43 | The One With the Invoice That Made a Founder Cry: A Line by Line Unit Economics Breakdown

She thought she had a 72 percent gross margin best seller.Two years later, it was barely breaking even.In this episode, Lara walks through the exact invoice and data set that stopped a fast-growing DTC founder in her tracks. What looked wildly profitable on paper collapsed to an 8 percent contribution margin once every hidden cost was accounted for.You’ll hear a full, line by line teardown of real unit economics, including the eight costs most founders underestimate, miscalculate, or completely ignore between the supplier invoice and actual profit. Freight, duties, fulfillment, shipping, returns, customer service, CAC and more.This is the math that turns “hero products” into silent cash drains. And it’s the framework Lara uses to help brands stop scaling busy businesses and start building profitable ones.By the end of this episode, you’ll know exactly where to find these numbers in your own systems and how to build a unit economics spreadsheet that tells the truth about every SKU you sell.If this episode helped make your supply chain a little less painful, share it with another founder because nobody deserves to learn these lessons the hard way. Follow Supply Chain Moves wherever you get your podcasts.Connect with Lara & Move Supply ChainWant to keep learning and connect with Lara and the Move Supply Chain community?Follow & Subscribe:⁠LinkedIn – Move⁠⁠LinkedIn – Lara⁠⁠X – Move⁠⁠X – Lara⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠YouTube⁠Get more insights:⁠Unboxed Weekly⁠ – Lara’s newsletter on DTC supply chain moves⁠Lara’s AI Brain⁠ – Ask Lara’s AI anything about supply chainSC Lounge⁠ – Join Move Supply Chain's free Slack community for DTC founders