7 apps for better eCommerce 👀 

I’ve helped grow RV SnapPad from a bootstrapped idea to a multi-million dollar DTC brand.

Along the way, I’ve been…

→ Lied to by vendors,
→ Nearly sunk by supply chain fragility,
→ Distracted by shiny objects,
→ And gutted by anxiety more times than I can count.

If I could go back and talk to myself in year one, here are the 7 lessons I’d share. 

1. Vendors will disappoint you.

Some lie on purpose.
Some are just too optimistic.
Some don’t understand what you actually need.

When you’re talking to 3PLs, agencies, or SaaS tools, remember: the person selling you often isn’t the person doing the work. That creates a dangerous gap between promise and execution.

We always did our due diligence. We still got burned.

Almost every vendor under-delivered in some key way.

An early techy 3PL we worked with had an amazing pitch and slick platform with an intuitive UI. It seemed like a no-brainer. We shipped pallets of our products, flipped the switch, and ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. 

Stuff was lost, wrong things were shipped, we couldn’t get answers from anyone on the ground. We lasted about 4 weeks with them before being forced to pull out. It cost thousands in lost shipping and freight. Not to mention the attendant brand damage. 

2. Logistics will humble you.

“Put the product in a box and ship it.” That’s how I initially thought about logistics. 

WRONG. 

Logistics is complex, and one problem cna break the chain.

Then, things like COVID happen.

Survive that, and you can still run out of money.

We did. Why?

We overinvested in inventory and couldn’t convert it to cash quickly enough.

Once you’re beyond the “garage as warehouse” stage, logistics becomes one of the hardest, most important parts of the business. Packaging, freight, demand forecasting…it all matters. 

A lot. 

3. Don’t wait to fix existential risks.

Our supplier was giving us warning signs two years in.
Production delays. Communication issues. Invoices months late. 
But we ignored it. Our triple-digit growth rate masked the cracks.

This supplier was going down eventually and was going to drag us down with them. We did nothing about it.

Then COVID hit.

We didn’t lose our wholesale accounts because we created the category we sell in (pure luck 💫 ).

👾 But we had so much demand that we were forced to shut off all DTC sales and marketing, just to fulfill a backlog of bulk purchase orders.

From the outside, it looked like a high-class problem. But in reality, we were handcuffed during what should have been the single biggest opportunity in our history. 

👾 Plus, the lack of DTC sales killed our cash flow. We had to take on risky loans to keep the lights on despite drowning in demand. 

It took two years to rebuild the supply chain and return to reliable fulfillment. And we’ll never get those missed months back.

4. Focus would have gotten us further.

In the early days, we kept it tight: build product, market it, sell it on Shopify.

Then came the shiny stuff like distributors, marketplaces, and big B2B deals. We said yes to all of them.

But we weren’t ready.

Wholesale orders stressed our already fragile operations. We had to learn palletization, change our packaging, onboard new systems, and hire a sales rep. Meanwhile, our core DTC engine (what got us there) suffered.

B2B now makes up 25% of revenue. But if I could go back, I’d wait. We’d be further ahead if we’d fully dialed in the DTC side before layering on complexity.

It’s the same trap many early brands fall into. It might not be B2B. It could be launching too many products or trying to hit every marketing channel at once.

5. Marketing channels age fast.

Remember we shut down DTC channels when our supply chain broke during COVID?

THat meant no more ads.

When we turned them back on in 2022, everything had changed.

Cool new tech, big wow.

Except…

Our old Meta playbook no longer worked.

Cost per acquisition tripled. 

It took us months to relearn how to advertise on Facebook again.

That’s one of the toughest parts of growing a brand: you rely on tools and platforms that evolve at the speed of tech.

TikTok, Meta, Google, Shopify, they’re not static. They change fast. AI, privacy updates, attribution tools…if you’re not paying attention, you’re already behind.

6. Finance isn’t optional.

You can fake it to 6 figures. But once you start adding vendors, SKUs, paid media, and a team, you'd better know your numbers.

We’ve had massive revenue months followed by near-insolvency in the past. 

Why? 

• Overordered inventory. 

• More cash going out than coming in.

• Revenue not translating to profit because we didn’t understand our margins.

And good luck getting a bank loan.

DTC is high-risk in the eyes of traditional lenders. 

Unless you have recurring revenue, physical assets, or a long track record, you’ll be hard-pressed to get much. Even if you do, they’ll likely want a personal guarantee, meaning if your business fails, they can come for your house.

7. Your business will mess with your head.

Three great sales days → You feel like a genius.
Three slow ones → You’re a fraud.

I’ve been on both sides. Some weeks, I’m high on a campaign that’s printing money. The next, I’m panicking about whether this month’s revenue will cover payroll.

Your identity gets wrapped up in the dashboard.

One push notification from Shopify and your entire mood can swing.

Even when things are working, it’s stressful. As the founder, you feel everything: inventory issues, team conflicts, slow days, and ad fatigue. Sometimes all in the same week.

No one talks about how emotional this is.

🌯 Wrap-up

The irony is, I may not have listened to ANY of this early on. All that mattered was getting customers, finding sales. Surviving. 

But that phase doesn’t last forever. And if you aren’t aware of the pitfalls that lie ahead, it’s easy to fall in. 

If you’re early in your journey, maybe this gives you a 12-month head start. 

Or at least saves you from one or two painful, expensive mistakes. 

Talk soon,

Kent

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