Aaron Alpeter is the Founder and CEO of Izba Consulting. Izba Consulting brings proven startup operator and fortune 500 level expertise to startups on a fractional basis so that founders can be more equity and cash efficient while focusing on other parts of their business. Izba Consulting augments its clients’ teams in both short and long term engagements, providing thought partnership and day-to-day management while building out their internal full-time team as their businesses grow.

Join us as Aaron shares about how you should build your supply chain with 18 month plans, how you should build your supply chain around its bottlenecks to optimize it, and why you should find out the de minimis value for shipping goods in each country when planning your shipments.

Newsletter l Podcast l Free Resources 

https://www.izba.co/ – Work with Izba Consulting!

1. Build your supply chain by planning it out in 18 months blocks and design it so that it can provide for what you need in the foreseeable future. Set out a sales and operations plan as well for the same time frame so you know whether you are on track in your sales and production pipeline and this will allow you to plan ahead with your manufacturers, warehouses and logistics companies for the support that you need.

2. Look at the bottleneck in the suppler chain and design your supply chain to make sure that it is built to make sure that the bottleneck does not stop and become a problem.

3. Find out the de minimis value of each country which is the amount that you can ship without paying any taxes. It may be cheaper to ship your goods in batches below the de minis value as compared to shipping it via containers.

[1.55] Aaron was always interested with how things worked and he views the supply chain as the intersection between good ideas and reality. He graduated from Ohio State University studying supply chain management and started his career with Unilever working on their supply chain.

[5.00] Aaron eventually decided to leave Unilever because he wanted to explore ecommerce and Unilever was not able to provide that opportunity for him. He was eventually connected with the founders of Hubble Contacts and they invited him to join them. Aaron eventually helped Hubble Contacts built up their entire supply chain from the ground up.

[7.00] Aaron started Izba Consulting to provide other startups with support when building a supply chain. Most companies don’t need a full fledged Chief Operating Officer, but they need someone with that expertise and that is where Izba Consulting comes in, at a fractional basis.

[9.50] Izba provides its expertise to make sure its customers benefit from its experience helping other startups.

[11.15] 80% to 90% of headaches suffered in a supply chain are tied to its design. The most important thing to do is to develop a sales and operation plan. Put your assumptions down on paper for the next 18 to 24 months, and look at how things progress every month. Aaron himself would develop such plans for a company even before it made any sales. This gave them the ability to have conversations with manufacturers and wholesalers ahead of time to plan out their needs.

[14.50] Aaron recommends the drum bottle rope theory when thinking about designing your supply chain. Look at the bottleneck in the suppler chain and design your supply chain to make sure that it is built to make sure that the bottleneck does not stop and become a problem.

[16.40] Aaron explains the pros and cons of a self-fulfillment model and a third party fulfillment model. He recommends to rely on the self-fulfillment model only when the ability to fulfil the goods or service in a certain manner is unique to the business model.

[20.00] If you are a new entrepreneur and you are trying out self-fulfillment, you need to figure out the process you need so that when you work with a third party you can hand it off easily and properly.

[21.20] Aaron shares about the break down in the global supply chain.

[25.40] To better manage your tariffs, design your supply chain with a good fix on your total landing cost. Just because it may be cheaper to manufacture something in one country than the other, there may be tariffs and hidden costs to think about that may cause it to actually be more expensive at the end of the day. Hire a freight forwarder to help you navigate the customs.

[29.30] Always check with your freight forwarder as to what are the licences and approvals you need in place before you can bring an item into a certain country. Depending on your product and how you will ship it whether by land, sea or air, it will also have an impact on how you will structure your packaging and shipment.

[31.20] Find out the de minis value of each country which is the amount that you can ship without paying any taxes. It may be cheaper to ship your goods in batches below the de minis value as compared to shipping it via containers.

[33.00] Izba Consulting is able to help entrepreneurs around the world.

[34.40] Aaron shares his key takeaways from working with startups like Hubble Contacts and Mirror.

Aaron Alpeter is the Founder and CEO of Izba Consulting. Izba Consulting brings proven startup operator and fortune 500 level expertise to startups on a fractional basis so that founders can be more equity and cash efficient while focusing on other parts of their business. Izba Consulting augments its clients’ teams in both short and long term engagements, providing thought partnership and day-to-day management while building out their internal full-time team as their businesses grow.

Join us as Aaron shares about how you should build your supply chain with 18 month plans, how you should build your supply chain around its bottlenecks to optimize it, and why you should find out the de minimis value for shipping goods in each country when planning your shipments.

Newsletter l Podcast l Resources 

https://www.izba.co/ – Work with Izba Consulting!

1. Build your supply chain by planning it out in 18 months blocks and design it so that it can provide for what you need in the foreseeable future. Set out a sales and operations plan as well for the same time frame so you know whether you are on track in your sales and production pipeline and this will allow you to plan ahead with your manufacturers, warehouses and logistics companies for the support that you need.

2. Look at the bottleneck in the suppler chain and design your supply chain to make sure that it is built to make sure that the bottleneck does not stop and become a problem.

3. Find out the de minimis value of each country which is the amount that you can ship without paying any taxes. It may be cheaper to ship your goods in batches below the de minis value as compared to shipping it via containers.

[1.55] Aaron was always interested with how things worked and he views the supply chain as the intersection between good ideas and reality. He graduated from Ohio State University studying supply chain management and started his career with Unilever working on their supply chain.

[5.00] Aaron eventually decided to leave Unilever because he wanted to explore ecommerce and Unilever was not able to provide that opportunity for him. He was eventually connected with the founders of Hubble Contacts and they invited him to join them. Aaron eventually helped Hubble Contacts built up their entire supply chain from the ground up.

[7.00] Aaron started Izba Consulting to provide other startups with support when building a supply chain. Most companies don’t need a full fledged Chief Operating Officer, but they need someone with that expertise and that is where Izba Consulting comes in, at a fractional basis.

[9.50] Izba provides its expertise to make sure its customers benefit from its experience helping other startups.

[11.15] 80% to 90% of headaches suffered in a supply chain are tied to its design. The most important thing to do is to develop a sales and operation plan. Put your assumptions down on paper for the next 18 to 24 months, and look at how things progress every month. Aaron himself would develop such plans for a company even before it made any sales. This gave them the ability to have conversations with manufacturers and wholesalers ahead of time to plan out their needs.

[14.50] Aaron recommends the drum bottle rope theory when thinking about designing your supply chain. Look at the bottleneck in the suppler chain and design your supply chain to make sure that it is built to make sure that the bottleneck does not stop and become a problem.

[16.40] Aaron explains the pros and cons of a self-fulfillment model and a third party fulfillment model. He recommends to rely on the self-fulfillment model only when the ability to fulfil the goods or service in a certain manner is unique to the business model.

[20.00] If you are a new entrepreneur and you are trying out self-fulfillment, you need to figure out the process you need so that when you work with a third party you can hand it off easily and properly.

[21.20] Aaron shares about the break down in the global supply chain.

[25.40] To better manage your tariffs, design your supply chain with a good fix on your total landing cost. Just because it may be cheaper to manufacture something in one country than the other, there may be tariffs and hidden costs to think about that may cause it to actually be more expensive at the end of the day. Hire a freight forwarder to help you navigate the customs.

[29.30] Always check with your freight forwarder as to what are the licences and approvals you need in place before you can bring an item into a certain country. Depending on your product and how you will ship it whether by land, sea or air, it will also have an impact on how you will structure your packaging and shipment.

[31.20] Find out the de minis value of each country which is the amount that you can ship without paying any taxes. It may be cheaper to ship your goods in batches below the de minis value as compared to shipping it via containers.

[33.00] Izba Consulting is able to help entrepreneurs around the world.

[34.40] Aaron shares his key takeaways from working with startups like Hubble Contacts and Mirror.