Back in Q1, I boiled DTCo’s 2024 goals into 5 Key Initiatives. Here’s how I’d rate our progress:

Editorial: It’s been a good year. I think I speak for the team when I say we haven’t had much time to breathe and are really looking forward to the next two weeks slowing down. Throughout the year, these initiatives serve as goal posts for how to make decisions while needing to constantly move fast. There will be months where we don’t intentionally talk about them but when we do, we’ll look up and realize that we’ve all been moving and thinking on a similar cadence. As the year comes to a close and I’m able to look up and reflect on what made the last 12 months worthwhile, it’s people and I’m really grateful for the team that we’ve built. It’s not infrequent that we’ll be on a call and someone will say, “our team is just nice and they give a shit.” Building and sustaining a team like that when we’ve 2x’d Revenue AND headcount tells me all I need to know about our progress.

But to what I wrote about in Q1:

1. Roll out DTCo Marketing → 50% success because of consistency.

What happened? It was consistently deprioritized throughout the year to focus on our own operational growth. We’ve been a referral-grown agency since day 1 and have largely continued to grow this way. As the team has grown (>30 FT US, 2x YoY), we wanted to create more resiliency with our inbound. As we kicked up more content, inbound picked up and with a growing team, we slowed marketing down to focus on ensuring our team development and client partnerships were up to snuff. Now that the team has had more time to gel, we’ll be back at it.

2. Brand Perception → 100% success because 9/10 clients that join DTCo sign on Content Services, up from 3/10 at the beginning of the year.

What happened? We first piloted Content Services mid-2023 and slowly but surely, started beating out other brand partners and paired with our strategic partnerships, offering something that felt like an in-house experience with the sauce of seeing what works for the top brands in eComm. The wins justified more hiring and we obsessed over the best content strategists and editors while also bringing on Creative Directors, 3x’ing headcount. The output: 8,000+ ads that have enabled tens of millions of dollars in growth investment. And that’s just on Meta. A lot more to come here. Check us out.

3. Analytics Product → 100% success because ORCA came to life and is a go-to solution for clients.

What happened? We took a beefy Google Sheet and bootstrapped it into a best-in-class eComm Analytics tool. From simple attribution across ad platforms (Meta, Google, TikTok, AppLovin, Pinterest to name a few) to speed-to-payback models and product deep dives, brands love the insights they get with ease-of-use. We get consistent feedback from our clients that ORCA enables immediate access and action that their teams otherwise were lacking, even if they already had a data solution in place.

4. Small Co Agency → 100% success because of growth, increasing our MRR by +20%.

What happened? In the past, most brands that we met were too small to work with DTCo. We figured out an offering that matched a high level of service with the needs of smaller brands.

Most smaller and GTM brands have to choose between less expensive options (younger talent, cheap agencies) that make sense cost-wise but create a trust and growth liability whereas more expensive options (senior talent, expensive agencies) that might create more trust but then create a liability cost-wise. These options have always seemed fraught to me. Smaller and GTM businesses require so much work and diligence to get off the ground only to faced with a gamble on resourcing for growth—not anymore 🙂 


5. Team Development → 50% success because of time.

What happened? There's a ton to celebrate here. Our team has put out a lot of amazing work this year both for our clients and towards their own individual growth. We've had a number of promotions that we're really proud of. 50% comes from not having more time to go deeper here--it's the push-pull of agency life. Experiential learning is always present but carving out time to be intentional is tough. A clear area to keep pushing in 2025.

Every year of agency life is kind of crazy. What I love most about it, is our team—they choose agency life, they love the pace, the access, the on-the-go development. And there are definitely times where it’s a lot. Working with people that are here because they choose to be is without a doubt the best part of running DTCo because it pushes every one to show up and be their best selves. In turn, it’s something our clients experience too.

2025 is projected to be a fun year. Will send a note in the coming weeks about what’s in store. Get some rest and thanks for the read.

Cheers.