After building, and scaling one of the largest DTC Brands in the world, Nectar Sleep, we sold our business and joined forces with Ashley, the #1 Furniture Manufacturer in the world.
In this book we share our own journey of building a successful DTC/Omni-Channel brand, underlining the significance of adopting a pragmatic approach from the outset. We address common challenges faced by founders in the eCommerce industry, emphasizing the importance of practical, actionable strategies.
Section One: Ways of Working
- Assume You’re Wrong: Emphasizes the importance of testing assumptions with data. The chapter encourages founders to embrace mistakes as learning opportunities.
- Build Sustainable Systems: Advocates for creating efficient, self-sustaining systems across all business areas to ensure long-term stability and growth.
- Leveraging Limited Time: Focuses on utilizing time effectively, concentrating on activities that drive growth and distinguish the business.
- Fill Your Roster: Discusses the need for hiring adaptable generalists in early stages and building a team aligned with the business’s growth stage.
- Follow the Cash: Stresses understanding unit economics and cash flow, alongside knowing various funding options suitable for different stages of business growth.
Section Two: Taking Action
- Selecting a Winning Product: Guides on selecting a viable product and market, and validates the market potential through practical tools.
- Sourcing Your Product: Offers strategies for choosing the right suppliers, balancing cost, quality, and speed, and adapting sourcing needs as the business grows.
- Building A High Converting Website: Advises on selecting and optimizing sales channels, emphasizing the importance of a direct-to-customer (D2C) website and tactics to improve your CVR.
- Creating A Sales & Marketing Flywheel: Focuses on choosing effective marketing channels based on how customers discover products.
- Producing Winning Creative Assets: Provides insights into creating compelling content for various marketing channels.
- Engaging with Your Customers: highlights the importance of leveraging direct customer interactions as valuable opportunities for feedback, sales enhancement, and continuous improvement.
- Growing Sales In Retail & Marketplaces: phasizes strategic expansion into diverse sales channels like Amazon, retail, and other marketplaces based on your product’s unique selling proposition and margin considerations
- Making The Most Of Yourself & Your Team: Systematizing DTC operations, prioritizing high-impact activities, efficiently managing one’s time and teams priorities.
- Taking Control Of Your DTC Cashflow: How to effectively manage inventory financing, OPEX and common constraints in DTC cashflow management.
Unlocking Scale reiterates its mission to provide a practical, actionable guide for eCommerce entrepreneurs. We tie together key takeaways from each chapter and prompts readers to apply directly to their ventures.
Scott McLeod is a seasoned Co-Founder and marketer specializing in direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands. With over two decades of experience, he has been instrumental in launching and scaling high-growth companies, including Resident Home. Scott’s leadership in the mattress industry has established him as a key player in the e-commerce space, known for delivering consistent growth and results.
Eric Hutchinson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Resident, Acquired by Ashley Furniture in 2025. Eric has over two decades of experience as a founder, having previously served as the Co-Founder and COO of Madison Reed, Inc. Prior to that, the Co-Founder of Home Value Protection, Inc., which was acquired by AmTrust Financial in 2012.