Why a strong EBIT won't save a bad sale

Most founders assume their EBIT number is what protects them in a sale. On the newest episode of Build a Business Worth Buying, Saul Cohen (150+ acquisitions advised) makes the case that it isn't.

EBIT gets a buyer to the table. What actually sets your multiple, or kills the deal in diligence, is what Saul calls SCORE:

• Systems — could someone new run this without you?

• Commercials — does your pipeline survive if you disappear tomorrow?

• Organization — how much of the business is just you, wearing a company name?

• Regulatory — what's sitting in a contract or filing that nobody's looked at twice?

• Exposure — the risk a buyer's lawyers find that never showed up in your numbers.

None of this requires a deal in progress to fix. It just requires starting before you need to.

Warby Parker just got $11.8M back. Here's what that means for you.

Warby Parker reported Q2 earnings this week: net income of $4.6 million, up from a $1.75 million loss a year earlier, on revenue that climbed 9.8% to $235.5 million.

A meaningful piece of that turnaround was a tariff refund: $11.8 million, issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which added 500 basis points to gross margin for the quarter. Gross profit came in at 57.9% of revenue, up from 53.0% a year earlier.

We want to be candid about the headline here. Warby Parker has 352 stores, a public earnings call, and a legal and finance team built to catch something like this. Most of the brands we work with don't have that infrastructure, and that's exactly why this is worth flagging.

The tariff refund mechanism itself doesn't care about company size. If you're importing product and you've paid tariffs that turn out not to have applied, or that were later reduced or reversed, you may be owed money back. The eligibility question is the same one Warby Parker's team answered: what did we pay, and should we have?

The difference is who's had time to ask it. A brand running lean on ops and finance is exactly the kind of importer that tends not to check, not because the refund isn't there, but because nobody's been able to sit down with the filings.

That's the part we can help with. We're offering free tariff refund assessments this month: a short review of what you're importing and what you've paid, with a plain answer on whether it's worth pursuing further

On the shelf: BODi sends Shakeology into nearly 500 Vitamin Shoppe stores

BODi (formerly Beachbody) just moved Shakeology off its subscription-only model and onto shelves at close to 500 Vitamin Shoppe locations nationwide, its biggest retail push yet. The rollout includes a reformulated, zero-added-sugar Vanilla Whey alongside three existing flavors, all repackaged into 7-serving retail bags, a smaller format than the 14- and 30-serving bags BODi sells direct online. Shakeology is also in 100+ Sprouts stores. A DTC brand built on subscriptions is proving retail and direct can grow side by side.

Getting from "sold online" to "sold nationwide" takes more than a distribution deal. BODi had to size a SKU for the shelf instead of the mailbox, build a forecast that holds across hundreds of doors instead of one warehouse, and stand up the EDI connections and compliance a retailer like Vitamin Shoppe requires for purchase orders, invoicing, and chargebacks. None of that is optional. It's the price of entry.

This is the exact roadmap we walk brands through, starting with a network analysis to see where retail fits and an EDI readiness check to make sure the back end can actually support it. If retail is on your roadmap this year, let's talk about what it would take.

As always, let us know what's on your mind.