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Clean Beauty Startup
Client
Confidential Client
Timeline
7 months
Services
Fractional CFO
The Challenge
A clean beauty brand experiencing explosive DTC growth faced a classic problem: they were profitable on paper but constantly running out of cash. Marketing spend and inventory purchases created massive cash flow swings. They had no visibility into which products were actually profitable or how marketing spend impacted cash 60-90 days later.
Key Issues
- Profitable on paper but constantly cash-strapped
- Marketing spend creating 60-90 day cash flow swings
- No visibility into true SKU profitability
- Inventory decisions disconnected from demand forecast
- Unable to predict cash needs accurately
Our Solution
We built a custom financial model that integrated marketing spend, inventory receipts, and cash flow projections. The model tracked cohort-level customer economics and showed exactly how each dollar of marketing spend flowed through to cash. We also implemented weekly working capital reviews to optimize inventory levels.
Our Approach
1
Week 1-2: Assessment
Analyzed inventory levels, marketing efficiency, and cash flow patterns. Identified disconnect between profitability and cash.
2
Week 3-5: Model Development
Built custom financial model linking marketing spend to inventory needs to cash flow. Created cohort-level customer economics tracking.
3
Month 2-3: Implementation
Implemented weekly cash forecasting. Optimized inventory levels by SKU. Refined marketing spend based on true cash payback.
4
Month 4+: Ongoing Optimization
Continuous refinement of model. Weekly strategic planning sessions. Achieved breakeven 6 months ahead of plan.
The Results
$500K
Working capital freed
Optimized inventory levels across 47 SKUs
45%
Marketing ROI improvement
Better attribution and cash-aware spending decisions
6 Months
Ahead of plan
Hit breakeven earlier than projected
Weekly
Cash forecast accuracy
Key Outcomes
- Cash flow forecast accuracy within 5% weekly
- Improved marketing ROI by 45%
- SKU-level profitability tracking in real-time
- Freed up $500K in working capital
- Achieved breakeven 6 months ahead of plan
- Data-driven inventory purchasing system
For the first time, our cashflow forecast matched how the business actually operates—inventory, timing, and all.
See if GreenSpark is a fit
If you’re running a growing consumer brand and cash flow feels tighter than it should, let’s talk.
No hype. No decks for the sake of decks.
Just decision-ready execution.