ABOUT

Founded in 2020 in Los Angeles, Dose produces all-natural, organic wellness shots to functionally support a healthier body every day. Each shot combines potent ingredients in clinically researched doses to assist your liver health, skin health, muscle soreness, or immunity. To top it off, every Dose product is vegan and 100% free of gluten, dairy, sugar, and calories.

As a brand that supplements users’ daily wellness routines, Dose is largely subscription-based and retention-focused—a combination that often results in cash flow issues and struggles with predictive financial modeling. That’s when their team turned to Drivepoint.

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THE CHALLENGE

Predictive models are uniquely difficult for subscription-based, high-retention brands

Early on in the brand’s journey, Vasu Goyal, Founder of Dose, received some tough but essential feedback from investors: “Your financials are solid, but they’re not best-in-class.” He quickly dove into the numbers to identify areas for improvement and found one massive opportunity.

Since Dose is largely driven by their high retention rates, Vasu set out to build a predictive retention model that would help him understand cash flow, payback periods, and more. However, the amount of data to consider—ranging from years of historical data to dynamic data on marketing and acquisition campaigns—was staggering. Plus, according to Vasu, when you work with KPIs like LTV, CAC, AOV, and so on, “The minute you adjust anything, it has an astronomical effect depending on whether it trends upward or downward.”

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“Retention-focused brands need to know: ‘How much can I safely spend before I’m out of money?’ Drivepoint helped Dose answer this question ASAP, giving us clarity around our financials.”

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THE SOLUTION

Looking back, Vasu remembers he was at a loss for how Dose would solve their finance headaches. Fortunately, one of their investors introduced him to a strategic finance platform called Drivepoint. He explains, “As a founder, my gut tells me how to feel about any potential partner. The minute I spoke to Drivepoint on the phone, I knew they were the ones to work with.”

Since then, Dose benefits from the Drivepoint solution in three unique ways:

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Benefit #1: Drivepoint offers real-time financials, a rarity for consumer brands

Thanks to Drivepoint’s integrations and emphasis on up-to-date data, the Dose team can sync up all data sources in one click, centralize them into a single source of truth, and maintain a real-time, hourly view into their financials. Vasu emphasizes the outsized impact of predictive data rooted in accurate numbers. For instance:

• Prior to Drivepoint, if Dose wanted to gauge retention metrics, they were limited to evaluating weaker vs. stronger cohorts and strategizing from there.
• Today, Drivepoint provides Dose with specific and tactical predictions, such as: “I can improve Metric A by Percentage B. Or, I can optimize CAC by Percentage C. Here’s the option that will generate a greater upward trend within one month.”

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“You do not have to worry about back-end metric updates not reflecting in the models. Drivepoint is all about baking in historical actuals and using that as predictive data. It’s the biggest difference between them and their competitors. If you want a well-thought-out platform, you need Drivepoint.”

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Benefit #2: Drivepoint unlocks insights that are otherwise inaccessible

Equipped with Drivepoint’s real-time financials and “predictive models that you can play with as much as you want,” Vasu unlocked valuable business insights that he couldn’t have deciphered otherwise.

For instance, Drivepoint illustrated that a majority of Dose’s cash flow is tied up in inventory. From there, the team realized they could easily secure working capital financing to free up that cash—as opposed to raising debt financing or a bridge round. In Vasu’s words, having a firm grasp on his brand’s long-term financial roadmap has helped him sleep better at night.

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“Since onboarding, we have stopped relying on arbitrary numbers from basic calculations. Now, we’re more comfortable operating at a higher scale and understand our CAC tolerance. That wouldn’t have happened without Drivepoint."

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Benefit #3: Drivepoint is a hands-on strategic finance team that knows how to scale consumer brands

Vasu calls Drivepoint’s embedded professional services critical to improving Dose’s finance function. Since our strategic finance team brings collective decades of experience in scaling consumer brands, Dose can rely on us to recommend best practices for financial hygiene or flag important considerations for subscription-based businesses.

Above all, Vasu stresses that Team Drivepoint is hands-on and highly responsive. For instance:

• The Drivepoint and Dose teams share a dedicated Slack channel for direct comms. Vasu reports, “I can expect feedback and replies within a couple of hours maximum.”
• Every time Dose has requested a more complex custom model, Drivepoint has rolled up our sleeves and worked through the problem quickly. According to Vasu, “Drivepoint is always on time and will stick to the timelines they give you.”

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“Drivepoint has seen countless DTC brands in hyper-growth and beyond. They know what it takes. That’s why it’s not some cookie-cutter agency relationship where they recycle solutions. It’s highly bespoke and it can get even more complex and personalized if you want it to. That’s the genius of Drivepoint.”

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THE RESULTS

Dose nails their strategic finance at 1/3 of the cost of hiring a CFO

Since onboarding with Drivepoint, the Dose team has seen significant time and cost savings, which Vasu is thrilled to strategically reinvest in marketing, customer acquisitions, and bolstering retention. Here’s a snapshot of the results so far:

• $120,000 saved annually — Drivepoint’s strategic finance platform and pro services essentially eliminate the need to hire an in-house CFO. Plus, Vasu emphasizes that Drivepoint is “very, very cost-effective” since we understand budget restraints for small brands. “We have seen a massive amount of savings with Drivepoint."
• ‍240 hours saved annually on financials — Vasu estimates he saves 20 hours per month (plus many headaches) by relying on Drivepoint to power a bulk of Dose’s financials.
• ‍3–4% boost in gross margin — Since Drivepoint empowers Dose to strategically scale spending, the brand has gained more leverage to negotiate price points with suppliers. Today, Vasu estimates their gross margin has increased by 3–4%.

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Drivepoint has ultimately been a game-changer for Dose and their unique financials as a subscription- and retention-driven brand. Looking ahead, Vasu expects a long-term, rewarding partnership, especially given how much Dose has come to love our team. In his words:

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“At this point in the startup journey, what’s most important is the team. You just need someone who’ll get you the answers you need and explain them well. Drivepoint absolutely provides that. They’re easy partners, hardworking, and very kind all around. We’re excited to work with them for the long run.”

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