EP 122 – The first mile is everything

Robert and Lee are the founders of Mercado, a platform that aims to bring together every section of the supply chain from sourcing, to legal, to sales and much more. Supply chain still needs to be properly disrupted, and Mercado believes a marketplace is the key forward.

Why is supply chain not disrupted yet? Rob explains that the complexity of supply chain is daunting and the combination of various processes makes it difficult to innovate as a whole. Many companies that claim to resolve an issue using tech only solve one specific piece of the puzzle. With Mercado, Rob and Lee want to fix the problem by transferring the entire “puzzle” online.

Rob believes that the best place to fix an issue is at the beginning: the purchase order. The first mile is what needs digitizing first – and it’s often the most inefficient part of the process. Imagine if every time you ordered a burger at McDonald’s the workers had to go back and forth between you and the kitchen to get your order right? This is what is currently happening in the supply chain world. In 5 to 10 years, Rob hopes we’ll look back on this period like we currently look back on taxis (thanks Uber).