Bark Box Shows How to Nail the Subscription Model (An Insane Retention Rate Helps Too)

Happy Thursday, y'all! This issue of Backstage Pass is for Paid subscribers. Thank each of you for your support, it is greatly appreciated! Please consider sharing Backstage Pass with your friends and colleagues!

On Tuesday, I profiled how some companies are using a subscription model to engage customers and grow their business. Today, let's take a closer look at Bark Box, and in particular, how it has achieved an almost unheard of subscriber retention rate.

Let's start with some basics about the company. Bark Box was founded in 2011. The startup received $281 million in funding over 6 rounds, before going public in 2021. Bark Box is currently averaging over half a billion in revenue a year, and currently has 1.8 subscribers as of April. We'll talk more about that subscriber number in a minute.