Supply Chain Management Software

  • Relevant companies: Manhattan Associates, ShipHawk, Shipstation, Shipwell

  • Topics: differentiation between providers, supply chain technology stack, M&A trends, market size, go-to-market, future outlook

Customer Support Software

  • Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, Kustomer, Freshworks, Oracle, Microsoft, and HubSpot Service Hub

  • Topics:

    • Overview of key evaluation criteria and customer perceptions of Zendesk and competitors in the space

    • Familiarity with various players in the customer service and support solutions space

    • Typical use cases for customer support and service software solutions

    • Knowledge of specific players in the Customer-Led Conversational Assistants space

    • Key purchasing criteria for selecting a customer service software provider

Remote Staffing Providers

  • Relevant companies: Turing, Revelo, Deel, Remote, Andela, Toptal

  • Topics: experience with providers, familiarity with providers, evaluating providers, market overview, role in selecting providers

Freight Logistics Marketplace

  • Relevant companies: Kargo Tech, Trella, Transfix, Xeneta, Flexport, Freightos

  • Topics: customer evaluation and selection criteria, typical customer use cases, differentiation between providers, customer stickiness, potential adoption outlook, experience with players

    • Competitive landscape among technology providers in the freight forwarding space

    • Opinions on the future of supply chain management and logistics

    • White-glove value-add 3PL space

    • Flexport's primary competitors

    • Comparison between Flexport and traditional freight forwarders

    • Leaders in digital freight forwarding and competition with traditional players

ERP/CRM Solutions

  • Relevant companies: Zoho, Skubana, Salesforce, SAP

  • Topics: key vendors, purchase process, ERP/CRM purchasing criteria, experience as customer, familiarity with purchasing process, overhead scaling, store productivity, identity verification and anti-fraud practices

Collaboration, Project Management and Productivity Tools

  • Companies: Asana, Clickup, Smartsheets, Trello, Todoist, monday.com

  • Topics: onboarding cost, annual spend, number of users, familiarity with solutions, time spent in platform, differentiation, market fragmentation

Optical Industry

  • Topics: store productivity, industry trends, competitors, impact of COVID, shift from retail to online, telehealth (online prescriptions)

  • Companies: Warby Parker, Zenni Optical, Lenscrafters, EyeBuyDirect, and GlassesUSA

  • My background in optical and eyewear is as follows:

    • Former Head of Distribution and Supply Chain Operations for Warby Parker, helping the company grow from $200M to $350M+, expand its retail store network from 70 to 135 stores. I was also responsible for the Home Try-on program, which was one of the most successful channels in terms of customer acquisition and experience. I worked cross-functionally with our retail, planning, merchandising, tech, finance and customer experience teams and can speak to our strategy for retail, unit economics, industry trends, competitors, impact of COVID, shift from retail to online, telehealth (online prescriptions) and more.

Parcel Carriers

  • Relevant companies: ShipHawk, Shipstation, Shipwell, Shippo, Shipmonk, Shipbob

  • Topics: pricing strategy, volume discounts, contract terms, customer service, integration with other platforms

Fleet Management Platforms

  • Relevant companies: Samsara, GeoTab

  • Topics: use cases, strengths and weaknesses, competitors, industry trends

Packaging

  • Topics: design, materials, sustainability, cost, supplier selection and evaluation

  • Companies: International Paper, Westrock, Lumi, Victory Packaging, Arora, IPG, 3M, Bunzl, Orora, Shorr, Veritiv, Atlantic Packaging, U-Line, SupplyOne, Georgia Pacific, Packaging Corporation, Pratt, Hughes Enterprises, and Webstraunt.com

Warehouse and Industrial Automation

  • Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS), including cranes and shuttles

  • Companies:

    • Ocado, Autostore, Swisslog, Dematic, Modula, Rockwell Automation

  • Areas of expertise

    • Vertical lift modules

    • Pick/put walls

    • Bot and grid systems (e.g. Autostore)

    • Palletizing robots

    • Automated truck loading/unloading systems

    • AGVs

  • I've been a customer of Autostore, implemented in 2 sites across our 15 warehouses, and have evaluated many of the other systems for our partially automated warehouses for a $800M grocery company.