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BLUEPRINT

Case Study · 004

Ollin Spirits & Medicine · From four-market to exit-ready in 14 months.

94/100

Exit-readiness score

4

Markets active

3

Letters of intent

The situation

Where they started.

Ollin made a great product. The distribution math just didn't work. Depletions data lived in three different distributor portals. The DTC compliance stack was duct-taped. Brand spend was real and unmeasurable.

The founder had been approached informally by two strategics but didn't have the data, the books, or the operating story to take the conversation seriously.

The diagnostic

What the audit revealed.

The audit treated this as exit-prep from day one — even though no formal process was running. The thesis: by getting the operating system right, every future conversation would be a stronger one.

  • Finding 01

    Depletions data fragmented across 3 portals; no unified per-market sell-through view.

  • Finding 02

    DTC compliance stack functioning but fragile, no audit trail for a buyer to inherit.

  • Finding 03

    Brand spend untagged. $80k of activations the previous year with no quantifiable lift.

  • Finding 04

    Books on QuickBooks Desktop, monthly close 22 days, no cost-of-goods discipline at the SKU level.

The build

Divisions deployed.

  1. 01

    Systems

    centralized depletions tracking across all 3 distributors. on-prem visit CRM. retailer database with sell-through per door.

  2. 02

    Marketing

    brand-led content + paid social + sampling program with measurable lift. closed-loop from activation to depletion.

  3. 03

    Studio

    label refresh + secondary packaging + photography library. brand consistency across markets.

  4. 04

    Financial

    migrated to QBO. weekly close. SKU-level COGS. state-by-state P&L. exit-readiness score tracked quarterly.

  5. 05

    Consulting

    data room build. CIM + teaser drafted at month 10. broker introductions at month 12.

The outcome

Numbers before. Numbers after.

Metric Before After Δ
Exit-readiness score 47 / 100 94 / 100 +47 pts
Markets 1 4 +3
Monthly close 22 days 5 days −77%
Brand-spend tagging 0% 100% fixed
Letters of intent 0 3 +3

blueprint didn't sell my company. they got my company sellable. that turned out to be the more valuable thing.

Founder · Ollin Spirits & Medicine

What's next

The transaction is in active diligence. Whether or not it closes, Ollin operates at a different altitude than it did 14 months ago — and that compounds independently.

Related work

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