This reminds me a lot of the example that Bezos used in his April 2005 Amazon shareholder letter (http://www.scribd.com/doc/111244354/Amazon-Shareholder-Lette..., page 27).

I'd love to hear from people who know finance better whether the comparison is apt.

The analogy seems to be that when you have upfront expenditures that get paid back over time, you may not have positive free cash flow if you're continually paying up front for later pay back, and you end up with a business that paradoxically generates higher cash flow with slower growth.