I wouldn't even worry about it, people can be idio
Post# of 40989
I've started several businesses, and I've done many product rollouts into "new" distribution. Everything Steve is doing is consistent with that process. High probability that he's getting a pallet or two at a time shipped from the factory to his home or to a nearby workspace, where the pallets are broken out and individual cartons of product are then shipped to each dealer location. For a product as simple as this, he could be using a nearby shop to do final assembly or a source in Asia, Mexico or Kuala Lumpur to turnkey the packaged product, for now.
"Heading to FedEx to ship out more units to AutoNation Stores and meeting with big fleet company today. Jenkins meeting in Detroit went amazing. He is heading back for a 2nd and final meeting after Labor Day as they are in testing now. "
Steve didn't say he got out the soldering iron and assembled printed circuit boards, got out the torx driver and buttoned up the units, sealed them in the clamshell and then packed them in cartons after he printed the Fedex waybills and... was off to Fedex.
If it were me... I'd probably have one or two people handling the logistics and legwork that I've charged with organizing inventory procurement & accounting (purchasing, vendor management, billing/invoicing, accounts payable, accounts receivable); receiving, inspection and quality control; and order processing, packing & shipping. For now, this can all be done in a garage, or it can be done in a warehouse setting. There are actually many pros and cons to weigh, but if it were me, and I was willing to make the sacrifices involved with using my own home/address in this early phase, that could be much better financially and in various other ways for the business. Many people don't understand at all - just like the jump from pink/alternative reporting to QB/audited SEC reporting, which can EASILY add $200K+ in overhead cost (plus a hell of a lot of time from the company officers) to any public reporting company... taking on employees and a workplace adds a substantial amount of overhead cost AND valuable/limited time from key personnel.
And it were my business or my ultimate responsibility to execute and deliver on the development of a sales/distribution system for my company's flagship product, yes, I'd be overseeing closely and participating in almost every aspect for order fulfillment of something as important as the orders shipped to the first 100 or more of the AutoNation and CarMax locations.
And if it were MY entrepreneurial venture, and I WAS assisting by dropping the cartons off at Fedex... you can BET I'd be proud and showing my intimate involvement in seeing these early shipments off to AutoNation & CarMax.
But that doesn't mean that's exactly how it went. To write "Heading to Fedex to ship out more units to AutoNation Stores" and "...metting with big fleet company today," followed by "Jenkins meeting in Detroit went amazing... heading back for a 2nd and final meeting after Labor Day as they are in testing now" - THAT is a brief update on company activity.
Tweets are short, but can be very effective. Especially for a busy entrepreneur. He did not write that "Buster Poindexter, my right hand and logistics specialist and order fulfullment & quality control manager is shipping more units to AutoNation Stores today..." or "I am meeting with a big fleet company today after I drop off these cartons to Fedex and stop for a donut and coffee (and pick up my dry cleaning for the week)."
To say "Heading to Fedex" tells me that the units are not only "on-hand" and ready to go, but that they are PACKED and ON THEIR WAY to Fedex. And it doesn't mean it was Steve. Someone else could have the units in a van "heading to Fedex" just like someone else could actually be meeting with the big fleet company.
I'm wondering about spending this much time on this talking point that some little twerp in his Mom's basement thought up to spew out on the message board. What the hell am I doing even giving it 30 minutes of my time this morning?!? SMH