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All Dots Connected · Ep. 17
A black swan a year: Sarah LaFleur's playbook for surviving retail crises at M.M.LaFleur
Sarah LaFleur, Founder and CEO, M.M.LaFleur
In this episode
Sarah LaFleur, founder and CEO of M.M.LaFleur, walks through surviving a 50% revenue crash during COVID and a lender failure that forced a $3 million raise in two weeks. She also discusses the lean early years, why she calls being a CEO an acting job, and relaunching Bento profitably. Useful for operators facing repeated shocks.
Key takeaways
01
In retail, plan for a black swan every year
LaFleur describes facing a black swan a year. The sharpest were a 50% revenue crash when COVID hit and her primary lender going bust, leaving two weeks to raise $3 million. She lays out the three-step crisis playbook M.M.LaFleur used to get through, and frames these crises as the source of the company's defining strengths.
02
A clear mission carries founders through the lean years
In the company's early days, LaFleur tutored for three years to make ends meet. What kept her going was a mission: the world is a better place when women succeed. She also speaks to what to do when you feel like a failure.
What operators can apply
- Write your crisis playbook before the next shock, not during it.
- Reduce dependence on a single lender so one failure cannot force an emergency raise.
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