Jay Velasco's Profile
Jay Velasco
Recent Messages
#finance - April 24, 2025 at 06:24 PM
Hey folks, haven't been in here in a while so apologies if this has been asked elsewhere already--
Does anyone have any recommendations for Audit partners, ideally at the Big 4, who are well-versed and friendly towards emerging CPG/DTC companies?
A friend of mine is a fractional CFO for a 9-figure wellness shot company and is looking to meet potential audit partners
#logistics-operations - November 15, 2023 at 05:17 PM
not yet, still looking for references
#logistics-operations - November 13, 2023 at 04:42 PM
Does anyone have experience with the 3PL Smart Warehousing for B2B and DTC? friend of mine is considering them
#logistics-operations - November 06, 2023 at 08:10 PM
Yes, I'm good on this front now . No need for additional leads for now. Thanks, folks!
#logistics-operations - November 02, 2023 at 04:34 PM
Hey folks, any one here have experience shipping to the large specialty pet retailers and distributors? I'm advising a pet toy startup that's looking to setup a warehousing and fulfillment partner, so would appreciate references to potential 3PL partners already versed in the pet channels to avoid the learning curve that comes with learning vendor-specific compliance.
#top-posts - June 04, 2023 at 02:42 PM
We felt we were 'outgrowing' on a few dimensions - fulfillment scalability (around 13k orders/week during our peak season), inventory controls (~$7m avg on hand), and postage spend ($6m/yr).
With hindsight though, we did have some regrets leaving and realized we had some 'grass is always greener' fallacies. iDrive has also grown and evolved since then, as this was a few years ago now.
#general-chat - May 31, 2023 at 12:54 PM
Hey Kishan, my company Sunday has used QBO + Dear since we launched nearly 5 years ago. We explored a few others and initially tried Unleashed but Dear worked the best in terms of simplicity and functionality. It’s certainly more IMS than ERP but it the provides basics.
#top-posts - May 30, 2023 at 01:37 PM
Sounds like it’s time to get it off your plate, @David
One way to help quantify - labor at a smaller 3PL I was with was all in ~$30/hour (as they hired a lot of temp labor). Depending on your volume, you may be able to hire your own temp at your own facility to do. The other cost offsets - space (if you need it for inventory), and postage (their rates are likely better than what you have). Happy to connect you with some folks chat through.
#top-posts - May 30, 2023 at 01:30 PM
Hey @David, you’re right to have some trepidation. My company started with the wrong type 3PL at launch and paid dearly for it (they were focused on large brands, couldn’t focus on an upstart, even after doing implementation).
Anyhow, we eventually found a smaller, more specialized 3PL that had good technology and was able to give us the attention we needed. We were very happy with them for a few years until we outgrew them. They also happen to have a niche in high-end clothing. Happy to introduce you to their owners -
#general-chat - May 29, 2023 at 11:24 PM
sure thing, @Mike Morg - just sent email intros!
#general-chat - May 28, 2023 at 10:39 PM
Hey Omer, congrats on the momentum.
Here are a couple of inventory financing options I know of but have never used myself:
- I know their through an investor at my company. Happy to make an intro.
- Their site doesn't advertise it, but one of their reached out to me about capital partnerships. Happy to intro you to him too.
#research-drops - May 12, 2023 at 02:51 PM
Does anyone have Lazard's ?
Their 2021 is available for (with plenty of good benchmarks) and attached, but the latest one requires a request to them.