Factory sourcing and quality control may not sound glamorous—but if you’ve ever tried to scale a physical product brand, you know the pain. The brutal communication barrier across continents and operational chaos is real.
That’s where Aaron Heap comes in. After spending 15 years deep in outsourced manufacturing for his own consumer product companies, Aaron built Airbatch, a platform that automates the most complex time consuming parts of sourcing and quality control—without the need for expensive software or a bloated team.
In this Behind The Tool spotlight, Aaron shares what sparked the idea, why factory relationships are everything, and why the future of supply chain software is free.
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Airbatch automates the work of sourcing factories and doing quality control during production.
It’s been a problem I’ve been slowly solving since the founding of my first product company. The work and flights back and forth from Asia to source new factories or manage production is brutal. I wanted the pain to go away, so I started building a solution.
Underestimating the impact the factory you choose will have on your success. The top 1% of factories produce higher quality at a lower cost. On Airbatch, brands can now access this private network of top 1% of factories.
As a founder of multiple product companies, I’ve had the job of sourcing manager and quality engineer - The late night video calls, endless WeChat’s, messy xls docs and PDFs, 18 hour flights and living in a hotel by the factory.
When software completes your work and hands you back time each day, it feels like pure magic. Even for me as the founder, watching Airbatch automate factory sourcing and quality control still feels like magic.
Our technical team has embedded AI into every aspect of the platform. Our premise for the technology was “Let’s not build a platform for customers to do work, but a platform that does the work for them.”
Tariffs and AI technology. Brands now work with factories in multiple countries to maintain margin. AI is enabling tiny teams to manage sourcing and quality control with enterprise level expertise.
The best software has evolved into a revenue source for brands, not an expense. The days of charging for a platform to do and store work are gone forever. The future of all supply chain software is free.
The top 1% of factories will become amazing partners. Like a top 1% VC, once you are a part of their portfolio, they will make sure you win.
Life is happening for you, not to you.
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