From Agency Perfection to Operational Speed: Building DTC Brands with Suze Dowling, Co-Founder of Pattern Brands
You can catch the episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple.
My conversation with Suze Dowling was one of those episodes that perfectly captures the evolution of DTC brand building. Suze is a co-founder of Pattern, the holding company behind seven successful consumer brands, but her journey started at Gin Lane—the legendary agency that helped launch Harry's, Hims, Smile Direct Club, and dozens of other brands that became household names.
What struck me most about our conversation wasn't just Suze's tactical expertise (though there's plenty of that), but her brutal honesty about the learning curve that comes with transitioning from agency life to actually operating businesses. This wasn't just about scaling brands—it was about unlearning perfectionism, embracing speed over polish, and building systems that work across multiple categories simultaneously.
The Unlearning: From Pixel-Perfect to Speed-First
One of the most refreshing parts of our conversation was Suze's candid admission about the challenges of transitioning from Gin Lane to Pattern. At Gin Lane, they were "paid to be pixel perfect perfection." Clients wanted slow, methodical, world-class output. But in an operating business? That approach will kill you.
"In an operating business, that's the fastest thing that will kill you. It truly is. These days, I'm all about speed, I'm all about agility, I'm all about how can I break this as quickly as I can to learn from that."
That shift from perfection to iteration is something most agencies struggle with when they try to become operators. Suze's honesty about how painful those first couple of years were—and how they had to completely restructure their team and approach—is a masterclass in organizational self-awareness.
The Ugly Ad Revolution: Why Perfect Creative Doesn't Convert
Suze dropped a insight that should make every creative director uncomfortable: the ads that work best for Pattern are what they call "ugly ads." Not sloppy or poorly made, but authentic, native-feeling content that bypasses people's subconscious ad blockers.
"Sometimes it hurts my brand heart that the ads that work the best for us are actually quote unquote, what we would call ugly ads. They're very real. They're not the brand polished perfection because by doing it in this very authentic way, it almost bypasses people's subconscious ad blockers."
This speaks to a broader shift in 2025 consumer behavior. People are numb to traditional advertising. They're being inundated with similar products across every channel. The brands that win are the ones that meet consumers where they are—in their mindstate, in their preferred content format, with messaging that feels genuine rather than manufactured.
Direct With Consumer: The Philosophy That Changes Everything
Suze introduced me to a concept that I can't stop thinking about: DWC instead of DTC. Direct With Consumer instead of Direct to Consumer. It's more than semantic—it's a fundamental shift in how you think about customer relationships.
"We always say instead of DTC, DWC, direct with consumer, and I'm a really big believer in the power of learning with your consumer."
This philosophy shows up everywhere in Pattern's approach. They're not broadcasting at customers; they're learning alongside them. They're testing with real consumer panels, watching how people actually use LLMs to search for products, and building feedback loops that most brands never consider.
The Email Revenue Goldmine: 20-30% Should Be Your Baseline
When we dove into email marketing, Suze confirmed something I've long suspected: email should be driving 20-30% of your e-commerce revenue, and most of that should come from flows, not campaigns.
"That email file is actually one of the most valuable things that you as a business have. Even when I think about for Pattern and most of our brands have been acquired acquisitions, when I think about how we value that, I actually look at their customer file, their email file, their engagement of that."
Her recommendation for Alia as an email popup tool was particularly interesting—she mentioned it's been transformational compared to other solutions they've tested. But more importantly, her emphasis on flows over campaigns reflects a deeper understanding of customer lifecycle marketing that most brands miss.
The Clarity Check-In: A Framework for Focused Growth
One of the most actionable frameworks Suze shared was her "Clarity Check-In"—three questions she asks herself and her team quarterly to cut through noise and focus on what actually moves the needle:
What's most essential to protect right now? (Your best-selling inventory? Supplier relationships? Margins?)
Where is the business spending without clear ROI? (Every dollar should either drive growth or deepen efficiency)
What would I do differently if my resources were cut in half? (The constraint forces clarity on what actually matters)
"If I'm spending a dollar it either needs to drive growth or it needs to deepen efficiency. Quite frankly, if it doesn't do one of those two things, it's not a dollar well spent."
This framework is brilliant because it forces you to be honest about what's working versus what you think should be working. Suze mentioned she wished she'd had this framework during the Gin Lane to Pattern transition—it would have saved them years of painful learning.
The Multi-Brand Portfolio Reality: Sibling Brands, Not Synergies
I was curious about economies of scale across Pattern's seven brands, and Suze's answer was refreshingly honest. While there are backend efficiencies, each brand needs to be treated as its own entity. They learned this the hard way when they tried to create a Pattern marketplace instead of individual brand websites.
"What we realized was that people didn't see the authenticity of brand there, they just felt like it was a marketplace, even though we technically owned all of those brands. The conversion that we could see on a brand website versus that website was so far different."
The lesson: authentic brand experience trumps operational convenience. People want to buy from brands, not holding companies.
The Acquisition Playbook: Product, Brand, Operations
When evaluating potential acquisitions, Suze looks at three key areas:
Product: Is this truly unique IP? Are people genuinely obsessed and rebuying? Brand: Is there emotional pull? Does it stand for something that can evolve? Operations: Are margins healthy? Are supplier relationships strong?
But her biggest evolution in acquisition strategy is patience. Five years ago, they'd immediately implement their "nine-day playbook" to revamp everything. Now? They sit, wait, digest, and learn before making any changes.
"The best thing you can do when you take something on board is to sit, to wait, to digest and to be patient and learn. Because that's going to allow you to measure 10 times, cut once."
Key Takeaways for DTC Founders:
Speed beats perfection. The agency mindset of pixel-perfect output will kill you as an operator. Build fast, learn fast, iterate fast.
Authentic beats polished. Your best-performing ads probably won't win design awards. Meet customers in their mindstate with content that feels real.
Email is your most valuable asset. Treat your customer file as the core of your business valuation. Focus on flows over campaigns.
Clarity over activity. Use frameworks like the Clarity Check-In to cut through noise and focus on what actually drives growth or efficiency.
Patience in acquisitions pays off. Take time to understand the brand and customer before making changes. Honor what's already working.
Curiosity over experience. Suze's number one hiring criterion is curiosity—lifelong learners who admit what they don't know and collaborate well.
Talking with Suze was a reminder that the most successful DTC operators aren't necessarily the ones with the most polished brands—they're the ones who can move fastest while staying closest to their customers. Whether you're transitioning from agency to operator, building your first brand, or scaling a portfolio, her insights prove that speed, authenticity, and customer intimacy will always win over perfection.