Numeral

There are only two kinds of DTC operators: Ones who know how difficult sales tax is, and the ones who will eventually find out. To make matters worse, the cost of not managing sales tax properly only grows as the brand does. That’s why we exist. Below is what you can expect to do to remain sales tax compliant or what you can let Numeral (numeralhq.com) do for you. By yourself: → Manually monitor sales to see when you reach economic Nexus (or miss it altogether). → Spend countless hours registering your business in all states it has Nexus. → Ensure you collect the correct sales tax rates across 13,000+ jurisdictions. → Remit monthly, quarterly, and annual tax payments in all relevant jurisdictions. With Numeral: 1) We monitor sales 24/7 and notify you when you reach the economic Nexus. 2) We register your business in all states with Nexus (you won’t have to call a state again). 3) We manage your store’s tax collection settings across all 13,000+ jurisdictions to ensure you collect the correct rates. 4) We automatically remit monthly, quarterly, and annual remittances on your behalf. We know what we’d choose. Got any questions for us? #salestax #shopifysalestax #ecomsalestax

I ran bootstrapped businesses for years. After having been at a hyper-scaler startup that died from raising too much money, I thought they were the "right" way to build a company. My time at YC changed that for me. Let me explain: I come from a DTC background. → Lean teams → No outside money → Solid cashflow, but no massive outcomes And for the record, I loved it. But when Kevin Liu and I decided to start Numeral, we had a moment of realization: Building a SaaS business to serve a massive market requires engineers, sales, and tons of other heavy expenses upfront. Naturally, we realized we had to raise money. We were fortunate enough to get into YC. Within a few weeks, my view on company-building shifted completely. You're instantly surrounded by a culture of audacious ambition. To them, a $1M/year cash flow business is playing the wrong game. As cliche as it sounds, the insane levels of ambition coming from peers, not just people on a podcast or social media, made me think bigger. My big takeaway here is that ambition is often a function of your environment. I'm curious, what do you feel calibrates your level of ambition?

I ignored important advice and had to relearn it the hard way. Here’s the story (and a cautionary tale): Six years ago, my friend and former Airbnb colleague Gustaf Alströmer 🇺🇦 was driving me down to Mountain View to speak at a YC Growth Bootcamp. On that drive, he told me something I remember to this day: “The misconception with growth is that it doesn’t matter if you don’t have good retention”. It made complete sense. But I still ignored the advice. Instead, I started a low-retention business that was essentially a big SEO-hack. It was a jewelry brand. A short while into running it, I faced a massive problem: On the surface, things looked great. We were selling a lot. But if Google or Amazon rankings went down, so would our business. Even though we were good at acquiring customers, that’s not a durable advantage. We learned our lesson when starting our next brand, where our criteria for choosing a product were simple: Something people have to use regularly and predictably. We landed on daily supplements. We grew that brand to $10M+/year in revenue, with far better—but not perfect—retention. ~70% of our revenue came from existing customers, but over 90% were still churning after a year. We ran into the DTC sales tax issue while running this brand. While it was a headache to deal with, it set off a lightbulb in both Kevin's head and mine. → All DTC stores will deal with this as they grow → We just want a solution that will make the problem go away And that’s how the idea for Numeral came to be. Not that we have 100% retention (although we’re gunning for it), but we’re keeping way more customers than any of our DTC businesses could’ve gotten close to. This is a combination of: → SaaS as a model → The issue we solve → Delivering a good experience Translation: Build things people need on a regular basis. It’ll make your life much easier. And if you want to read more about how we’re building Numeral (plus get actionable DTC tips in the meantime), follow me!

I’ve heard way too many stories of DTC stores getting burned by poor sales tax providers. They had to pay easily-preventable late fees and interest penalties out of pocket. It’s terrible. Here’s what to look for in your sales tax provider to make sure this never happens to you: 1) Month-To-Month Incentive I’ve heard serious complaints from prospects claiming providers lock them into long-term contracts, and give minimal service post-signature. Instead, find one that works month-to-month—meaning they have to work to earn their fees. 2) Notice Management The amount of sales tax notices you have to keep up with as a DTC brand feels like a full-time job. But you shouldn’t do it. Your sales tax provider should handle this for you. They aren’t providing adequate service otherwise. 3) Industry Specialization Each industry (especially ecommerce) has sales tax nuances others don’t. I strongly recommend you find a provider that specializes in what you sell (ecommerce products, SaaS, etc). They’ll be well-equipped to handle the landscape better than a general sales tax provider. That’s all for today. While I encourage you to find what’s best for you, Numeral fits the bill on all three of these points (and more)—just saying. DM me if you want a free demo!

Reminder for DTC operators: You can spend 95% less time on sales tax and pay zero late fees or penalties. Just ask Amberjack. It's a men's dress shoe brand started after Jonathan Peters left the cushy consulting job he'd been at for five years. He wanted to create men's shoes that were stylish yet comfortable. He started it exclusively online, and the market took notice fast. The brand began growing quickly. Like any other DTC brand, though, sales tax compliance needs grew with it. Jonathan tried Avalara's automated filings. He quickly ran into issues with inaccuracies and, more importantly, the lack of support and communication he received. "I was putting more time into fixing issues with Avalara than I would have, filing it myself," he said. Frustration peaked right around when Jonathan found Numeral. Here, Jonathan got white-glove service from a provider who leverages technology but doesn't rely on it. Numeral also takes full responsibility for accurate and on-time filings. This was a big step-up from a competitor who left Jonathan to figure it out himself. With Numeral's full-service approach, Jonathan: → Saved 20+ hours per month managing sales tax → Has had 100% accuracy of tax remittances → Has paid $0 in late filing penalties Jonathan said, "Rather than fielding notices and issues myself, I can simply pass details to the Numeral team and I know they'll handle it without a hitch." If you're a DTC operator ready to spend five minutes monthly on sales tax, with compliance guaranteed, DM me for a free demo!

DTC operators need all the time they can get back. If you’re running a brand, you need to handle: → Marketing/advertising → Inventory tracking → Warehousing → Fulfillment → Social And a million other things. You can put a team in place, but DTC brands are generally fairly lean. It’s all hands on deck all the time if you’re an operator. The truth is that protecting your time and only working on high-leverage parts of the business are the only ways you’ll grow. And in my (biased) opinion, outsourcing sales tax filings and management is one of the highest-leverage things you can do. So many DTC operators face the issue of their sales tax liabilities growing just as fast as their brand. As your brand grows, the amount of time you spend on sales tax each month does, too. I strongly suggest you outsource it. While I think you should use Numeral for a variety of reasons (white-glove service, compliance guaranteed) — you can use whoever you’d like. But if you find yourself spending 40+ hours per month on sales tax, you’re doing something wrong. You can do it in less than 5 minutes per month and never pay a late fee again with Numeral. DM me and I’ll show you how.

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech should be mandatory listening for aspiring founders. If you’re not familiar, I strongly suggest you to Youtube it. In his famous speech, Jobs explains the challenge of “connecting the dots” in the moment. He shares how a seemingly minor college calligraphy course would eventually inspire Apple's word application 10 years later. Here’s my story of “connecting the dots”: Eight years ago, I took a leap of faith by quitting my comfortable job with dreams of entrepreneurship. I began dropshipping, partly to fulfill a dream—but largely out of necessity. Then in 2018, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court, South Dakota v. Wayfair ruled that online retailers must comply with the state sales tax obligations. Overnight, I (and all operators, really) had to learn the new regulations of e-commerce sales tax. Coming from an accounting background, I picked it up relatively quickly. I started a small side hustle, helping other dropshippers navigate the new sales tax rules. I guess this was the first version of Numeral, although I didn't know it. Like most dropshippers, I would eventually graduate to starting a Shopify brand. I quickly learned private label operators had even more rigorous sales tax obligations to follow. Fast forward a few short years, and e-commerce sales tax is my life. I co-founded Numeral with Sam Ross and secured venture funding from Y Combinator and other top investors. But what if I never left accounting? What if I never started dropshipping, an activity most would dismiss as a shortsighted? What if I never spent all those weekends trying to understand dropshipping sales tax compliance? I know one thing for certain: I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today. Jobs was spot on: it's hard to "connect the dots" looking forward. So, my advice - have faith and don’t be afraid to go down random rabbit holes. Things will eventually work out.

If your DTC business doesn’t work with Facebook ads, it likely won’t work at all. Here’s the truth: I see lots of DTC owners and operators say you need to test a ton of different channels to see what works. I couldn’t disagree more. When you diversify like this, you take resources away from the most proven DTC growth channel—Facebook ads. The I in ROI is not just cash investment but focus and energy investment as well. Say what you will, but they’re the most tried and true form of DTC advertising. The entire industry would barely exist without FB ads. If FB ads don’t work for your brand, it’s unlikely another channel will. It’s a great litmus test. I’ve seen it time and time again while scaling brands. I get that diversification makes sense in theory, but it doesn’t work in practice. Anyway, thought I’d share. Agree or disagree?

I’ve heard way too many stories of DTC stores getting burned by poor sales tax providers. They had to pay easily-preventable late fees and interest penalties out of pocket. It’s terrible. Here’s what to look for in your sales tax provider to make sure this never happens to you: 1) Month-To-Month Incentive I’ve heard serious complaints from prospects claiming providers lock them into long-term contracts, and give minimal service post-signature. Instead, find one that works month-to-month—meaning they have to work to earn their fees. 2) Notice Management The amount of sales tax notices you have to keep up with as a DTC brand feels like a full-time job. But you shouldn’t do it. Your sales tax provider should handle this for you. They aren’t providing adequate service otherwise. 3) Industry Specialization Each industry (especially ecommerce) has sales tax nuances others don’t. I strongly recommend you find a provider that specializes in what you sell (ecommerce products, SaaS, etc). They’ll be well-equipped to handle the landscape better than a general sales tax provider. That’s all for today. While I encourage you to find what’s best for you, Numeral fits the bill on all three of these points (and more)—just saying. DM me if you want a free demo!

This is my favorite case study. See if you can figure out why. immi, a low-carb instant ramen brand founded by Kevin Chanthasiriphan and Kevin Lee in 2021, was growing fast. It was available both DTC and in retail stores nationwide and quickly became a fan favorite among consumers. If you've been reading my content, you know what happens next in this case. The brand was growing, and its sales tax liabilities were growing with it. Rapid expansion meant the brand needed to figure out its sales tax situation ASAP. They tried TaxJar, but realized it was just creating more problems than it was solving. When asked about their issue with the service, they noted: → Incorrect tax filing costing $5,700 out of pocket → Complexities around state onboarding → "Non-existent customer support" And that's the issue with sales tax. The more your brand grows, the bigger your mistakes become. After dealing with this for a while, the Kevins that co-founded immi came across the Kevin that co-founded Numeral (me). With Numeral, immi got: → White-glove onboarding → Prompt customer support (which they noted was an issue at TaxJar) → State tax registration service → Timely tax filing (guaranteed, or else we pay the penalties) As for the final results, by switching to Numeral, immi: → Reduced pending state filings from 32 to 0 → Saved dozens of hours on tax-related concerns → Freed up mental space for founders to focus on growth When Kevin Chanthasiriphan was asked about Numeral, he said: "We're now filing our state taxes 100% on time. We're not incurring fees... Among the myriad other things that are grabbing my attention, it was so difficult to muster the energy to carve out time for this." If you want the exact same service, compliance guaranteed, DM me!