211. Stop Optimizing for Revenue. Optimize for Profit ft. Cem Atik

Cem Atik is the co-founder and CMO of Harucon Ventures, a firm that acquires minority and majority equity stakes in e-commerce and SaaS businesses doing between one and ten million in annual revenue. Rather than operating as an agency or consultancy, Cem and his team get in with capital, take operational control of marketing and finance, and work to make the businesses they partner with structurally profitable.Most e-commerce brands that come to Harucon Ventures have the same underlying problem: they are optimizing for the wrong things. Revenue looks healthy. ROAS looks acceptable. But unit economics are broken, overhead is bloated, and the margin structure makes scaling impossible.In this conversation, Cem walks through exactly how his team diagnoses and fixes that. From cutting ad spend by 1.7 million euros in a single month to replacing a fulfillment provider that was silently overcharging a brand shipping 25,000 packages a day, the fixes are rarely glamorous but consistently high-impact. The conversation also covers his four-engine growth framework: acquisition, retention, conversion, and profit-first optimization, and why founders who lead with ROAS are measuring the wrong thing entirely.Cem also breaks down channel mix strategy, including why Pinterest and Bing Ads are consistently underused, why TikTok affiliate is one of the highest-leverage growth levers available right now, and why the real money in e-commerce is almost always made in retention, not acquisition.Founders who are scaling but not compounding, or growing revenue while watching margins compress, will find this episode unusually direct and useful.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: [email protected] website: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Cem Atik, Co-Founder & CMO, Harucon VenturesCem Atik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cem-atikHarucon-Ventures: https://harucon-ventures.com/Key Takeaways:• If a founder cannot state their customer acquisition cost in under 15 seconds, the business does not have a real financial foundation yet.• ROAS tells you how much revenue you generated per dollar spent. It tells you nothing about whether that dollar was profitable. Optimizing for profit on ad spend (POAS) gives you actual control.• Gross margin under 65% makes scaling structurally difficult in the US and UK markets. The margin problem cannot be fixed with better ads.• Agencies are typically three times cheaper than hiring in-house at early stages. Outsource acquisition first, learn from the partner, then bring it in-house once systems are proven.• TikTok affiliate is one of the most capital-efficient acquisition channels available: commission-based, creator-generated content, and scalable without a large internal team.• Pinterest is consistently overlooked despite an audience skewing 25 to 45 years old with average household incomes above $100K, and ROAS between four and six even at modest spend levels.Chapters:[00:00] Introduction: Cem Atik and the Harucon Ventures Model[01:27] The Founders Harucon Typically Partners With[03:45] The Post-Acquisition Audit: First 72 Hours[07:45] Cutting 1.7M Euros in Ad Spend: A Case Study[09:16] Why Gross Margin Under 65% Makes Scaling Nearly Impossible[13:51] The KPIs That Actually Matter: CAC, CLV, MER, EBITDA[18:35] The Four Engines: Acquisition, Retention, Conversion, Profit[24:00] Why ROAS Misleads and POAS Gives Real Control[25:41] Channel Mix: TikTok, Pinterest, Bing, and What Gets Overlooked