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🪩 Volume 126 | March 4, 2026

 

As an agency owner, the moments that mess with my head the most are NOT the slow weeks or the hard clients. They are the moments where things are going well—and I almost immediately start wondering if I should be doing more to keep the momentum going. 

 

Lemme explain.

 

“Scale the damn thing!”

 

If you’ve ever thought this way… you know what I mean. You hit a good quarter and instead of just sitting in it, your brain goes straight to: Ok but what’s next???? What’s more??? What’s bigger? What am I leaving on the table??

 

 

More isn’t always better. And thank goooooooooodness there are plenty of other brands out there who have felt this exact pressure and chose differently. They looked at an open door and said “eh, not yet” OR “maybe not that way.”

 

That choice, more often than not, becomes a whole story.

Welcome to March, Funnelcaker (can I call you that?? LOL).. This month, we’re looking at brands whose restraint, focus, and financial discipline made them magnetic.

 

 

 

News flash! Restraint is a marketing position. When brands hit that proverbial jackpot of success, they've got options:

And look—none of those are inherently wrong. But when a brand publicly, intentionally chooses not to chase growth (not adding SKUs, not opening five new locations, not raising a Series B) that choice communicates something too. It says: We know what we're doing. We're not desperate. We're not going anywhere.

 

Consumer behavior is always changing, but there are models worth studying and mistakes worth avoiding. These playbooks aren't accessible to everyone, and I get that. But there's some writing on the wall here.

 

This week: The brands that chose to scale on their own terms—without raising. And what their marketing looks like because of it.

 

 

Alli Webb started Drybar in 2010 in a single Brentwood, CA location with one veryyy simple concept: Blowouts. No haircuts, color, extensions—juuuust blowouts. 

 

When investors came in with the obvious ideas (Add makeup! Do nails! Expand the experience!) she said “Nah.” Every time. Even as the brand got bigger and the pressure got louder, the concept stayed exactly what it was: One thing, done very, very well. 

 

A decade later: 100+ locations, a product line at Sephora, a franchise model still expanding today. And a brand that consumers trust because it never tried to be everything. 

 

I’ve been to a Drybar. I know when I go to a Drybar, I’m getting the same experience as if I went to one in another state. I know what my hair will look like when I walk out of there based on what I tell them. Can’t say the same about any ol’ hair salon and the one across the street from it. I know the smell, I know the products, and I know the pricing. 

 

 

Focus is not a limitation—it’s a promise. Going through this right now at my own agency. We used to say we “do it all.” Now we do one BIG ASS THING—marketing & growth strategies for disruptive brands—really well (behind that door though are more ways to work with us… email, web, content—so I can’t say we’ve gone all in yet lol). Drybar’s entire customer relationship is built on knowing exactly what they’re going to get. When you specialize, you build a reputation, which compounds in ways that a diversified menu NEVER will. 

 

 

For over two decades, 37signals has been publicly, loudly, almost aggressively anti-growth-for-growth’s sake. 

 

They’ve written books about it, published their financial philosophy on their own website (worth a read), built it into how they talk about their products (HEY, Basecamp Fizzy, Writebook). The whole brand DNA is: We run a business that makes real money and we don’t owe anyone a thing.

 

When I went through their marketing, every single product they make has something in common. Bold, in-your-face messaging that sounds like it’s coming directly from your own brain. They solve a problem —plainly, clearly and without dressing it up.

This is what happens when a company answers (read: serves exactly what they want or are saying out loud as a NEED) to only its customers and ignores investors who want messaging that belongs in a corporate pitch deck, not in marketing. They know their people, and because of this, their people grow it for them.

 

When you protect your independence, you protect your voice. Investors aren’t ~evil~, but they do have opinions. Those opinions can muddy the clarity that made your brand work in the first place. And when they lose sight of what the customer wants, their sales will reflect it, every.damn.time.

 

 

This is some of the most effective marketing there is: Not spending more and not shouting louder. All you have to do is be really clear about what you are (and mean it). 

 

Don’t chase every trend, expand for the sake of it, or ignore what your customers are begging you to do. Instead lean in on your way of doing things and the promises you know damn well you can keep.

 

 

 

 

Just as Nuuly announces it surpassed $568M in net sales in 2025 (guys they have over 420K monthly subscribers, I can’t even fathom this, but also I can because I’ve been a subscriber for 3+ years now), Armoire starts doubling down on their advertisements and OH I AM SAT. This one had me giggling because the comments feature fierce Nuuly defenders. 

 

Nuuly → Rent 6 pieces per month for $99 (this is the ONLY plan, but you can add on more pieces each month for an additional cost) → marketing leans younger with playful fashion trends and zillennial-coded marketing efforts 

 

Armoire → Choose 4, 7, or unlimited swaps (unlimited is the same price as Nuuly, they claim their clothing has more "structure," and you can swap an unlimited amount of times per month) marketing leans “older” with clearly-depicted mid-lifers in their marketing, and more c-level focused corporate attire

 

Let’s not forget that just a few years ago, “rental” subscriptions and online grocery subscriptions were seemingly tanking. It was NO secret. 

 

In 2022, Rent the Runway reduced its corporate workforce by 24% after a quarter where active subscribers dropped by 10K, and number of paused subscribers grew too.

 

Grove Collaborative (sustainable cleaning products + household goods) went public in June 2022 at $1.5B valuation, and then watched the market cap crater to $73.4M by December of that same year (lol, yikes). Their net revenue dropped by 20% year-over-year and active DTC customers fell 30% in that same period. 

 

Rent the Runway and Grove missed what other companies nailed: understanding their customer. Turns out "subscriptions are dead" is just a eulogy for brands that stop listening.