Supply Chain Moves (Official Move Supply Chain Podcast)

What does it really take to expand an ecommerce brand internationally? In this episode, SpeedFulfill features Omar Cali, Growth Partner at Move Supply Chain , for a conversation on building a cross-border supply chain that supports long-term global growth. Together, they break down the operational, logistical, and strategic decisions brands need to make before entering new markets. Whether you're...

Your sample looked perfect. The stitching was flawless. The materials felt premium. The packaging was exactly what you envisioned. So you approved the vendor, wired the deposit, and moved forward with confidence. Then batch three arrived. And suddenly the product looked like it came from a completely different factory. In this episode, Andrew breaks down one of the most expensive mistakes founders...

Everyone tells you to study successful brands. The problem? Most of the advice you're hearing was built for businesses 10, 50, or 100 times your size. In this Season 1 finale of Supply Chain Moves , we unpack one of the most expensive mistakes founders make: copying the operational playbooks of much larger brands.  From hiring too early and implementing complex software to diversifying suppliers b...

Treating suppliers as transactional vendors instead of long-term partners puts you at the back of their priority list — exactly when you can't afford to be there. Most early-stage founders manage supplier relationships purely transactionally — PO in, product out. In this episode, Lara makes the case that supplier partnership is one of the highest-leverage and lowest-cost investments an early brand...

You can have record revenue, healthy margins, and a business that looks like it's winning on paper... and still find yourself struggling to make payroll. In this episode of Supply Chain Moves, Omar breaks down one of the most overlooked metrics in DTC and product-based businesses: the cash conversion cycle. Learn why growth can actually create cash flow problems, how inventory ties up capital for...

One of the most common mistakes early-stage founders make is hiring a full-time supply chain manager too early. At first, it feels like the right move. Operations are messy, inventory feels unpredictable, and the supply chain starts becoming a black box the founder wants to escape from. So they hire someone senior to “take it over.” But in many cases, that hire creates more problems than it solves...

Sales are picking up. The product is getting traction. And suddenly, it feels like you are ready to scale. This is exactly where many DTC founders go wrong. In this episode, we break down Mistake #8: building your supply chain for a version of the business that does not exist yet. What feels like smart preparation often turns into expensive overcommitment. More inventory, more SKUs, bigger orders,...

Fast growth feels like success. Sales are up, ads are working, and demand looks strong. So the instinct is simple: keep buying inventory, keep scaling, don’t lose momentum. In this episode, Nate Littlewood , Founder of Future Ready CFO , breaks down why that instinct can quietly break DTC brands. On the surface, everything looks healthy. But underneath, cash is getting trapped in inventory, timing...

Stockouts are painful. So the instinct is simple: order more, just to be safe. In this episode, Omar breaks down why that instinct quietly creates a bigger problem. Over-ordering feels like protection, but it often comes from fear, not strategy. And while stockouts are loud and obvious, excess inventory builds slower, hides deeper issues, and ties up the one thing growing brands need most: cash. H...

You found a lower landed cost. Better tariff exposure. Cleaner DDP quote. Cheaper freight. So why does everything feel harder? In this episode, Omar, Growth Partner at Move Supply Chain, breaks down one of the most common traps growing brands fall into: optimizing for the cheapest number on paper while ignoring the costs that actually show up later. Because landed cost tells you what it takes to g...

Most founders think negotiating a lower MOQ is a win. It’s not. In this episode, we break down why obsessing over Minimum Order Quantity can actually cost you more in the long run and how it quietly kills your leverage with suppliers. You’ll learn: • What MOQ really is and why manufacturers enforce it • The hidden cost of “winning” a lower MOQ • The 4 terms you should be negotiating instead (and w...

Forecasting sounds like a sign of operational maturity. But for many brands, forecasting isn’t actually based on data. It’s based on gut feel, optimism, and internal narratives . And when that happens, forecasting stops being planning and starts becoming a story that traps your cash. In this episode, we break down the hidden danger of “forecasting without data” and why it creates a predictable cyc...

Most DTC founders are told: “Get a 3PL so you can scale.” For brands doing $100K to $200K, that advice can quietly destroy margins, flexibility, and momentum. In this episode of Supply Chain Moves , Lara breaks down Mistake #1 of 12 supply chain mistakes: signing a 3PL contract before you’re ready. You’ll learn: The 4 traps of early 3PL adoption (minimums, lock-in, lost learning, and the wrong kin...

Two point one million in revenue. Twenty-three SKUs. One exhausted founder. Two point five percent net margin. Six months later: One point nine six million in revenue. Fourteen SKUs. Seventy-two percent more profit. Twenty fewer hours of work per week. This episode is the full case study. I’m walking you through exactly how Rachel, a $2M pet accessories founder, cut 40% of her catalog and rebuilt...

Last week, a founder showed me her numbers for the first time. Forty-three SKUs. Eleven were clearly profitable. Eight were clearly losing money. And twenty-four were stuck in the gray zone. Her question was simple:What do I actually do with this? Because knowing your numbers is only half the battle. The real challenge is deciding what to kill, what to fix, and what to scale. And most founders fre...

She thought she had a 72 percent gross margin best seller. Two years later, it was barely breaking even. In this episode, Lara walks through the exact invoice and data set that stopped a fast-growing DTC founder in her tracks. What looked wildly profitable on paper collapsed to an 8 percent contribution margin once every hidden cost was accounted for. You’ll hear a full, line by line teardown of r...

Most founders know their gross margin by heart. Sixty-five percent. Seventy percent. A number that sounds healthy and investor-ready. In this episode of Supply Chain Moves , Lara explains why that number is often lying to you. Gross margin only tells you what it costs to make a product. It says nothing about what it actually costs to sell it, ship it, return it, and acquire a customer for it. And...

“They seem fine” is not a supplier strategy. In the final episode of Supplier Power Month, Lara introduces the Supplier Scorecard , the system that turns vendor management from gut feel into data-backed decisions. If you’ve ever struggled to explain why inventory feels chaotic, margins are slipping, or suppliers keep disappointing you without anything “major” going wrong, this episode is for you....

Most DTC founders think supplier agreements are overkill. Until they’re staring at a warehouse full of unusable inventory and a supplier saying, “This is what you approved.” In this episode of Supply Chain Moves , Lara breaks down a real story of a $50,000 mistake that almost killed a growing skincare brand and exactly how it could have been prevented with one simple document. You’ll learn why tru...

Most DTC founders think supplier negotiation starts and ends with price. It doesn’t. In this episode, Lara breaks down the seven things you can actually negotiate with suppliers , why price is often the weakest lever, and how to frame your asks so suppliers want to say yes instead of quietly deprioritizing you. This is a tactical, no-fluff playbook you can use on your very next PO. What you’ll lea...

Episode Summary Most DTC founders assume that being the customer automatically gives them leverage with suppliers. In this episode of Supply Chain Moves , Omar breaks down why that belief quietly costs brands money, time, and sanity. Suppliers rank their customers, even if they never tell you. That invisible ranking determines who gets prioritized when capacity is tight, delays hit, or problems ar...

Episode Summary In this episode, Omar, Growth Partner at Move and sourcing specialist, breaks down what 2025 actually did to sourcing and inventory for DTC brands and why the cost of being wrong quietly skyrocketed. If 2025 exposed anything, it was how fragile most sourcing setups really were. Tariffs, trade friction, timing issues, and shrinking reaction windows forced founders to confront a hard...

In this special episode, Lara and Claude sit down with Charlie, Luke, and Daniel of Dip UK. It’s their first time in Manila, so we took the chance to dive into their story, their experience working with Filipino talent, and how they have scaled a modern UK brand through strong customer experience and dependable operations. They covered everything from their first impressions of the Philippines to...

In this episode, Lara and Omar sit down with the team from  Speedfulfill , Move Supply Chain’s newest partner, to dive into the inner workings of a 3PL built for fast-growing DTC brands.  From organized warehouse operations to cutting-edge ERP systems, Speedfulfill shares how they help brands scale without bottlenecks and why quality, speed, and customer experience are never mutually exclusive. Wh...

In this episode, Lara sits down with Claude (Move’s Operations Director) and Gee (Supply Chain Manager) to unpack their recent visit to a Vietnam sourcing fair. They share what they learned about manufacturers, materials, and sourcing strategies that founders can apply today. You’ll learn How to spot reliable manufacturers and avoid common sourcing pitfalls What product categories are thriving in...