THE SHELF

• The Customer-Funded BusinessJohn Mullins, 2014The case for growing a company on customers’ cash. Part two of this guide is the DTC version.
• Getting to Plan BJohn Mullins and Randy Komisar, 2009On testing a business model, with working capital treated as part of the model, not an afterthought.
• How Fast Can Your Company Afford to Grow?Neil Churchill and John Mullins, Harvard Business Review, 2001The short article behind chapter 2: every business has a growth rate its own cash can fund, and the levers that change it are timing as much as margin.
• Direct from DellMichael Dell with Catherine Fredman, 1999The founder’s account of a business customers paid for before it bought the parts.
• Financial IntelligenceKaren Berman and Joe Knight, with John Case, 2006A plain-language guide to why profit and cash differ, for managers who aren’t accountants.
• Berkshire Hathaway shareholder lettersWarren Buffett, annual letters from 1965The best explanation of float, and why it’s only cheap if you don’t lose money getting it.

And the research: Shin and Soenen (1998), Deloof (2003) and Wang (2019) on the cash cycle and profitability; Xie and Shugan (2001) on advance selling; Mollick (2014) on crowdfunding and late delivery; Harris (1913) on order quantity. The filings: Costco’s 2025 Form 10-K, Dell’s 2005 Form 10-Q, Peloton’s 2022 Form 10-K and Starbucks’ 2025 Form 10-K. Full references are in Appendix C.