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Working Capital Drag Calculator

Convert your DIO, DSO, and DPO into a dollar figure you can argue with. Built for $5M to $50M DTC and consumer brands who want to know what their cash conversion cycle actually costs at their real cost of capital, not headline bank prime.

Every $1M trapped in your working capital cycle costs you $120,000 a year at a 12% cost of capital. Most $5 to $20M DTC operators borrow at 11 to 22%, not the 6.75% headline bank prime, which is why this calculator defaults to 12%. Drag the slider to match your actual financing source: bank line, fintech working-capital loan, RBF, or MCA.

How to use it. Enter your annual revenue, pick your vertical (sets the public-brand benchmark), and adjust DIO, DSO, DPO, and cost of capital. The calculator shows your CCC in days, dollars tied up, annual carry cost, and the dollar value of pulling 10 days out of inventory, pushing 10 days into payables, or collecting 5 days faster. Includes a Fed-100-bps-cut sensitivity panel and an advanced gross-margin override.

Your numbers

Results update in real time.

Net of returns and discounts. Range $500K to $500M.
Sets a comparison line. Pick the closest match to your product mix.
How many days of COGS you carry as inventory. If you do not know: (avg inventory) / (daily COGS). Industry typical: 60 to 120 days for owned-inventory DTC, 0 to 15 for drop-ship.
How long customers take to pay. Pure Shopify/Stripe DTC: 2 to 7 days. Wholesale-heavy: 30 to 60.
How long you take to pay suppliers. Net 30 default. Crocs runs 58, YETI 68, ELF 65.
Typical $5 to $20M DTC operator pays 11 to 14% on bank LOC, 14 to 22% on RBF/factoring, 30 to 80% APR on MCAs. Drag to match your actual cost. Reference: US bank prime 6.75%, Fed Funds 3.64% (FRED, as of 2026-04).
Advanced: gross margin override
Default 45% blended. COGS = revenue × (1 - GM). Adjust if your real GM materially differs.

Results

Your cash conversion cycle
67 days
$1.02M tied up
Costs $123K/year ($337/day)
Vs. public benchmark
Apparel: 100 days. You: -33d vs.
If you matched the public apparel cycle, you would release $X and save $Y/year.
DIO -10 days (inventory lever)
Release $151K · save $18K/year. Crocs runs 79 days; FIGS runs 212. The spread is category, not effort. Pulling 10 days is achievable within one quarter through MOQ discipline and demand-forecast tightening.
DPO +10 days (payables lever)
Release $151K · save $18K/year. The Eightx CFO playbook here is a revolving credit cap with a key supplier (e.g., "$X open at any time"), not blanket net 60. Free if supplier relationships allow.
DSO -5 days (receivables lever)
Release $137K · save $16K/year. For pure ecom this is rarely the biggest lever (Shopify settles in 2 days, Stripe 2 to 7). Worth pursuing if you have wholesale terms over 30 days.
Sensitivity: Fed cuts 100 bps
At your current cost of capital (12.00%), your annual carry is $123K. If your rate drops 100 bps to 11.00%, carry falls to $113K, a $10K saving. Most $5 to $20M DTC borrowers will not see the full 100 bps because the prime+400 spread on smaller lines widens when banks tighten. RBF and MCA pricing barely moves at all.

Public DTC benchmarks (FY2025)

Wayfair
-44 days
Warby Parker
20 days
Crocs
45 days
YETI
95 days
Lululemon
101 days
e.l.f. Beauty
124 days
FIGS
191 days

Frequently asked questions

What is a good cash conversion cycle for a $10M DTC apparel brand?

Use the public benchmarks as guardrails. For apparel the public range runs about 100 to 191 days (Lululemon around 101, FIGS at 191). A healthy private brand of your size should land closer to 90 to 110 days; anything above 150 means you are financing inventory the market does not reward. Pull DIO toward 90 first, then push DPO toward 45.

What cost of capital should I use in the calculator?

Use the rate you would pay to free up the cash some other way. The default is 12% because most $5 to $20M DTC operators actually pay 11 to 14% on bank LOC, 14 to 22% on RBF, and 30 to 80% APR on MCAs. Headline bank prime (6.75%) only applies if you actually have a bank line. Use the preset chips above to model each scenario.

How do I extend DPO without damaging supplier relationships?

Negotiate a revolving credit cap with a key supplier (a ceiling of $X open at any time) in exchange for a 12 month volume guarantee. Frame it as a forecasting commitment, not a payment delay. This is the playbook Eightx senior CFOs run on real client calls, not blanket net 60.

What is the difference between DIO, DSO, and DPO?

DIO is days inventory outstanding: how many days of COGS you carry as inventory. DSO is days sales outstanding: how long customers take to pay you. DPO is days payable outstanding: how long you take to pay suppliers. Cash conversion cycle = DIO + DSO - DPO. Lower is better; negative is structurally exceptional (drop-ship marketplaces only).

Next step

Want a CFO to run these numbers on your real data?

A calculator gives you a snapshot. A fractional CFO gives you the actual playbook: which supplier to renegotiate, which SKU to slim, which financing source to swap. Book a free 30-minute diagnostic call and we will run your DIO, DSO, and DPO against the public benchmarks above.

Talk to a CFO

Or read the full post: Working capital drag calculator: what your cycle costs in 2026