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649: We Had 3 Weeks Left… This Saved My $35M/Year Company
Christina Stembel built Farmgirl Flowers into a $55 million bootstrapped business by 2021, betting on simplicity, direct-to-consumer, and zero VC money. Then as Covid vaccines became widely available, sales crashed 50% overnight. To save the business, she had just 36 hours to test a radical pivot or go bankrupt in three weeks. She took out a $3.5 million loan, white boarded new distribution models for two days straight, ran a fake scenario on the website for 36 hours, and prayed sales wouldn't drop more than 12%. They dropped 11.6%. The company survived—but Christina's philosophy completely changed.
In this raw and honest conversation, the founder of Farmgirl Flowers is back on the Foundr Podcast to break down why she turned down acquisition offers because the industry multiples were insulting, her controversial pivot from chasing $100 million to optimizing for double-digit profit and slow growth, and the brutal lesson she learned hiring an entire C-suite because "that's what you're supposed to do"—then firing them all a year later.
What you'll learn in this interview:
• How Christina survived a 50% sales collapse in 2021 with a 36-hour
pivot test
• Why she took out a $3.5 million loan while paying herself $60,000 a
year
• The exact whiteboarding process she used to rebuild the business model
in 48 hours
• Why she turned down acquisition offers and what founders need to know
about exit comps
• How researching industry multiples before you start can change your
entire strategy
• Why the best comp in her industry was 0.5X revenue—and why that
matters
• Her pivot from growth-at-all-costs to double-digit profit margins and
slow growth
• The mistake of hiring an entire C-suite because "that's what you're
supposed to do"
• Why bootstrapping's superpower is the ability to move fast without 104
investor nos
• How she built infrastructure for $75M in sales then watched forecasts
collapse overnight
• Why she now prioritizes finding the right people and trusting her gut
on hiring
• Her advice: don't spend more than half of what you think you should
If you're building a bootstrapped DTC brand, navigating a crisis pivot,
or questioning the growth-at-all-costs narrative, this conversation will
fundamentally change how you think about exits, profitability, and
building a business you actually want to run.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS
Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to https://your.omnisend.com/foundr to get started.
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS?
Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER
Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+
Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
→ Starting from scratch? Apply here →
https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
→ Already have a store? Apply here →
https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/
CONNECT WITH CHRISTINA STEMBEL
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/farmgirlflowers/
Christina's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/christinastembel/
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-stembel
Website → https://www.farmgirlflowers.com/
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → https://www.foundr.com
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/
Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast
View all episodes
By Foundr Media
4.9
564564 ratings
Christina Stembel built Farmgirl Flowers into a $55 million bootstrapped business by 2021, betting on simplicity, direct-to-consumer, and zero VC money. Then as Covid vaccines became widely available, sales crashed 50% overnight. To save the business, she had just 36 hours to test a radical pivot or go bankrupt in three weeks. She took out a $3.5 million loan, white boarded new distribution models for two days straight, ran a fake scenario on the website for 36 hours, and prayed sales wouldn't drop more than 12%. They dropped 11.6%. The company survived—but Christina's philosophy completely changed.
In this raw and honest conversation, the founder of Farmgirl Flowers is back on the Foundr Podcast to break down why she turned down acquisition offers because the industry multiples were insulting, her controversial pivot from chasing $100 million to optimizing for double-digit profit and slow growth, and the brutal lesson she learned hiring an entire C-suite because "that's what you're supposed to do"—then firing them all a year later.
What you'll learn in this interview:
• How Christina survived a 50% sales collapse in 2021 with a 36-hour
pivot test
• Why she took out a $3.5 million loan while paying herself $60,000 a
year
• The exact whiteboarding process she used to rebuild the business model
in 48 hours
• Why she turned down acquisition offers and what founders need to know
about exit comps
• How researching industry multiples before you start can change your
entire strategy
• Why the best comp in her industry was 0.5X revenue—and why that
matters
• Her pivot from growth-at-all-costs to double-digit profit margins and
slow growth
• The mistake of hiring an entire C-suite because "that's what you're
supposed to do"
• Why bootstrapping's superpower is the ability to move fast without 104
investor nos
• How she built infrastructure for $75M in sales then watched forecasts
collapse overnight
• Why she now prioritizes finding the right people and trusting her gut
on hiring
• Her advice: don't spend more than half of what you think you should
If you're building a bootstrapped DTC brand, navigating a crisis pivot,
or questioning the growth-at-all-costs narrative, this conversation will
fundamentally change how you think about exits, profitability, and
building a business you actually want to run.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS
Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to https://your.omnisend.com/foundr to get started.
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS?
Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER
Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+
Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
→ Starting from scratch? Apply here →
https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
→ Already have a store? Apply here →
https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/
CONNECT WITH CHRISTINA STEMBEL
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/farmgirlflowers/
Christina's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/christinastembel/
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-stembel
Website → https://www.farmgirlflowers.com/
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → https://www.foundr.com
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/
Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast
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