Casper Sleep

Casper raised $340M and IPO'd at $1.1 billion to become 'the Nike of sleep.' But mattresses are purchased every 8-10 years, making customer acquisition costs unrecoverable. The D2C playbook—Facebook ads to direct sales—worked for recurring purchases but failed for durables. Casper discovered that disrupting distribution doesn't create competitive advantage when the product itself lacks differentiation. Like an organism that evolves brilliant hunting technique but can't digest what it catches, Casper's marketing exceeded its economics.