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If you’re running finance at a DTC brand, there’s a good chance you’re figuring it out alone.
You already know your revenue. You probably know your gross margin.
What you may not know — what almost nobody running a DTC brand actually knows in real time — is whether you’re profitable right now. This week. Before the month closes and someone builds a bulleted list explaining why the numbers look the way they do.
That’s where brands get hurt. And it almost never shows up in the Shopify dashboard.
I’m Brad. I’ve spent 10 years in the trenches of DTC finance — VP Finance, CFO, COO across multiple Shopify brands, from early-stage through acquisition. I’ve had the Wednesday where payroll was close and the month that looked healthy until it wasn’t.
The hard part of this job isn’t the math. It’s that nobody hands you the model. You build it yourself, usually under pressure, usually alone.
The Hard Number is the resource I kept looking for and never found. The models, the real numbers, the operator truth for the people who’ve had that Wednesday.
What you’ll find here
One issue a week. One topic. The real numbers behind how DTC businesses actually work. Not the LinkedIn thought leadership version.
Each issue comes with a model or a framework you can actually use. Not a concept. A tool.
Who it’s for
Founders and finance operators at Shopify brands in the $5M to $50M range. The people figuring it out without a playbook.
Start with Issue #1
It’s about the week I almost missed payroll at a brand growing 30% year over year. Comes with a cash flow model.
— Brad