SharpFokus Brief – June 11, 2025
“Cashflow Is King” — Highlights from Our WeWork Talk
Yesterday, we gave a special talk at WeWork Jakarta to a room full of startup founders and executives.
The theme? Why cashflow — not cash or profit — is king.
Here’s a quick summary of what we shared:
🧾 It started with a school bill
In 1978, tuition was £770. Today, it’s £8,000+. That’s a 90% decline in value.
Cash fades.
📉 Then came a fast-growing company
Profit looked great. The share price tripled.
But cashflow was negative, and debt piled up. Eventually, the company collapsed.
Profit was fiction.
📚 Mr Micawber’s Law (Charles Dickens)
“Annual income twenty pounds, expenditure nineteen… result happiness.”
That’s cashflow — money in minus money out.
📊 Amazon flipped the order
In the 2000s, Amazon moved the cashflow statement to the front of its reports.
Result: share price grew from $450 million to $2 trillion.
The fastest rise in history.
📖 But it started even earlier…
In the Parable of the Talents, the master expects a return.
Two servants deliver cashflow and are rewarded. One hides the capital — and loses everything.
To those who produce, more will be given.
🧮 That’s what we call CFROA — Cashflow Return on Assets
• GEMS: 30% CFROA → trades at 3× assets
• BUMI: negative CFROA → trades below assets
Cashflow determines value.
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📌 See all our current offers here:
sharpfokus.com/subscribe
“Cashflow Is King” — Highlights from Our WeWork Talk
Yesterday, we gave a special talk at WeWork Jakarta to a room full of startup founders and executives.
The theme? Why cashflow — not cash or profit — is king.
Here’s a quick summary of what we shared:
🧾 It started with a school bill
In 1978, tuition was £770. Today, it’s £8,000+. That’s a 90% decline in value.
Cash fades.
📉 Then came a fast-growing company
Profit looked great. The share price tripled.
But cashflow was negative, and debt piled up. Eventually, the company collapsed.
Profit was fiction.
📚 Mr Micawber’s Law (Charles Dickens)
“Annual income twenty pounds, expenditure nineteen… result happiness.”
That’s cashflow — money in minus money out.
📊 Amazon flipped the order
In the 2000s, Amazon moved the cashflow statement to the front of its reports.
Result: share price grew from $450 million to $2 trillion.
The fastest rise in history.
📖 But it started even earlier…
In the Parable of the Talents, the master expects a return.
Two servants deliver cashflow and are rewarded. One hides the capital — and loses everything.
To those who produce, more will be given.
🧮 That’s what we call CFROA — Cashflow Return on Assets
• GEMS: 30% CFROA → trades at 3× assets
• BUMI: negative CFROA → trades below assets
Cashflow determines value.
--
📌 See all our current offers here:
sharpfokus.com/subscribe