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Brand finance, capital, and growth.
Ben Tregoe on brand finance: capital strategy, inventory, margins, cash flow, and building consumer brands that generate cash.
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40 posts on Strategy
July 31, 2026 · Credit & Loans, Fundraising
An Opinionated Compendium of the Best Guides and Directories
Resources we have created or sourced to help founders better understand and navigate brand finance and capital challenges.
July 6, 2026 · Exits, Strategy
An Opinionated Guide to Preparing for an Exit
This guide is a result of my experiences in selling my own companies as well as leading the Corp Dev function in the sale of company where I was not a founder. I have been an Interim CFO and...
June 21, 2026 · Capital Efficiency, Credit & Loans
Field Guide for How to Think About Capital for Brand Growth
A field guide for scaling consumer brands on how to think about inventory financing, and every other capital option, based on the growth it unlocks, not its sticker price.
May 13, 2026 · Margins, Capital Efficiency
Inventory IRR
I would expect blank stares if I asked a brand finance person what their Inventory IRR is, but it’s my favorite pet metric because it distills into a single number the potential of the brand’s...
April 24, 2026 · Margins, Capital Efficiency
PMMF Not PMF (Product Market Fit)
We all use the term, but what do we actually mean? It’s a notoriously squishy term that was popularized in tech with VC’s, so it makes sense that people often cite Marc Andreesen’s definition:
March 6, 2026 · Capital Efficiency, Fundraising
Judge Capital By Growth Enabled
How much growth does this capital enable?
March 2, 2026 · Capital Efficiency, Strategy
How You Think of Capital is Wrong
“What’s the APR? What’s the rate?”
December 19, 2025 · Strategy, Margins
Amazon’s Compounding Cost Reduction Wave
How do you develop 7 points of margin while building a 70% cost advantage on your competitors?
December 11, 2025 · Strategy, Capital Efficiency
Finding Your Flywheel
Amazon’s "secret sauce" was drawn on a napkin in 2001 when Jeff Bezos sketched a diagram of Amazon’s flywheel.
November 18, 2025 · Strategy
TAM Exhaustion
The percentage of all beverages
November 11, 2025 · Strategy, Capital Efficiency
Customers are the assets that count
The accounting is misleading. Accounting standards say that marketing is an expense and that your inventory is your biggest asset.
November 6, 2025 · Margins, Capital Efficiency
Golden Zone? Death Zone? Your zone determines your future
I can tell you what your future will look like by knowing which zone you are in.
November 4, 2025 · Strategy, Margins
The 5 Holy Laws of Models (part 2)
A financial model with a balance sheet and cash flow is the most critical tool for every brand leader.
October 31, 2025 · Data, Strategy
Models are crystal balls (part 1)
A well conceived model can be a crystal ball showing you potential futures. And you control how good your crystal ball is.
October 30, 2025 · Margins, Strategy
Get to Real not Ramen Profitability
One of the biggest lies founders tell themselves is around profitability. I know because I have told it to myself.
October 29, 2025 · Strategy
StitchFix focuses on good customers
Can you grow by focusing on better customers not just more customers?
October 27, 2025 · Margins, Capital Efficiency
AI’s impact on brand finance
How will AI impact brand finance?
October 23, 2025 · Strategy
Will AI end the apprenticeship model?
OpenAI announced Project Mercury in late October 2025 (Bloomberg article). The idea is simple. ChatGPT can produce sophisticated financial models in Excel, but the models have errors and...
October 22, 2025 · Strategy
Questions we fear answering
I will bet that 90% of brand founder unhappiness comes down to failing to answer these two questions honestly.
June 17, 2025 · Strategy
Small But Mighty Cash Flowing
I hope more founders embrace the goal of building a brand that
June 12, 2025 · Strategy, Capital Efficiency
What is a Brand?
Brand is the most under defined word in ecomm. A working definition of brand, the thinking behind it, and how to make it actionable.
June 3, 2025 · Strategy, Operations
Designing Incentives
“Coin operated.”
May 29, 2025 · Strategy, Operations
Product Focus Works
Rhode’s growth is phenomenal. From zero to $210 million in net sales in 3 years is a stunning success. And a billion dollar exit is a fantastic finish.
May 22, 2025 · Strategy
Value to you is the only value
“50% of Shopify businesses are worth $0” - Fan Bi
May 8, 2025 · Strategy
Best Customers or New Customers?
How much should we focus on our best customers versus new customers?
April 29, 2025 · Capital Efficiency, Strategy
Wharton Boy Learns About Inventory Turns and Cash
“You know what I care about Wharton Boy?”
April 24, 2025 · Strategy
Culture Matched to Incentives Win
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”
April 22, 2025 · Capital Efficiency, Margins
Reducing Cash Flow Ups and Downs
In this video, I explore:
March 27, 2025 · Strategy
It’s not knowing what; it’s knowing how
I read The Jolt Effect last week. It’s by one of the co-authors of The Challenger Sale which is a super popular sales book. The premise of the book is that in their research of thousands of sales...
March 20, 2025 · Strategy, Margins
Unit economics unlock all levers
In our effort to reduce complexity and wrap our heads around our businesses, we simplify to ratios and percentages. Percentages and ratios can be helpful, but risk boxing in our thinking and...
March 19, 2025 · Strategy, Margins
Planning for Profit
“Failure to plan is planning to fail.”
March 13, 2025 · Strategy
Lessons from Starbucks Turnaround
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on the Starbucks turnaround
March 12, 2025 · Strategy
Putting Price First
The Porsche Cayenne is an undeniable hit for Porsche. Considered heresy by some when launched in 2002 the Cayenne today comprises over a third of all Porsches sold globally.
February 27, 2025 · Operations, Strategy
How many finance & accounting people should you have?
There are few brand founders who have adequately invested in finance and accounting.
January 24, 2025 · Strategy, Exits
FCF > Exit
Episode 92 of The Operators is jam-packed with great insights and commentary. My top takeaways:
June 20, 2024 · Strategy, Capital Efficiency
Ruthless Prioritization
Eventually there’s a laundry list.
May 24, 2024 · Strategy, Data
Understanding High Value Customers Part 2
In Part 1 I talked about understanding the strengths and weaknesses of calendar-based first purchase cohort analysis in understanding high value customers.
May 23, 2024 · Strategy, Operations
Understanding High Value Customers Part 1
In my previous post, I argued that brand is the predisposition of a group of people to buy.
May 13, 2024 · Strategy
Defining Brand
Brand is the most under defined word in ecomm.
May 9, 2024 · Strategy, Operations
Goals define strategy define outcome
What is the purpose of the company? What is the goal?
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