At Novaalab, retention is not a CRM team metric. It's the founder's job. 3 levers I check every Monday: - % repeat customers (target 25% ) - 90-day return rate - M3-to-M6 cohort revenue lift Every 1 point of movement on these = real EBITDA. CRM tools execute. Founders own the number.

Cost me millions to learn this. For 4 years I ran Novaalab thinking I was building a cash machine. I was building a treadmill. Here's the story of the year I almost didn't notice my own business was bleeding 🧵

Revenue is a vanity number. The real cash machine of a DTC brand hides in 3 metrics most founders don't track weekly: % MER. % Net margin. % Discount rate. These are my North Stars at Novaalab. Here's why 🧵

🎭 #NovaaGlow #RedLightTherapy #SkincareThatWorks #MenSkincare #GlowUp #BigGuysGlow #NovaaLab #NovaaGlow #RedLightTherapy #SkincareThatWorks #MenSkincare #GlowUp #BigGuysGlow #NovaaLab #FitnessModel #MensPhysique #GainsThatGlow #BlackMenFitness #BlackMenSkincare #PhysiqueGoals #FitAndFresh #ActorLife #ModelLife #BlackExcellence #SkinAndStrength #BigAndBeautiful #MuscleAndSkin #BlackMenGrooming #LEDMask #LEDLightTherapy #ClearSkinJourney

2019. I sold memory foam cushions on Shopify. My wife filmed me sitting on eggs to prove how soft they were. Eggs intact. Founder humiliated. Four sales. (true story) This was four stores before Novaalab existed. Anyone saying their DTC journey was a straight line is lying.

How’s returning order rate look? From my experience with another 8 figure non-subscription brand - their returning customer rate ranges a bit from 30-60% each month. These customers are a large share of orders but a smaller share of revenue. Reason for that is because the first order is the $3K hero product. So almost all revenue going forward are accessories to that product (less dollars). So it makes sense for that business. With that said, their returning customer revenue started at 18% and we helped get up to 30%. Mainly because we focus on product education (to reduce buyers remorse and stay with the brand) and then push for cross sells. For NovaaLab, something similar might make sense if the Light Pad is your hero. I’d make sure that the post-purchase flow is built around education and progress check-ins. Mainly an expectation reset on the gradual progress 4–8 week timeline (works from the inside out), consistency nudges (daily for best results), and check-ins that prompt customers to compare against their purchase date baseline so they actually perceive the gradual progress they can't feel. Happy to chat more about this in the DMs

Enjoy the way and not just the destination. I used to always set higher goals, and that means I was never feeling fulfilled... But then I realized I had evrything I ever wanted thanks to my DTC brand Novaalab. My initial expectations were already met. Now I feel way more chill.

No excuse allowed, you must feel 100% accountable (real advice I teach my kids and how I manage NovaaLab)

EBITDA is vanity. Revenue is ego. Cash in the founder's pocket is reality. 3 cash flow profiles every DTC founder should know: → Startup: −CFO, −CFI, CFF. You live off investors. → Scale-up: CFO, −CFI, flat CFF. You self-fund growth. → Mature: CFO, light CFI, deeply −CFF (dividends debt paydown). The cash machine. How I'm dragging Novaalab from row 2 to row 3: 1/ Stop reinvesting 100% of CFO into growth. We cap reinvestment at ~70%. The rest is the dividend bucket. 2/ Kill SKU sprawl. Every new product = working capital trapped in inventory. Hero products carry the business. 3/ Fix retention before scaling spend. Repeat customer % from 11% → 25% is worth more than 30% ad spend. 4/ Price up, not down. A 10% price increase with -5% volume = more cash, less ops. 5/ Negotiate payment terms. 60 days supplier, 0 days customer = free working capital. Growth is optional. Cash flow is the point.

We spent 18 months building a red light therapy device that doesn't look like medical equipment. Customers told us the #1 reason they stopped using their old device: "I never wanted to take it out of the closet." Design isn't decoration. It's adoption. It's what makes the difference. Novaalab if you're curious.

Scaling NovaaLab made one thing clear: You can’t really fake product market fit. If it actually helps people, it spreads. If it doesn’t, you’re stuck forcing it forever. We for example didn’t convince doctors to recommend us. They just started recommending us. And that alone outperformed a lot of campaigns.

And you're right, I hate dropshipping, I feel disrespectful to the customer. I've told how I started NovaaLab in one of my posts, without purchasing inventory before hand, and without dropshipping. Just testing 4 products, then purchasing stock after the test was successful.

I still remember my first Shopify (NovaaLab) sale like it was yesterday. That one tiny proof that this might actually work. It gave me a lot of confidence.

We've fulfilled over 170,000 orders at NovaaLab 🎉 Every order represents someone trying to feel better. And we're helping them reduce pain and recover faster. That means a lot to me. Next milestone: 200,000 orders.

Crossed $40M in total sales since launching NovaaLab 🎉 From idea to impact… what a journey. Grateful for every lesson, every challenge and everyone who’s been part of the ride. We’re just getting started.

I scaled NovaaLab to 8 figures while neglecting my personal brand. That was a big mistake. 6 months active on X taught me so many things, especially now with AI. No matter how much I scale, I always learn something new on here. If you’re in Ecom/DTC, don't make the same mistake I did. Start sharing, build in public, and learn from people ahead of you. Here are some of the best accounts you should follow based on what I see: @Seanfrank → Scaling & ops systems @NotZainAgain → TikTok Shop growth (Memes too) @binghott → Meta ads & creative testing @blvckledge → Google & YouTube ads @codyplof → DTC marketing AI tools @jforjacob → Retention, LTV optimization (Email/SMS) @KodyNordquist → Performance marketing @daviefogarty → Ecom scaling & launches @DTCMidas → ROAS & ad strategy @cjfeth → Product testing & validation Definitely missed out on a lot of top personal brands. These are the ones that come to mind right now. Feel free to add to this list.

Big things are happening at NovaaLab! 🚀 We’re refining the Novaa Light Pad 3.0 remote design and we want you to make the final call. We’ve narrowed it down to our top two favorites, but the community always knows best. Which one do you prefer, number 02 or 05?

New NovaaLab product coming soon? 👀

We've positioned NovaaLab as a global brand (with a strong US market focus.) But to answer your question the US is the largest market for what we’re building. Bigger demand, faster adoption, and customers who are more open to trying new health tech. We have customers all over the world who trust and use our products every day. We also keep expanding outside the US too!

I’m convinced that 80% of chronic back and joint pain is caused by systemic inflammation due to a bad diet and unhealthy gut. 🤪 Then we take ibuprofen, which further damages the gut. Here are 3 things you should try: 1) Eat a super-clean diet for 14 days and see how you feel: —Single-ingredient foods (for me, that means mostly meat and fresh fruit) —Only drink water, tea, and coffee (no alcohol or energy drinks) —If you eat bread, make it high quality sourdough from a local baker (not a grocery store) —High quality condiments and oils (no seed oils) —Very little refined sugar 2) Use good old-fashioned aspirin instead of ibuprofen and naproxen. Unlike those other NSAIDS, aspirin doesn’t damage the gut and has a huge number of other health benefits. I use this brand, which doesn’t have binders, fillers, or coatings: healthnatura.com/aspirin-pow… 3) The peptide BPC-157 is all the rage in fitness circles and it’s especially effective for repairing the gut. The results of some recent animal studies are miraculous. Fitness bros inject BPC-157 (and I have too) but it’s one of the few peptides that can be taken orally. I’m currently experimenting with brands and don’t have a favorite yet. ⭐️ BONUS: —Get your vitamin D and testosterone levels checked and correct them if they’re low. You’ll never be healthy if your hormones are suboptimal. —Ditch (most of) your supplements. Beyond a few basics, most don’t work anyway and they irritate the gut. You should not be taking 10 pills each day. —Try red light therapy (I use a Novaalab lower back pad) —Try sleeping on earthing sheets (Google it) —Put together a mobility exercise program and do it 3X/week. Start with a simple 3-minute deep squat each morning. 💪