We started Nomad as a Kickstarter campaign and raised $160,000 in our first 40 days. With this momentum, we created another campaign on Indiegogo – so we really are from the crowd sourcing world. From starting with what we thought was an awesome product to having that thought validated with over $300,000 in funding from our two campaigns, we had to scale rapidly and we needed technology to help us do that efficiently. We broke things along the way, only to fix them and make them better than they were originally.
After trying a bunch of solutions and tools, we’re really happy where we’ve ended up. Now we have 14 different products, we’re in Best Buy, and you can find our brand in countries around the world. We’re also launching 14 new products this year. We are a team of seven people, and we absolutely could not stay this lean without software. If you’re scaling your retail business and evaluating tools, my recommendation is “business in a box.” Use these five things, stop thinking about it, and trust me.
1. Stitch: Stitch really is the core of our operations as everything flows in and out of this central hub. Prior to Stitch, we’d have to log in everywhere: our Shopify store, Amazon, etc.Stitch eliminated the Google Docs through which we tracked inventory, documents that predicted new orders, and the mess of documents in which we tried to track accounts receivable. It truly is our central dashboard, operations framework, and core sales tool.
2. Shopify: This was our major platform from the start and is basically how we found everything else. They have great order management, a robust and responsive checkout, and a powerful app marketplace. As we grew, we added apps as needed and beautifully scaled our eCommerce capabilities.
3. ShipStation: ShipStation is a must have. Shipping is complex, and Shipstation is built to handle it – which it does it beautifully. Even if you have a 3PL, I would recommend passing orders through ShipStation as it is a great way to flexibly control order routing.
4. DCL Logistics: Logistics and warehousing is a major part of our operation. When we did it in-house, it consumed a large amount of our time and energy, which took away from us focusing on products and marketing. Now that DCL handles these components of our business, we have the time and energy to do what really matters for Nomad.
5. indinero: Not only do they have a platform and app that works for financials and accounting, but they employ CPAs to do your taxes. The team is extremely receptive to feedback and simply a great partner. Similar to working with DCL, making the switch from doing accounting in-house to working with indinero has given us more time to focus on product and marketing.
So where would we be without this technology stack? We literally wouldn’t exist. Each piece of software probably does the job of 3-4 people. We’re basically doing the job of 50 with a team of seven.
In addition to the five platforms I mentioned, we also love Keyshot, Klaviyo, and IP Shark. The way these products work together has been a huge time save and we trust these companies to support us as we grow.
Want to learn more about Nomad? Check out their products here and learn more about how they chose their technology partners by listening to this webinar.
This article was originally posted on the Stitch Labs blog.
