The last five years of DTC forced brands through extreme conditions—easy money, explosive growth, brutal pullbacks, rising CAC, tariffs, and shrinking consumer demand. In this presentation from the Commerce Roundtable, Taylor Holiday breaks down why those pressures weren’t the end of DTC—but the catalyst for its next evolution.
Taylor introduces the “Flow Era”: a new phase where winning brands stop chasing easy growth and instead master cash flow, product-led expansion, operational discipline, and constraint-driven creativity. Drawing on real data, industry trends, and the Born Primitive case study, he explains how the best operators are shifting from ROAS obsession to free cash flow as the true scoreboard.
This talk covers:
Why “easy” DTC is over—and why that’s a good thing
How capital constraints are reshaping growth strategies
The shift from revenue → EBITDA → free cash flow
Why better ads won’t save commodity products
How storytelling, category expansion, and constraints unlock durable growth
Practical lessons for operators navigating rising CAC, tariffs, and inventory risk
If you’re an operator, founder, or marketer trying to build a business that actually funds itself, this presentation lays out the mindset and mechanics required to win in the next era of DTC.
Show Notes:
