Summer slump
I’ve watched a lot of founders make the leap from high-growth SaaS to lifestyle brands.
At face value, the switch looks easy:
"I just want to take a break for a while and deal with a simple, real business"
But under the hood?
It's a totally different game.
Here’s one of the weird things that catches them off guard every time:
Seasonality.
In SaaS, you’re taught to fear the dip.
Revenue is supposed to glide upward — steady, predictable, compounding.
If MRR goes down, it’s a fire drill.
Growth has stalled!
Churn’s too high!
Time to rebuild onboarding, spin up campaigns, save the ship.
But when you’re running, say, a cozy sweater brand
(and it’s June)
That sales cliff isn’t failure;
It’s the calendar.
And if you don’t know that?
You might jump ship on a perfectly fine business because it doesn't “feel like” it's viable.
Here’s the shift:
You’re not tracking MRR anymore.
You’re managing YTD.
Welcome to a seasonal business.
You’ve got peaks. You’ve got valleys.
Your cash flow, credit line, inventory, marketing - all of it needs to flex with the cycle.
Different model = different metrics.
Different playbook.
Because you can't expect straight-line growth from a curvy business.
And if you don’t plan for the summer slump?
It’s not the business that’ll break.
It’s you.
