Sam here.
Quick pause on the cashflow series to share some reflections from our team trip to Argentina last week.
As CEO of a 100% remote company, I think it’s mission critical to provide at least 1 in-person experience per year.
And I want to provide our team with the same level of experience that represents the excellence we ask them to deliver to clients every day.
Last week, we traveled back to Buenos Aires, Argentina for an awesome week of team building, coworking, and fun.
We had a great week.
But I couldn’t help but think it didn’t quite live up to the epicness of the trip last year.
Last year, we had a great year financially. We had a smaller team. So, the coffers for the trip were full. And boy did we exhaust the coffers in Patagonia.
I was able to cover pretty much everything from all travel expenses, skiing equipment rentals, ski passes, ski rentals. An extra flight from Buenos Aires to San Martin. An incredible Airbnb in the mountains.
It was one of those trips where everything just worked. The team loved it. And I absolutely loved being able to provide that experience.
I couldn’t quite live up to last year.
When I couldn’t quite live up to that this year, it felt really unfortunate.
This year, we’ve been seeing the macro economic impact in our benchmark reports – brands’ revenue slowing and brands becoming less profitable. What’s bad for our clients usually is bad for us.
Also, we invested heavily in growth by hiring more people.
All combined, we haven’t hit our revenue or profit targets for the year. And, therefore, we didn’t have the same budget for a trip.
The most frustrating part – it’s not the team’s fault. It’s not their fault that macro-economics have gotten tougher. It’s not their fault that we decided to invest more in growth and infrastructure. It’s not their fault we missed our targets.
But it’s the current business reality.
The Questions I Asked Myself
Despite the situation, as I said above, I believe it’s mission-critical to have at least one in-person experience per year for a remote company.
The question for this year was: How do we get 80% of the value for less than last year?
How do we maintain team morale and show appreciation when the budget doesn’t match last year’s?
Investing in people and maintaining culture while balancing financial reality.
Instead of skiing in Patagonia, we chose Buenos Aires – where almost all of our Argentinian team lives anyway. We saved some travel costs and also cut an experience like skiing out of the itinerary.
Like I said, we still had an awesome trip.
Lots of steak and wine. Dulce de leche. Meeting new teammates face to face. My first escape room. A boat trip in Tigre.
For our Philippines team, they still have a trip planned too.
What I’m Still Figuring Out
Maybe leadership isn’t always about providing the biggest and best. Sometimes it’s about being honest about constraints while still finding ways to show up for your people.
Most of our industry is facing similar challenges. Or they will be at year-end.
It’s not perfect, but I feel that whether I’m running a remote company or not, I will continue budgeting for culture.
— Sam
📊 Benchmark Reports
- 2025 Q2 Benchmark Report: We analyzed financials across 30+ companies to show you exactly what happened – including revenue growth, margins, ad spend, and more.
- Cash Unlocks Report: We analyzed inventory turns, months of runway, and working capital (current ratio) across 5 DTC brands ranging from under $10M and above $50M. This report includes all the benchmarks and insights to identify and attack locked up cash in your business.
🔗 Best Links & Resources
My team reviews industry insights every week to stay current. We curate the best, so you don’t have to…
1. Q2 2025 Benchmark Report Breakdown: I chatted with Geoff Gualano from A2X to make sense of the Q2 P&L trends. We hit on what happened with revenue and ad spend across the board and what to do about rising G&A costs. Definitely check this out if you want some more detail on the report.
2. Chelsea Cohen on Turning Inventory into Cash Flow: Chelsea, founder of SoStocked (now part of Carbon6), joined the MDS Podcast to talk about how operators can turn better inventory management into real dollars. She breaks down how to forecast aged inventory fees, model removal vs. liquidation, and find hidden savings through carton optimization and fee-tier tweaks. If your inventory strategy isn’t tied to your P&L yet, this conversation will change how you think about it.
🧭 Footnotes
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