How Casper Failed & Why DTC Startups Lose Money

Through 2014 to 2018, Casper was everywhere on the Internet, flooding advertisements into every trendy podcast, website, and YouTube video. Need a mattress? Want a mattress? Buy Casper. Not comfortable buying a mattress you’ve never seen or touched before? No problem! Sleep on it for three months and return it anytime for a full refund within those 100 days, no questions asked. With a radically generous return policy and aggressive multi-million advertising budgets, Casper quickly rose to fame as the flashiest and fast growing online consumer brand.

Silicon Valley fueled Casper’s meteoric rise, eager to showcase the company as a shining example of technological innovation and business transformation. Casper, Warby Parker, Dollar Shave Club were all pioneers of a new revolutionary type of business called Direct-To-Consumer.

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0:00 Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) Business Model
3:50 Turning Down A Billion Dollars
5:41 A Broken Business Model
8:40 Bursting of the DTC Bubble
11:30 Irony of Retail