How Can D2C Founders Scale Business Without Losing Control?

As D2C brands expand, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain visibility into what is driving growth and where margins are being lost. With multiple marketplaces, quick commerce, offline retail, and the brand's own channels, each route to market brings different customers, costs, and operating challenges. To address this, Inc42 and PhonePe recently organized a roundtable during the D2C & Retail Summit 2026 to discuss how D2C brands can scale without losing control.

The discussion highlighted the importance of understanding what is really working for the business as it grows. Sales figures alone can be misleading, as a well-performing product may hide issues such as unsold inventory, dead stock, and high return rates. Founders need to look deeper into SKU-level data, inventory levels, and contribution margins to get a complete picture of the business's health.

Each channel expansion, such as marketplaces, quick commerce, modern trade, and offline stores, introduces new complexities. Pricing, discounting, customer behavior, and unit economics differ across channels, making it crucial for brands to evaluate "category-channel fit" rather than assuming product-market fit will translate seamlessly. Aligning channel requirements with the overall brand strategy is essential to ensure profitability.

Managing returns is another significant challenge, particularly in electronics where gross margins are low. Brands like Noise track customer drop-offs throughout the purchase journey to identify leaks and manage returns effectively. Maintaining inventory levels is also critical, with Littlebox aiming for 17-20 days of finished goods inventory and forecasting 15 days ahead to clear slow-moving stock through discounts.

As D2C businesses scale, the founder's role evolves. Founders can no longer oversee every aspect of the business, and building robust systems and hiring capable teams become essential to maintain control. The focus shifts from direct involvement in all decision-making to ensuring the right controls and processes are in place, allowing founders to stay informed even as decisions are distributed across the organization.