Amrita Bhasin CEO at Sotira
Summary
: The podcast host interviews Amrutha Bessin, co-founder and CEO of Satara, a company that helps retailers, manufacturers, and brands liquidate their excess, overstocked and short-dated inventory. They do this by connecting these companies with buyers in the secondary market or by facilitating donations. Amrutha explains that her inspiration for starting the company came from her previous experience in the e-commerce and food and beverage liquidation industries, where she noticed the complexities involved in handlingOlya Dubinsky is the CEO of Finite State, which works with companies to help them liquidate unsold inventory, either through donation or resale. This not only helps companies save money on storage and carrying costs, but also can generate new revenue streams and has the added benefit of being more sustainable. Supply chain is a complex industry and understanding it can help individuals better understand the world and its events. Two things companies are always interested in are ways to save money or make money, and a third focal Overstock is not going away, AI will play a bigger role in supply chain, and AI companies need to do a better job of explaining their technology to the industry. A lot of supply chain processes are still manual, but AI has the potential to automate and improve these processes. Reconciling a tech background with supply chain can be a challenge, but educating and familiarizing customers with AI can help improve adoption. Finally, sustainability, cost savings, and increased earnings are three key factors that drive This article is an interview with Gayatri Sarkar, the CEO and founder of SaaS company Sitara, and discusses her views on the supply chain industry, the challenges she faces as a young entrepreneur, and the impact her company is making in sustainability and circularity. Gayatri emphasizes the importance of solving problems for businesses rather than focusing on buzzwords and features. She also stresses the need for education and awareness for young people about the opportunities in supply chain. To connect with Gayatri, visit This episode features an interview with Amrutha Chatim of PureOverstock, a company dedicated to solving the problem of overstock in warehouses. Chatim discusses the impact of overstock on supply chain and the challenges involved in dealing with it. She also talks about her company's solutions, which include donation and liquidation, and the benefits they offer to warehouse operators. The podcast host praises Chatim's work and encourages listeners to check out her interviews and the Warehouse Underground community.
Transcription
Speaker 2
[00.00.07]
Hey what's up everyone? Thank you for tuning in to another episode at the Warehouse Underground podcast, Real Talk for warehouse DC and FC professionals of all levels around the globe. I'm Ben, the host of the show, and let me paint this picture in warehouses and distributions across the distribution centers across the country. You always see a problem and that is excess stock, dead stock, overstock, whatever you want to call it. It's everywhere. Ops managers know about this very well because it causes a lot of problems for them. But it's waste not only a labor waste, but it's a waste for the total supply chain. Because a lot of these things overstock end up just in landfills. And that is a problem. That's a problem for everybody involved and straight waste. And so everybody always wants to know what can I do to reduce the amount of dead stock that I have in my facility? Well, my guess on the show today is someone that can definitely help with that. Her name is Amrutha Bessin. She is the co-founder and CEO at Terra, buy and sell overstock and short dated inventory. They're doing exactly that for their customers out there. So I'm excited to talk with her today about what Satara is doing, how it operates, but also her thoughts in general about the supply chain. This is not her first podcast. She's a sought after speaker in this arena, up and coming person in the industry that I think you guys will really like to hear from today. So excited, excited to talk with her. And with that, I'll bring her on the stage. Thank you very much for joining the Warehouse Underground podcast. How are you doing today?
Speaker 1
[00.01.46]
I'm good. Thank you for having me on. I'm excited to be here. Yeah,
Speaker 2
[00.01.50]
now you got it. This is such a great topic to talk about. I hear from ops leaders all the time that they don't have space or running out of room. They don't have control of their inventory. So anytime somebody has a solution or a way out for this type of debt stock or overstock I'm always interested in. So let me ask you this question. Um, you know, I talk I talked a little bit about in the the teaser, the intro, what you do, but high level, can you just explain what Satara is all about and who are the customers that you serve?
Speaker 1
[00.02.25]
Our goal is to help warehouses, fulfillment centers. So we work with retailers, manufacturers and brands to offload their inventory in a more efficient way. So we have two pathways. We help brands and retailers, um, offload, which means liquidate their product into the secondary market. So we help them sell to buyers that are traditionally in the overstock short dated market. So they are very familiar with purchasing this product and with distributing across the US into secondary channels. So think off price stores, discount stores, live selling, secondary, digital or e-com platforms. All of that kind of encompasses the secondary market. The second option that we provide is we help distribution centers donate their extra product. So in certain scenarios, brands are super particular about their where their brands end up and they worry a lot about secondary market positioning. And so in that case we come up. We come in with circularity, um, focused solutions on how we can help get this product basically to consumers who can use it through donations.
Speaker 2
[00.03.29]
Yeah, I mean that. That's awesome. I mean, that that is such a great solution. I can. I can speak from personal experience on that, that it's everywhere and it's a problem. So to have this as an option, a solution, because a lot of companies that I've, I've worked with over the years, they they don't want to be in this position, but they don't really know what their outlets are for them. Right? They don't they don't have an outlet. So, um, now let me ask this. Like you're a young entrepreneur, right? So you're entrepreneur, you started this, this company. But different people have different inspiration, different aha moments about how they either discovered or had the idea or uncovered the idea over time. What was that like for you? I mean, what what was it like when you started to look at this and go, man, I, I really think that there's something here. I can offer a solution. What was that journey like at the very beginning?
Speaker 1
[00.04.23]
Yeah. So I used to run e-commerce businesses, and then I started my career actually in the food and beverage liquidation space. So I kind of came into this career with background, both from e-com, from the sneaker space. I was very familiar with selling on secondary channels, the whole brand positioning aspect, and my first job when I was in the food and beverage liquidation space, I really learned how the industry worked. Like, I saw the ins and outs of it's really not that easy to handle Overstock. Like it's it's not that easy to donate product. It sounds really simple. It's like, let's just donate it. There's a lot of bureaucracy involved in it. There's compliance. There's audit requirements. Companies are really particular about where their products end up, even if they're donations. Right. If you look at companies like sports teams, I pretty much saw the full view of how overstock is handled. And I recognize that this is a super manual industry. Like the problem of liquidation. The problem of Overstock is not a new problem. This is not a post-Covid problem. It may be worse post-Covid from everything I hear and see from our customers, but really like the liquidation industry has existed for decades. I think what I think is really interesting now is that with the advent of AI and the advent of technology and the older population in the warehouse industry basically aging out, there's opportunity for somebody like me to provide some level of automation, and that can help us solve this problem faster and more efficiently, which ultimately equates to helping customers make more money or save more money.
Speaker 2
[00.05.53]
Yeah, I think that's I think that's a great point. I think the average person does not, does not realize the depth that that goes into this in all the layers because they they just equate it to what they know. What they know is these are the items that I have in my home. And when I want to do spring cleaning, I just I just throw them out. Right. But brands have they're very selective. Right. Everything has to be audited. They've got investors. They've got they've got books that they've got to keep. They have to be protective of what type of secondary markets their items are sold on. In some cases, there's just sort of all these other things that people would be shocked to find out how complex that is. So you're definitely right on that. I remember when I first got in the industry, I'm like, oh my gosh, are you serious? Like, just get rid of it, just throw it out there. But in a lot of times it's it's not that easy. It is not that easy. So now is it? Tell me about the nuts and bolts of how it works, because I went on the website. So I know, I know it's your tech and it's a software and it's a program, but what does it look like from the perspective of the customer when they are using this? I mean, is this just something that is a software program that they use? Do they work in connection with you? I mean, if I'm a customer, what am I looking at when it comes time for me to to act on on this solution?
Speaker 1
[00.07.14]
So say you are a DC or an MFC. Whatever your warehouse distribution network looks like, you can register with us and you can upload an inventory list. So this can be as basic as an Excel sheet with a few pieces of required data, like you picks, expiration dates of the items or consumables. We'd ideally like to have pictures names of SKUs so you can upload that data to our system. If you are a large customer of ours, we will probably have an integration with whatever your WMS says. So if you have like an SAP or storage capacity or Blue Yonder, whatever your system is. But at the most basic level, we just need to have an idea of what your overstock is. You upload it to the system, you detail out any restrictions. So say for example, you are a sports team and you are super particular. Your brand is based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and you don't want any of that product being distributed in the Las Vegas area. But maybe other cities or other regions in Nevada are acceptable. You would detail whatever those restrictions are, and our system automatically sends out these lists to relevant buyers based on those requirements. So we automate the process of how do we get it in front of the buyers who are most likely to purchase, who are most likely to give you the best price possible? There's an arbitrage aspect to this that if we are able to use technology, we can basically do the full ROI on this. So a lot of times companies think that they just want to go with the offer. That is the most in terms of revenue, but it's not like that. It's a calculation of who can pick up the fastest, right? It's not just money in this industry. Your inventory is effectively a physical asset. It's not just sitting there on your books, but it's also sitting there on your warehouse, in your warehouse. So you have to think of every single minute or hour that you're holding a product that isn't selling. You're basically losing. So our system. The goal of our system is that we're able to help you make these decisions, and we automate the process of getting your product sold or donated and all the paperwork, compliance, audit requirements, any ESG requirements you may have around this process.
Speaker 2
[00.09.18]
Yeah. That. And so there's all sorts of metrics that the average person probably doesn't know about. I mean, you've got cash conversion cycle that companies are looking for and inventory turns and days on hand and all these things. And so all these things that we're talking about count against that. So the longer it takes for them to move it, the the less likely they are to hit their KPI, their metric or whatever. So if there are ways that they can move it faster, I would think that a lot of companies would be on that right away, because it sounds like this is like very customizable way to mass proliferate. I guess maybe is not a bad word, but so it's giving you it's a leveraging the tech and the software and the program to do this 50 times faster than what a company would be able to do it on their own is what is what it sounds like, because they just don't have that, that, uh, that ability, they don't have that knowledge or that those resources to do. Is that is that fair sort of analysis?
Speaker 1
[00.10.17]
Yeah, I would say like the network is a huge part of it. It's like, say that you run a three PL and like you got into this business to, you know, run a three PL to pick, pack and fulfill orders like your customers are your brands. But now you have this problem. Let's say that a brand stopped paying you, so they owe you money and you basically you own those assets now, which means that again, you maybe it's a benefit because these assets you can liquidate for money, but you also have this burden now of how do you liquidate this in the first place. Like you're not in the business of liquidation as a three PL owner. So we come in and we have this network of donation partners, vetted nonprofits, buyers and all these different channels available at your disposal that you can use. So for a lot of, you know, warehouse operators who their full time job is not to liquidate. Our platform is really useful.
Speaker 2
[00.11.04]
Yeah, and you're right. And many warehouse leaders, ops leaders, supply chain leaders. The truth is, a lot of times they don't want to deal with this because they're focused on their main metrics their new product, their new thing. They're hot new. And that's why a lot of the dead stock sometimes compiles over time. It's just because they don't really want to. It's not pretty, right? It's not it's not a hot new thing. So yeah, you solve in that solution for them which I, which I really like that that is a really cool thing. So let me, let me ask this question. So you have a front row seat in the supply chain industry and you have a advantage of you. You talk with many different ops leaders and supply chain leaders, I would think, and part of trying to grow your company. So you're you're right there as well as you have a background in supply chain too. So some of the listeners of the show are well-versed in that. And sometimes some listeners are not there. They're entering it or they have it. They have an interest in learning more about it. What are your thoughts, your general thoughts on the the complexity of supply chain that maybe the average layman or the average person does not, does not realize? Because when I got involved with it, I was shocked at how complex and and complicated everything is. What do you think about that from having a front row seat for it all?
Speaker 1
[00.12.25]
I continue to be shocked at how complicated it is. I'll give you one really specific example. So like we were working with the company who's very interested in being more sustainable and more circular around handling their overstock. And then they told us that if they destroy products, customs has to come in and supervise that process. And they're like, oh, you know, how can you help us with this process? Like the government is involved in the process of us handling our overstock rate and categories like alcohol. There's wine taxes. So I continue every single day to learn more and more about this industry as we expand the categories that we work with. And it's really complicated. I think to me, this is the most rewarding industry to be a part of because it's helped me understand the world better. Every single time something happens in supply chain, it affects the stock market, right? Like once you understand supply chain, you understand commodities trading. You understand how hedge funds work and operate like it is. Just made me not just a better builder, but a better operator in general. Like I understand, you know, geopolitical conflicts. Like if if a reporter asks me how is that affecting freight prices, like say, I look at like the rate chart, right. And I see like, you know, a few weeks ago like Elemento in Mexico. Right. Um, right. The if you look at the freight prices in Guadalajara and Mexico, they immediately shot up. Right. like being able to kind of connect and understand, like how do all these different, you know, events and different things in the world affect our day to day? Like there's a delay, like for example, Amazon just shut some of their warehouses down, I believe, in Abu Dhabi due to the conflict in the Middle East. Right. The average American, if they receive a delayed order, they maybe don't have insight into the complexity of that. You know, like the way your products get shipped to you. So I think that there is so much that Americans and people in general have to learn about how the supply chain industry operates.
Speaker 2
[00.14.10]
Yeah. Well, I think they they hear the term on TV or the news or something, and then they just sort of think that they understand it. But it's like, uh, the analogy I've always heard, it's like an old mechanical watch. You ever have an old mechanical watch and you. Yeah. You see the watch face, but underneath the watch faces, all these gears, and they all gotta turn right in time and they all gotta work. And I've heard you mention on another podcast because. Because I listened to some of the other stuff you said and you're like, well, uh, hey, when the average American is losing weight and getting more fit because the fitness industry is coming online, guess what? That affects the supply chain. Because you have all these clothes, you know, all these clothes that were made for one size and then. Yeah. And now what do you do with them? And so that's what it's just all these things people don't intuitively realize how all the, the complexities and the delicate balance. So anytime I get people that have a front row seat for that, I always want them to bring that up on the show just so that people are aware of that. Hey man, this is a super complex industry in a lot of ways that you might not think about. And you're right. Once you understand it, you know how all those cogs turn. You're like a super user now, you see, it's like the matrix, right? You can just see, you know, you see all the stuff. You understand how the matrix works. You're good to go. So, um, very, very good points there.
Speaker 1
[00.15.29]
No. Exactly. Now we're talking. Oh, sorry. Really quickly. We're talking right now about GLP one in the food and beverage industry, like in the wine and alcohol industry as well. Right. Like there's a lot of discussion with not just my customers but with reporters reaching out. And everyone kind of wants to know like how like GLP one, the airlines have come out and said this is actually decreased our fuel costs, which is crazy. Like that's not the immediate thing that comes to my mind when I think about how will GLP one affect America. But the airlines are like, we're saving money. You know, a lot of the apparel brands have overstocked product, the food manufacturers, a lot of the sugary cereals, the sugary snacks, the, you know, red 40, all of that. They're struggling in the sense that people aren't consuming as much. So there are so many downstream effects of something like GLP one on the supply chain. It's really interesting to connect all those dots.
Speaker 2
[00.16.18]
Yeah, and it's a capitalistic society too. So no one person or one entity is in control of all this. Right. It's all controlling itself on its own. And so then you have to always be aware of what unintended consequences may be, how to adjust to them, how to be how to be versatile, how to have flexibility. And. Yeah. I mean it's right there. So now let me ask this question a lot of companies and I've and I've heard you talk about this too, where, hey, if I am a startup, if I am trying to have a relationship with companies and provide a service for them and ultimately have them buy and use my product, I have to be able to do two things, and one of them is show them how I can earn them money, or show them how I can save them money. So but do you think, I mean, is there a third or a fourth option? You know, I know some people have some other companies have some other things. But for me, where I sit, most of the ops I deal with that is the two main questions that everybody wants to know. And every and I mean, there's some side stuff and everything, but that is it. So I know you've said that before. Is that I mean, do you hundred percent believe in that? And and, you know, how do you how have you changed or molded your strategy as an entrepreneur to, to just match that reality? I guess
Speaker 1
[00.17.37]
I think that that statement is like a very supply chain perspective, like specific to the problem we solve. So like when we talk with companies, half the time, the way they're thinking about this on their plate and like, say it's a supply chain finance team or their accounting team as a part of the conversation. It's like is liquidation is donation, is it helping me save money because I'm not paying for storage? I'm not paying for, you know, caring costs like opportunity costs, all of that. Or is it helping me make money because it's literally a new revenue channel. It's like, now I get tax deductions, now I get, you know, cash unlocked. I get to accelerate my working capital. It is a constant like flip flop between how is this kind of positioned. And I think honestly, it just comes down to the particular company. There isn't really a pattern. Some customers, they tell us directly, they're like, this is how we set up our PNL. This is how we think about supply chain finance, how we think about Overstock. Like this is the big challenge that we face. I think the third thing that we try to optimize, which is a little bit harder to quantify, is sustainability. And I think this is really important just because supply chain is one of the biggest emitters of everything of pollution, you know, of energy, like there is a huge efficiency advantage and being able to optimize how we pack trucks more efficiently, how we load pallets, you know, like the fewer trucks on the road means that we're more efficient. That efficiency optimization ultimately is, is revenue. It's like you're saving the money or you're making your customers more money. So I think the sustainability angle is really interesting because I think more and more they're starting to be a recognition that supply chain is intrinsically linked to, you know, how do we think about our environment, how do we think about the amount of, you know, energy that we consume? If you look at the logistics industry, which consumes a lot.
Speaker 2
[00.19.22]
Yeah. And I think and if you're so Tara, you're, like, making the case. Guess what? I can make the argument of why I'm saving you money and earning you money and helping with sustainability. So that moves you to that. That moves you to the front of the line. Right? You have all things. If you say I, I, I can help with sustainability, but it's going to cost you money and it's not going to make you any more money. They're like, we'll be in touch with you. We're interested. We'll be in touch type thing. But if you're doing all three, know boom. That's how you go to the front of the line. And that's how you make a that's how you make an impact. I mean, those are the companies that make an impact because they have solved all three of those. Like, it sounds like you have so awesome. I kudos to you. And that's that's a that's really good. Um, but what about AI? I mean, you, you have you have a tech background. I know you're from you're from, uh, California. Uh, Silicon Valley is where you grew up. So, you know, AI is everywhere. I've had AI people on the podcast before, but where do you see it? I mean, how much is AI going to be moving the needle in supply chain for both the near term and the and the long term future? Because a lot of companies are investing a lot of money into it, they are having a lot of training. Like I think everyone is starting to realize, understand that this is going to be the main thing for the future, but how do you see it?
Speaker 1
[00.20.40]
I think there's a lot of emerging companies that are seeing supply chain as kind of like a gold rush opportunity for AI, because the industry is so manual, like everything is manual. You know, like we had a deal where we were trying to figure out how many trucks we needed for a large load of sparkling beverages, and we had three people who were helping plan this out. Right. And one person said seven trucks, one person said five, and one person said six. And we were like, why is everybody getting a different estimate? And everybody was kind of, you know, suggesting a different way of packing, right. We had all these different SKUs and everything, and it took forever to just figure out, like, how many trucks do we actually need? Obviously, we want as few trucks as possible. That's fewer pickups. That's fewer freight costs. All of that. So there are million different aspects of supply chain that can be automated. And that's not even our business is automating how you pack. But it's a problem that I think is, you know, AI could help solve that. So I think ultimately I will say that I think that the problem with with using too much AI in supply chain or marketing solutions as AI forward is that the problem in supply chain is not really building the tech, it's getting it distributed to the people who need it. That's what I've seen in the challenge. I went on to Fox a few months ago, and I spoke about this and I said, we have an aging population in America operating warehouses. I see this every single day. I go into warehouses. I talk to our liquidators, our buyers, and I'll ask them because they'll say they'll be like, hey, you know, my daughter is around your age, you know, plus or minus ten years, whatever. I don't want her to run this warehouse. I don't want her to take over my business. You know, she wants to go to New York, and she wants to live like a corporate life. You know this working in a warehouse, working with pallets. It's not sexy, right? And he said, I don't know what to do. Like, I need to retire in a few years. My kids won't take over the business. What's going to happen? And I think we're starting to see this as a problem at scale across the US. And that's why I say that we the tech is great, but the existing operators, being able to get that into the hands of those operators and train them on how to use AI, that is a bigger challenge than actually building the AI.
Speaker 2
[00.22.42]
Yeah, I think that supply chain warehouse distribution has a little bit of a branding challenge, a little bit of the branding problem with the up and coming generation. And that's why it's good to have, you know, podcasts and people out there and young people, because I can tell you that. Maybe 15 years ago, the image of a warehouse was just old warehouse, dusty warehouse, couple of big guys driving forklifts in the back of it. But now if you go into a fulfillment center now, it is some of the most high tech fast ships and some of the sharpest, smartest people are working there in that industry. Then as that image starts to change, I think more and more people will will be turned on to it and gravitate towards it. So I'm happy that you're one of the ones that's out there speaking about it and making it, making it cool. Now let me let me say this in my opinion. I have an opinion on this. Overstock is is not going away. Not now, not ever. There was a time where just in time was the was the buzzword. And then Covid hit and just in time was out. Nobody wanted just in time. But I just I don't think Overstock is going anywhere. I mean, it's there's just too many, too many reasons why. It's how people buy. And you have pressure on sales and they got to have more inventory. And there's many reasons. But how do you see it? I mean, what do you hear from the companies that are on the front lines that are launching initiatives to try to reduce their. I mean, do you think Overstock is going away? Is it going to get higher, or do you think that it's going to be reduced? Like, what do you think about the future of this type of inventory in warehouses across the country?
Speaker 1
[00.24.18]
We get criticism from people in the supply chain industry saying that we're not solving a new problem. And my response is, frankly, we're not like Overstock has existed as a problem since the beginning of retail, since the beginning of e-commerce, right? Like you look at companies like, you know, Nordstrom Rack, like we're seeing, you know, there's a consolidation of some companies in this space right now as well, right, like with Saks Fifth. But if you look at like TJX, like their market cap right now as an example is four times that of target. Like they're doing really well. If you look at the overstock procurement industry, right, people walking in to a HomeGoods or to a TJX just as an example or Marshalls. Right. So this is not a new problem. This industry is growing. It's getting bigger. And for us we see that because it's still a problem that exists. There's still more opportunity to be able to solve it. So I think it's exactly what you said. The problem is not going away. Um, we don't really have customers coming to us and saying, this is a one time thing. Um, if they do say that they typically are wrong, they come back to us next quarter. They're like, hey, we actually have another truckload of product. Or, you know, we have this from a brand refresh or from packaging changes or this skew just didn't sell well. So we need to liquidate it. So it is it's a consistent it's a recurring problem. And I think for us that's exactly what we want in a business model is we want customers to come back to us over and over again, customers who give us good testimonials, they work with us once and they're like, okay, like, this solved my problem in a way that is better. I will go back to Cetera.
Speaker 2
[00.25.45]
Yeah. And I mean, and companies respond to the consumer demand. I mean, they they don't operate in a bubble. So as the consumer demand continues to go up and up and up, the companies are going to go up to match that. That's what the CEOs are saying. That's what the chief operating officer so your your buyers in supply chains are going to respond to that. So that's why I just don't think that despite what people may want right. Everybody may want less inventory. And I don't disagree with that. I think that would be great. I just don't think it's just the reality of how the real world works with people and incentives and consumer demand and everything. So, you know, it's just it's just it's here to stay. So it's going to be a part of it. So let me ask this question. So I mentioned this earlier. You have a tech background for Silicon Silicon Valley. You work in supply chain. And the knock on supply chain is it's not exactly the most cutting edge as it pertains to tech. And in fact, some people may argue that supply chain is a little bit like trailing edge. So how have you begun to reconcile? I mean, have you seen people, let's say, in the Midwest, right. You have an operator in the Midwest. I mean, have you seen them anxious to adopt solutions like what you have? Do they drag their feet? Do they need to be educated on it first? And then once they have familiarity with it, then they jump on board, like what have been sort of the barriers or the headwinds that you face to get people to adopt and how have you how have you countered those?
Speaker 1
[00.27.15]
I think like two years ago, like, let's say the summer before last, like we were all over, like new Jersey going into a lot of our customers warehouses. Right. Like, we just spent a lot of time out there. You know, Edison Warehouse District and example and ChatGPT, you know, product by OpenAI was kind of early in mainstream America at this point. And a lot of our customers had just never heard of ChatGPT. They'd never heard the word agent, the word model. Um, we had some of our customers come into our office, and we were kind of doing some, you know, user interviews and product testing with them on our software. And we realized then that, like, you know, the average American maybe doesn't know what these AI capabilities are, which means that AI in itself has a branding issue with relation to these industries. If you have a landing page that just says all of these technical buzzwords, which I have a technical background, so I can use all the buzzwords I do when I speak at AI conferences. But if your landing page and your, you know, marketing on LinkedIn and marketing at supply chain conferences is super tech buzzwords and your customers don't understand what that means, then? It doesn't have any meaning. So I think for us, we what we see is that AI is merely the backend process that is basically facilitating the offloading of overstock. It is the process that our platform uses. We really position ourselves more as a reverse logistics company, like, our goal is that we want to help you with your reverse logistics. That is language that warehouse operators and fulfillment operators understand. And for some of our customers, they don't even really care what the technical mechanism is behind our software. If it makes them more money, saves them money, or actually solves their problem. Like we said earlier today, as an example, we onboarded a brand that's been trying to clear inventory for the last three months, and they were just like, if you can even get this sold, that's a win for me. They're like, at this point, like, you know, the we're willing to go super low on price. It's just like, can you even do this? So at that point, like I said, the technical mechanism and the buzzwords, they don't matter. It's just like, can we solve the problem? Yes or
Speaker 2
[00.29.18]
no? Yeah, I think operators in this space do not like to be told or sold on features, you know, like features are meaningless to them, like solutions to their problem matter because they're I mean, look what their day to day life is like. They're balancing 15 or 20 different things. They've got pressure. They've got customers calling, they've got employees calling out. They've got, you know, pressure from the executive. They get all these things. And so they're not going to be into the feature that you have or the buzzword that you have. You're right. But the moment that you can be like, no, no, no, this is going to solve this pain point in this problem that's going to make your life infinitely better. Oh man. Now, now, I love AI, right? Like now. Now I love I love all the features that Sitara has and all these things. So I think you're I think you're spot on on that. And really understanding the culture and what makes people tick in this industry. And where are you, where you fit in in that? And once you do that, then you you become very sticky, I think over, over the long term. Right. I think you'd be very sticky. So, um, so what do we need to do about the appeal of supply chain or lack thereof, for for youth? I mean, you're you're young, I have kids that are that are coming up to you and people in the neighborhood, and they know I work in this and they know I have a podcast and they think it's cool, but they're like, oh, there's not a whole lot of other cool stuff out there. So I mean, what do you think about that? I mean, do you think that. Yeah, it's just education. You think it's branding? I mean, you think it's the nature of the industry or other things, like where where do you come come down on it? So like after I spoke on Fox about this, where I was like, you know, America needs to have a wake up call. Like, we're not going to have enough truck drivers. We're not going to have enough people working in warehouses. And, you know, the orders that we want, like we want our orders next day. Right? Like we've got TikTok shop. We've got all these new channels where we just need more labor and more people in the industry. I had dozens of warehouse operators who I would say were in the baby boomer age category, who were calling me up from all over America like Michigan, you know, middle America, coastal cities, like people were calling me up and they're like, I need to talk to you about this because I don't know what to do. I don't know how to get my kid engaged. I don't know what to do with my business. And honestly, I'm still trying to figure out the answer to this. I think the research that I, I've shared is that, um, if you look at the aspect of college in America right now, like even public state school, college, and I went to a public state school college, um, it's expensive, right? A lot of Americans are not seeing ROI from going to a traditional four year university, and we are actually seeing an increase the last few months in America. A young Americans like Gen Z, Americans entering the trades as a result, because the trades can come across as stable, like even in times of war or against, especially in times of war. We need supply chain, right? Like physically, we always need to move things from point A to point B. I work with so many, you know, supply chain operators who have ex-military or ex-Navy background, and they are some of the hardest working people that you will meet. So I think there's more and more an awareness that, like, supply chain is an industry. You don't need to have a traditional background, like you can honestly have any kind of background. I've met people who come from like CIA, who come from Special Forces. That's actually one thing I love about this industry is that everybody has their own unique backstory. Like, I work with some people who they grew up selling sneakers in their neighborhood, you know, like it's just like everyone is interested in, like, commerce, interested in, like the logistics of, like I said, moving things from point A to point B. So I think that there is a lot of education that I don't know who needs to do this. Maybe it's the government, maybe it's our school systems. Our high schools could kind of give around. What are the career opportunities for young people and logistics and supply chain and in adjacent industries that America? I mean, this is literally the background of America. Like this is
Speaker 1
[00.33.04]
what our country relies on. Again, especially if you look at companies like Amazon and the reliance that we have on them,
Speaker 2
[00.33.10]
I know. Yeah, I mean, it's physical products and they don't move themselves. And I mean, digital products are great, but they don't you can't consume them, right? You can't wear them. You can't I mean so physical products are not going away. And I'll tell you, like, you go into a corporate boardroom I've been into corporate boardrooms and. I want to be careful how I say this. Just everybody sort of looks the same to me, right? They feel the same. They look same. You go into a fulfillment center. Oh, wow. You see people from all over the spectrum from, you know, you you name it. It's very diverse, very eclectic. But, I mean, they're all very talented, right? Usually very talented. So that's I think one of the appeals, if you want to work in an environment like that where it's like come as you are, everybody comes here, it's the town, it's the place to be. Uh, so, um, I like that. No disrespect to corporate boardrooms, right? So, like I said, I don't we all sit at home, but it's just the way that is. All right, so let me let me ask this. You you you start sitting up and coming. Company. New start. What's the grind been like for you? Every entrepreneur has stories of headwinds that they face are setbacks. But what's the grind been like for you and what I mean, what what drives you? I mean, what keeps you motivated? What keeps you pushing you to, uh, to grow this and and make it bigger every day.
Speaker 1
[00.34.29]
I think part of what motivates me is the social impact behind what we're doing. Like, you'd be surprised I talked. I talked to a very large company and they'll say, we have a ton of overstock. And you think the last thing they care about is sustainability or circularity. And all of a sudden I say something along those lines, I'm like, we have a network that can help you keep these products and use like a circularity network. And they they point to me and they're like, they're like, that's it. They're like, that's exactly what I need to convince corporate or what I need to convince upper management or whoever the buyer is on our team. So I think that, interestingly, a lot of the people I work with, everyone just wants to do the right thing. Like that's what it comes down to. It's like nobody wants to see waste. Everyone gets that twinge, even if it's not your product. You work for $1 billion conglomerate, fulfillment company or shipping company. Nobody wants to see a product being wasted in product go in the landfill. And so with a lot of the customers that we work with, being able to actually quantify like this is the, you know, pounds of carbon that we have reduced, this is the equivalent in terms of the number of cars that we've taken off the road from a climate impact, even if you are not necessarily a, you know, focused on climate or you wouldn't consider yourself to be a sustainability company, these metrics have a lot of meaning behind them. If you look at grander scheme of like I said, this is a physical problem. Like if you have overstock textiles like clothing and you burn those textiles, there are, you know, we've got methane, we've got a bunch of environmental problems that result as a result of burning that product. So ultimately, it's just like working with people who are interested in solving this problem and seeing, you know, how can we effectively make our communities healthier and safer?
Speaker 2
[00.36.14]
Yeah, I love that. And sometimes it's out of sight, out of mind for people. They don't. They don't see it. They don't see it every day. So they don't think it's a problem, but it's there. I mean, landfills are there. It's happening. Like you can go you can go see it. And and I think everybody inherently does not does not like that, does not want that. They're looking for solutions to this problem. And you're right. They're providing solutions for that. Right in the thick of it. So good. Good on. Yeah. So well where can people find out more about you. I mean I follow you on LinkedIn. You're all over I mean, you've done lots of interviews. You've been on television shows and news shows and other podcasts. So where can people find you and what do you what do you got? Uh, what are you working on for 2026 and beyond? What's what's coming down the pike?
Speaker 1
[00.36.56]
Yeah, for sure. I would say LinkedIn is the best way to get in touch with me. There's an amazing supply chain community on there. Everyone is super active, especially around like conference season and like what shows we're going to and where we're all going to be able to meet each other. So feel free to message me on LinkedIn. Um, you can also email me. Obviously you can visit our website. Oh. Um, in terms of this year, a lot of the supply chain conferences I'll be at or I'll be speaking at, I'm speaking at some, you know, regular tech or business conferences like Web Summit South by Southwest. And I love those conferences as well, because oftentimes I'm educating people on the industry. I'm educating people on, you know, what does supply chain look like? What are the challenges? This may be the first time that a layperson is actually learning about the complexity of how you handle Overstock. And, you know, we get customers who are like, why do companies have overstock? Um, why does Overstock even exist? So people oftentimes those laypeople, it's really rewarding to be able to educate them and, you know, show the impact of a problem that, like you mentioned, maybe invisible or out of sight, out of mind to them. But yeah, I love to talk with people about any of these topics around reverse logistics. Overstock. If you are a warehouse operator who has Overstock and you're interested in donation or liquidation, definitely feel free to reach out.
Speaker 2
[00.38.13]
Yeah. Well, I hope that they do. I really hope that they do. I mean, it's going to benefit them financially. It's going to benefit them in their facility. It's going to benefit the country, the environment. Like winds all around. Right. Like winds all around. And when people are able to get to that point now. Now we're cooking with Crisco, right. Like, now we're really there. So I. I respect you like I respect what you're doing. I really respect you and and think that you're doing something great. And I wish you like nothing but success. Um, great to see folks like you who are doing things like that and putting themselves out there and growing and making a difference, just like, that's awesome. Like, seriously, kudos to you. I'll have a lot of respect for you for this. Thank you.
Speaker 1
[00.38.56]
Thank you I appreciate it. Like, obviously somebody like you having a platform and spotlighting this problem of overstock, it's doing a lot of good for the industry in general.
Speaker 2
[00.39.06]
Yeah. Awesome. Well, Amrutha, thank you again for appearing on the podcast. It was awesome chatting with you. I feel like I could talk with you for hours, but we've only got to keep it short for the for the podcast. So thanks again. I wish you nothing but the best and I hope to. I hope to see you around on the LinkedIn streets where I hang out, right where I hang out these days.
Speaker 1
[00.39.28]
Yeah. Thank you. Um, that sounds great. I definitely look forward to keeping in touch on everything.
Speaker 2
[00.39.34]
Yeah. You got it. All right. Bye bye. Take care. Bye. All right, guys, that concludes today's episode. Please reach out to Amrita online. Watch some of the interviews that she's done on TV. Super sharp. Solving a fantastic, not a fantastic, a fantastic solution to a major problem that plagues supply chain and will continue to plague supply chain. So reach out to her today. Awesome work. I really enjoyed featuring her on the show. As the Warehouse Underground goes. Please sign up for the community if you haven't done so. I've almost 300 people that are members now that have signed up for the community, so check that out. We got message board in there. We do live events, live shows, networking, all kinds of cool stuff going on inside the community. Check out the Tiger Team Show, which is the other show that I do with my co-host Jordan. It's all about life in warehouses, DCS and FX, but with a wit, humor, and sarcastic slant to it. So I think if you guys will like that, if you work in that industry. So as this podcast goes, I will see you next week for episode number 38. Thank you. God bless.
