want to do the right thing,...
- The most important thing DTC startups can do is build diverse companies
DTC startups have responded to events of the past week in a couple of ways. The first is by affirming their support for Black Lives Matter on social media, and pledging to fight against systemic injustice. Some brands followed that with pledges to donate to organizations like the NAACP Legal...
Stitch Fix considered moving stylist jobs away from California for over a year, according to leaked audio Stitch Fix’s decision to lay off the majority of its California-based stylists is something that the company has been discussing for over a year, the company’s vice president of operations, Minesh Shah told impacted stylists on Monday. In a recording obtained by Modern Retail, Shah said that the layoffs were...
- The coming months will make or break the DTC boom
Over the past two months, digitally native startups have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of store closures. Part of this growth was due to the fact that shoppers had fewer options. Now, shoppers have more options as stores open back up in more states. The coming months will prove...
- Facebook Shops present both opportunity and questions to DTC brands
Over the past year, Facebook hasn't been shy about its e-commerce ambitions. So, it didn't come entirely as a surprise on Tuesday when Facebook announced that it would be launching customizable online storefronts called Facebook Shops, as part of its quest to get customers to think of Facebook and Instagram...
- ‘More efficient than before’: DTC startups are rethinking the role of the office
Now that companies have roughly two months of working remotely under their belts, all CEOs are grappling with if, and when, they should call employees back to the office. Many CEOs are trying to figure out exactly what that will look like. For some, it may mean getting a smaller...
- DTC brands are sitting out the first wave of store re-openings in Texas
Direct-to-consumer startups have been thinking for weeks about how and when they want to re-open their stores. But as the time has come to re-open stores in some states, no one has any better idea of what the right path forward is than they did six weeks ago. Last Friday,...
- ‘Reminded me to be more human than ever’: DTC founders face leadership strains as crisis drags on
For many direct-to-consumer founders, it's been six weeks of extreme highs and lows -- some companies have recorded simultaneously some of their best and worst sales days within those same time periods. But even companies that have reported record sales haven't been immune from having to lay employees off. As...
- Lower advertising costs present a double-edged sword for DTC brands
In some ways, it's starting to feel like the early days of the direct-to-consumer boom all over again. A startup's website is once again its most important sales channel, as stores remain closed. Startups are having to operate with as small of a team as possible. And Facebook is once...