Operate Until $25M

Moiz Ali shares his perspective on the importance of hands-on operational involvement in business, particularly during the early stages of growth. He emphasizes the value of direct customer engagement and understanding the business at a granular level, even as the company scales.

Key Points:

• Direct Customer Engagement:

  • Personally emailed every customer at Native
  • Handled customer service until reaching $550K in revenue before hiring first CS rep
  • Remained one of the top customer service agents even at $50M revenue
  • Believes divorcing from customer feedback under $25M revenue is "bananas"

• Operational Understanding:

  • Packed boxes himself until $80K monthly revenue
  • Learned exact box weights and packaging requirements
  • Understood manufacturing process intimately
  • Visited contract manufacturers regularly to address issues

• Benefits of Hands-on Approach:

  • Immediate awareness of operational issues
  • Better product development through direct customer feedback
  • Quick problem identification and resolution
  • Deep understanding of business mechanics

• Manufacturing Knowledge:

  • Understood the hand-pouring process for deodorants
  • Knew production capacity (20,000 units/day)
  • Aware that best workers could pour 1,000 units/day
  • New workers started at 75 units/day

• Customer Feedback Implementation:

  • Used customer emails to improve product
  • Strategically timed feedback requests after return window
  • Waited 40 days post-purchase to ask for reviews
  • Used feedback to understand product perception and efficacy

• Scaling Perspective:

  • Believes hands-on involvement necessary until significant scale
  • Maintains that customer feedback crucial for business development
  • Advocates for deep operational understanding even as company grows
  • Values direct experience over delegated understanding