From $6.5M Debt To Cash Flow: A Turnaround Playbook (With Richie Mashiko From She's Birdie)
MORE STAFFINGRecruit, onboard, and train incredible virtual professionals in the Philippines with my friends at More Staffing by visiting https://morestaffing.co/af. INTELLIGEMSIntelligems brings A/B testing to business decisions beyond copy and design. Test your pricing, shipping charges, free shipping thresholds, offers, SaaS tools, and more by clicking here: https://bit.ly/42DcmFl. Get 20% off the first 3 months with code FARIS20.//Richie Mashiko is the CEO of She's Birdie and the Head of Beacon, a division of Iris Financial that does fractional financial consulting for DTC brands. Email Richie at
[email protected].//A brutally transparent turnaround story. Richie Mashiko walks through how he took She’s Birdie from a $3M loss and $6.5M in obligations to an operationally disciplined business paying down debt—without Meta ads. We break down the debt stack, negotiation order, cash-flow forecasting, and the exact operating changes that created free cash to service creditors.What you’ll learn fast:- Debt triage that works: Prioritizing bank lines with personal guarantees, restructuring MCAs, sequencing suppliers and vendors, and why lawsuits are rarely the optimal path for counterparties.- Cash-flow clarity: How a weekly cash-flow model drives decisions and sets realistic paydown schedules.- Opex rightsizing: Cutting bloat from ~$500K/month to ~$75K, what to cut first, and how to preserve core capabilities.- Ad spend discipline: Turning off losing channels, operating with Amazon ads only, and rebuilding profitability before scale.- Unit economics that fund the plan: 90% landed margin before fulfillment, ~30% all-in cost of delivery, and why high margin + favorable terms enable rapid debt reduction.- Supplier terms that matter: 25% deposit, 75% net-120 after cargo-ready—how to negotiate (and keep) terms through a downturn.- Operator mindset: Replace vanity growth with durable free cash flow; define “winning” as consistent distributions, not fantasy exits.If you’re feeling margin pressure, stuck in growth-at-all-costs habits, or unclear on your balance sheet, this episode gives you a concrete operating playbook you can adapt immediately.//CHAPTER TITLES:00:02:10 - The Rescue Mission Of She’s Birdie 00:05:06 - Initial Growing Pains Post Covid (Product Development)00:11:49 - How We Almost Got Bought By Amazon00:16:55 - Breaking Down The Balance Sheet00:22:46 - Keeping The Bank From Freezing Assets00:24:05 - Operational Vs. Finance Challenges00:31:17 - Bad Ad Dollars00:35:20 - Manufacturing Terms00:40:19 - The Secret Sauce//SUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL FOR 2X/WEEKLY UPLOADS!//ADMISSIONGet the best media buying training on the Internet + a free coaching call with Common Thread Collective's media buyers when you sign up for ADmission here: https://www.youradmission.co/andrew-faris-podcast//FOLLOW UP WITH ANDREW X: https://x.com/andrewjfaris Email:
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