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~% founder advisory · consumer brands · $5M–$75M

You built the brand.Let's build thebusiness.

I help consumer brand founders read what the business is really saying: the numbers, the constraints, and the decision that needs to be made next.

Book a Founder Hour Start with the Diagnostic
Chris Wichert speaking on stage.
Chris WichertFounder, Commerce Catalyst
Track record
Built & exited Koio Partner, Thunder VC M&A, J.P. Morgan MBA, Wharton $20M raised AI + Commerce speaker
>>> beliefs

The operating truths behind the work.

Patterns from 10+ years inside a consumer brand and the founder calls I have now. These are the positions behind the work.

01

Profitable businesses have options. Unprofitable ones have investors.

When the business works, you choose your path. When it doesn't, the path chooses you. Profitability is the cheapest form of optionality you can buy.

02

The decisions you're avoiding are the ones that matter most.

The product line that needs cutting. The hire that doesn't perform. The investor conversation that keeps getting postponed. Those compound, in the wrong direction, every week you don't make them.

03

You usually feel the drag before you can explain it.

You usually feel it before you can explain it. Growth gets harder. The team feels stretched. Cash gets tighter. The work is finding the source of drag before it turns into the only conversation.

>>> how I work

Start with a sharper read of the business.

Start with the read01

DTC Operator Diagnostic

A guided diagnostic that turns your P&L and operating answers into a ranked 90-day read.

$197One-time
Built to give you a feel for where the business is strong today, where it needs work, and what deserves attention next.
Get the Diagnostic
Pressure-test the decision02

Founder Hour

One focused call to pressure-test one live decision, name the constraint underneath it, and leave with the next move.

$500
60 minutes. Direct booking.
Book a Founder Hour

Operating Assessment

A deeper review of your financials, channel metrics, unit economics, team, and operating rhythm, ending in clear priorities and a 90-day plan.

Starts at $7.5KScoped after read
Built to show what is working, what is leaking, and what to prioritize next.
Start a Conversation
Stay with the work03

Founder Advisory

Ongoing founder-side support to turn the read into decisions, meetings, metrics, and owner-by-owner follow-through.

Retainer, project, or equityScoped after fit
Weekly working sessions, async pressure-testing, and operating artifacts your team can use.

Operator in Residence

Embedded operator support for a defined chapter, when execution needs an owner and the team needs a clearer cadence.

Cash + equityScoped after fit
Interim or fractional CEO, COO, or CFO support for a defined chapter.

Most founders start with the diagnostic or a Founder Hour. Deeper work only makes sense once the first read is clear.

>>> tools · self-serve

The self-serve diagnostic.

Use it before a Founder Hour, board meeting, capital conversation, or bigger operating decision. It turns your numbers and operating reality into a focused read: what is healthy, what is risky, and what deserves attention first.

The operator read

DTC Operator Diagnostic

An operator-grade read on financial health, operating risk, outside pressure points, and what deserves attention over the next 90 days.

$197One-time
Stripe checkout · Built to complete in 20-30 minutes
Get the Diagnostic

What it tells you

  • Where the business sits across 6 operating dimensions
  • Your top operating risks and blind spots
  • What an outside buyer or investor would question first
  • Your 90-day focus priorities, ranked
  • Recommendations shaped by 10+ years building, fixing, and exiting a consumer brand
Free tool

Next Move Finder

Not sure whether to restructure, raise, sell, pivot, or keep going? Answer 12 questions and get the path I'd pressure-test first, plus the question I'd want to unpack with you.

Find your next move →
Free tool

Unit Economics Calculator

A simple way to pressure-test contribution margin, payback, and whether growth is actually helping.

Open the calculator →
ONDO brand logo
>>> client review
Chris helped me look past top-line growth and understand what was actually driving profit in the business. He pressure-tested the numbers, pushed me to focus on the decisions that mattered, and ONDO is now in a stronger, more profitable place.
Daniel Shim, Founder & CEO, ONDO
>>> founder hour · live working session

One hour.An honest conversation.A clear next move.

You bring the situation. We pressure-test the decision in front of you, name what has been postponed, and leave with a move you can make this week.

$50060-min session · Founder to founder
Book a Founder Hour

What the hour looks like

  • 00–10Where the business sits todayStage, runway, and what's keeping you up at night.
  • 10–35Find the real constraintThe decision being postponed. The blocker that isn't where it looks like it is.
  • 35–55The next two movesWhat changes this week. Who owns it. What good looks like by quarter-end.
  • 55–60Decide what happens nextFounder Advisory, Operator in Residence, the diagnostic, or go run it yourself.
>>> deeper support

When the first read turns into real work.

Founder Advisory · Ongoing

A founder-side operator for the decisions that keep coming back.

Weekly working sessions, async pressure-testing between calls, and concrete operating artifacts your team can actually use. We work through margin, cash, growth, capital, team, product, AI, and the operating rhythm underneath them.

  • Turn the financial picture into a 90-day operating plan
  • Pressure-test growth, margin, cash, and capital decisions
  • Prepare for board, investor, lender, or buyer conversations
  • Clarify owners, scorecards, priorities, and weekly cadence
Start a conversation →
Operator in Residence · Interim

I step inside the business when the work needs an owner, not another opinion.

Interim or fractional CEO, COO, or CFO support for a defined chapter. This is for moments when the issue cannot sit in advisory only: decisions need to move, the team needs one clear owner, and the operating rhythm needs to change.

  • Lead a turnaround, restructuring, or path-to-profitability chapter
  • Own a defined operating workstream from diagnosis to execution
  • Drive exit readiness, buyer process, or capital-prep work
  • Install the cadence, owners, and decision rhythm the team needs
Start a conversation →
>>> about me

I've sat in your seat.

Chris next to a Koio subway ad in NYC
Koio on the New York subway.

I started at J.P. Morgan covering consumer companies. Then I left to build my own.

I spent 10 years building Koio. My co-founder and I started with nothing: no industry connections, no experience making shoes. We knocked on 40+ factory doors in Italy before finding a family business willing to take a chance on us. In the early days, our Brooklyn apartment was the warehouse, the showroom, and the office.

Over the next several years, we built it into a real brand. Retail stores across the U.S., partnerships with Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, features in GQ and Vogue. We raised $20M and built a team of people we genuinely cared about.

Then the math stopped working. COVID hit, privacy laws changed, online marketing got more expensive, and consumer spending pulled back. The playbook that worked in 2019 didn't add up by 2023. We were losing money with limited runway. We spent the next 18 months in survival mode. Cut marketing, closed stores, shut down the office, let go of people we deeply cared about, and killed products we loved. We renegotiated every vendor contract we had. We came out profitable.

Then came the exit. 2.5 years, 200+ buyer conversations, and a lot of near-misses before we finally closed.

Build, scale, fix, exit. I've lived the full arc. Now I help founders read the business clearly, name what is actually in the way, and make the move that follows.

Chris Wichert
>>> get in touch

Tell me where the business sits.

Send a few lines on the brand, where the business sits, and what decision is on your mind. I read every one personally. If there's a fit, I'll come back with a direction and a time to talk. If there isn't, I'll say that too.

ReplyWithin 2 business days, personally.
CapacityA handful of brands at a time.
FitConsumer brands, $5M–$75M.
ProfitabilityGrowthTeam / orgTurnaroundAI in the businessCapitalExit / M&A
>>> operator notes

Notes from the rooms I'm in.

Short notes from operator conversations: pricing, capital, AI, exits, hiring, and the decisions founders tend to delay.

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