Andy: Good morning everybody, and welcome to another Nacho Tuesday! Today I have Justin here with DigitBridge. Without further ado, we would love if you could introduce yourself and your company.

Justin: Hey, good morning and good afternoon, Andy. Thanks for having me. I'm Justin, the Chief of Staff here at DigitBridge. I oversee all of our operations, growth, and things of that sort.

Here at DigitBridge, we're a unified commerce operating system designed specifically to help small businesses. We can help any consumer goods company—we are really good with apparel companies—succeed in today's world of modern commerce.

We were founded by our CEO, Peterson Zhu. His background includes an extremely successful career in wholesale apparel. He later grew that business into a D2C (direct-to-consumer) and dropshipping business at the advent and power of e-commerce and the internet. He sold his products on dozens of marketplaces and department stores, and really realized the importance of small businesses having access to great technology. Software like ours can typically cost $100,000, $150,000, or $200,000 on the open market with some of the other players. We are a fraction of that cost, designed specifically to help small businesses get access to great technology.

Andy: Very cool. Tell us more about your background and how you landed at DigitBridge.

Justin: I've been at DigitBridge for a few years now. I actually came from a career in higher education—that's a past life. I had aspirations of being a university president, and that was going well. I moved to LA in 2010. Our company is based just outside of LA, and obviously, there was a huge tech scene booming here in the 2010s and beyond. I wanted to get involved in that tech ecosystem, so I got into tech about 12 years ago and haven't looked back.

I love joining software companies and helping them grow. I've been with DigitBridge for three years now, and it's going great. I love companies that focus on a mission of helping small businesses. That was important to me, and I'm proud to say that we're doing that.

Andy: Yeah, it sounds like you landed in the right place.

Justin: Yeah, it has worked out great. I always say I plan on this being my last job! We have big things we want to do here at DigitBridge. We're currently helping small businesses with their operations, sales, and unified commerce, but there are many other exciting things we're doing too. There are big things ahead.

Andy: That's a big bridge in your career too, going from education to technology. I'm sure you learned some great stuff in the education industry that you can apply here. It's weird like that sometimes; people don't think skills transfer over, but they definitely do.

Justin: That's exactly right. I've worked at big universities, small colleges, and everything in between. Obviously, a lot of this is built on relationships and working with people. Working at a university, you're working with staff, professors, and students. You learn a lot of those interpersonal skills, which are important in any walk of life, no matter what job you're doing. It is especially true in tech, and especially when you're building something. When you are working closely with your colleagues, engineers, sales team, and customer service team, relationships are everything. We always try to bring that into our world at DigitBridge as well.

Andy: Tell us more about the problem that your company solves for businesses. What are the biggest signs that a company has outgrown its current commerce stack architecture, and when do you know it's a good time to come in and help them out?

Justin: Definitely. We help small businesses with all aspects of their operations. We pride ourselves on helping with unified commerce and modern commerce. Obviously, business has changed a lot, and it's continuing to change every single day. There are so many different sales channels that people are selling on and different ways to do business.

One thing we really believe in here at DigitBridge is a multi-channel strategy. I mentioned before that our CEO, Peterson, comes from the world of wholesale. Long gone are the days where you can operate on a single channel and really grow and succeed with your business. We believe in a multi-channel strategy. We can support wholesale B2B, direct-to-consumer (D2C), dropshipping, print-on-demand, and everything in between. We think that's important for selling on department stores, marketplaces, etc. There are so many different ways for companies to grow and do business these days.

We help people with the infrastructure needed to operate from a single operating system to handle operations, sales, and fulfillment. One thing that's critical for us is the content side. Obviously, in today's e-commerce world, digital content—the way we sell, brand ourselves, and position ourselves on different sales channels—is incredibly important.

We often come in when people are growing and doing well. As companies grow, they start to outgrow their tech stack, which isn't surprising. It's not uncommon for early-stage companies to do things manually and use minimal technology, but once you start growing and finding success, that's when you start seeing operational friction. We help on the operations side to get people out of "spreadsheet prison"—no more manual workarounds where people are making errors in fulfillment, etc. Then we help on the sales side as well. Obviously, every business wants more sales, so we help them get onto different sales channels, which can be hard as you start to outgrow your commerce stack architecture.

Andy: When companies talk about unified commerce, what does that actually mean beyond simply integrating tools into one thing?

Justin: Here we talk about unification. It's a great question because people often confuse integration with unification. Integrations just pass information back and forth—we do that too. The reason we're called DigitBridge is that the "bridge" is an important part of our name; we're that communication bridge between all these different channels and integrations. We certainly rely on passing information back and forth, but the truly unified part of it comes from operating from a centralized foundation.

A big buzzword in tech is "single source of truth." That's something people talk about a lot, and it's actually very relevant in our case. We are a single source of truth for our product catalog, operations, and sales channel integrations. At DigitBridge, all of that information is native to our platform, so it really is a unified, seamless experience.

Andy: What are the hidden operational and revenue costs that come with a fragmented commerce system that companies are probably overlooking today?

Justin: The hidden costs... I mean, there are some obvious ones, like overselling, fulfillment delays, and inventory inaccuracy. We deal with that a lot; people really come to us for accurate inventory information.

Regarding the hidden costs, because we help people on the operations side, we see a lot of wasted time. Wasted time really hurts businesses. When you're talking about lean teams and small businesses with minimal resources and head count, spinning your wheels and wasting time is not ideal for operations and growth. It leads to slower decision-making, taking a lot longer to understand what's happening inside the business. The ability to see the big picture, have all the information you need, and get that data from a single source of truth is important.

Of course, customer service can be impacted as well. Fragmented systems carry a lot of hidden costs, especially when you think about not having access to real-time information to make decisions.

Andy: Where do these commerce silos naturally emerge over time, even if an organization is really on top of things from a technology standpoint?

Justin: Silos happen all the time. One thing we believe in is being strategic and really mapping out your commerce architecture. That can be hard for a business. It's hard to look 5 or 10 years in advance. People make decisions in real time. They adopt a lot of single-point solutions, which solve the immediate problem but aren't as strategic as they need to be. If somebody needs accounting, they'll get QuickBooks. If somebody needs a warehouse management system, maybe they get an EDI software, a shipping solution, things like that.

If they could plan out their architecture, they would want something where the systems speak with each other. These single-point solutions often don't speak to each other and can't communicate. They solve the immediate problem, but they don't solve the larger operational and sales issues in terms of how an organization runs and manages its business. These tech silos happen over time, all the time. Companies just need to make good decisions and adopt open technology.

Andy: Companies don't really want to do a whole replatforming process. What are the most effective first steps toward a unified commerce architecture?

Justin: Well, affordability is a big part of our value proposition. We want to ensure affordability is not an inhibitor to accessing good technology, so we don't want a replatform to be a financial barrier. However, we understand the challenges with it.

To answer your question, a cloud-based system is, of course, the first step. Cloud-based systems don't guarantee unification, but they help. A lot of people in our industry are still dealing with server-based systems. It's a very legacy industry. Technologies these days are more cloud-based, but we are dealing with an industry that has been around for decades, whether it's apparel, consumer goods, or anything of the sort.

To be truly unified, everything needs to be connected in that single source of truth. The most effective way is to look at the operational side first: inventory management, sales orders, purchase orders, etc. But a business is more than just that; it involves sales channel integrations and the entire content side of the business as well. The content side of the business is something we pride ourselves on—having AI tools to build good digital content and push that to different sales channels. We help with all sides of the business.

Andy: How can you modernize your commerce infrastructure without disrupting the customer experience or daily operations? Is there a step-by-step approach to that, or is it pretty seamless when they work with you guys?

Justin: We like to think it's seamless when they work with us, for sure. The smaller the business, the easier it is to implement the system. With larger operations, it can be a little bit more disruptive, but people generally don't start thinking about solutions until they have traction. Most people don't adopt new solutions until they experience growth, success, and traction.

What we try to do, once they realize they have these problems to solve, is come in and help implement the system in parallel with their current operations. Our first step is always cleaning up the data. Most people have messy data trapped in those data silos we spoke about. We really want to make sure they have that foundational infrastructure to expand to all these different sales channels.

My typical go-to example is Shopify. A lot of people use Shopify; it's an amazing platform. But one thing Shopify doesn't require is SKUs. A lot of our customers come to us without any SKUs. Obviously, when they start to expand to different sales channels—maybe selling on different department stores and marketplaces—they will need SKUs. We help them get everything set up because they're not ready to go multi-channel, even though they think they're using Shopify like a light ERP or operating system. Cleaning up that data right off the bat is the most important step. From there, we are able to connect them with all their different sales channels and make sure everything communicates.

Andy: And you help them with that whole process, right? You're not just selling software; you guys are also taking a service-based approach.

Justin: Absolutely. We have a full onboarding team that is a combination of customer service professionals and engineers. Obviously, there is a technical component to the implementation, but we provide the service side as well. We work with the customer to make sure the data is sound, up-to-date, and ready to implement across the broader breadth of the business.

Andy: You guys see a lot of these operations. What are some common mistakes organizations make when trying to unify their commerce data across systems and different channels?

Justin: A lot of it comes down to the decision-making process of when to adopt the technology. Nobody likes to pick a new system. We always compare it to iPhone and Android users. I'm an iPhone user and I never want to switch to Android; Android users don't want to switch to Apple. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the actual technology—nobody likes to switch because they don't want to learn a new system.

How long would it take us to learn a new phone system? 10, 20, 30 minutes? It's nothing. But imagine implementing a new system into your entire operations where you have to train employees, learn it yourself, and implement it across your operations and sales channels. It's a lot. We understand the hesitation in the buying decision when it comes to adopting new software, but that decision has to happen at some point. It is so easy to adopt single-point solutions; you can just go to a website, click a button, and suddenly it's implemented into your operations with a little bit of training. We want to make sure people are looking at the system as a whole and that everything they're using comes from a single source of truth.

The biggest mistake is often not thinking about the big picture. Another mistake is treating it as just a technical project. It's an operational transformation project—that's the way we look at it. Everyone's day-to-day job, regardless of what department they're in, is going to be affected by this technology. It could be the warehouse workers, sales, customer service, or the people who process returns. No matter what it is, it's going to change their job, so we need to ensure there is good communication throughout the organization.

Andy: How does this unified commerce architecture improve the customer experience and operational alignment across teams and channels in the long run?

Justin: We always say unified commerce creates consistency and data you can trust. For customers, they get a better experience. They get a better understanding of whether what they're ordering is actually in stock, orders get fulfilled quicker, and there is better communication and fewer order issues. Visibility is just way better for the customer.

Internally for the operational team, everyone is on the same page. Everyone shares the "same reality," which is something we always talk about here. Whether it's the warehouse workers, sales operations, or customer service, everyone has the same information in real time, and everyone understands where the business stands at any given point in time.

Andy: When you implement your policies and programs with these customers across all their channels, what business metrics or KPIs do you typically see improve first?

Justin: We tend to focus on the operational side first and foremost. It's not the most glamorous part. One thing we always preach here is that it's not just about operations, it's about sales—everybody cares about sales. Those operational metrics and workflows are important, but when you look at the operations side, we really help with things like order processing speed and fulfillment accuracy, making sure you're shipping the right items to the right person.

Inventory accuracy improves, as I mentioned before, and the biggest thing is labor efficiency. People are not wasting time, repeating tasks, or being redundant. We really help optimize labor and headcount. Any consumer goods company, whether it's apparel, shoes, or whatever, cares about margins. It's a fight for margins these days across all these different channels. As you work with department stores and marketplaces, everyone's trying to squeeze out every penny they can. Being as efficient as possible directly impacts the bottom line from a margin standpoint. Following operations, you see the financial metrics improve: lower operational costs, improved inventory turns, reduced overselling, and better cash flow visibility.

Andy: How does unlocking and activating unified commerce data directly impact personalization, automation, and revenue growth in general?

Justin: Those things definitely go hand in hand. To truly have strong unified commerce, you need to have the right foundation and infrastructure. The same infrastructure needed to unlock automation is the exact same infrastructure that will unlock revenue growth.

Obviously, AI is a hot topic—everyone is talking about it. Businesses can't take advantage of AI without the right technological infrastructure. They really go hand in hand. For us to do the things we do, we are leveraging technology and artificial intelligence to unlock intelligent automation and unified data. To take advantage of these things at the business level, you have to have that core system in place.

You have two different buckets of people. There are those with legacy, server-based systems who need to catch up and adopt modern, cloud-based technology—obviously, we hope it's ours. But even those who do have modern technology, as we mentioned before, can operate in separate data silos and miss out on the efficiency of touching all aspects of their operations.

Andy: How do you see AI and automation changing the future of commerce in general? What are you seeing out there in terms of how people are implementing AI in their business, and how is it going to affect what you guys do too?

Justin: Again, with a focus on the operational parts, AI is making everything more efficient and unlocking workflows. A lot of the operational workflows we help with are often handled in single-point ways by businesses. We talked about inventory before, but there are also sales orders, purchase orders, AR, AP, fulfillment, etc. These are single-point tasks that can be fixed with AI very quickly and effectively.

But again, we look at the bigger picture: unified commerce, modern commerce, and the infrastructure tying it all together. Where AI is really helping these days is that unified commerce and data aren't just about operations; it's everything on the product side as well. People need to be able to sell efficiently, manage their product catalog, and create content. E-commerce listings are really hard to build, and you want to build them in a way that is enticing to the customer. They also need to be diverse across different channels.

Again, we believe in a multi-channel strategy here, but it's very hard to execute. Different channels require different information. The catalog information you put inside Shopify—which is amazing—might ask for 20 or 30 data points. Selling on Nordstrom in a dropshipping environment might require 60 or 70 attributes about your product that you haven't even thought about before. Different platforms have different photo requirements; some want the model to show their face, while others just want the neck or shoulders and below. Being able to customize information across all those channels is very important. AI can help with that. Unification applies not just to the operational side, but to the digital content side, which is incredibly important.

Andy: What does the future of unified commerce look like over the next few years? Where do you see everything heading, especially with AI?

Justin: For us, it's a battle for margins. As I mentioned before, margins are thin for brands, manufacturers, and retailers today. It's really hard to find profit, especially when you rely on different selling channels to push your product. If you're selling on your own website, that's one thing. But as soon as you start partnering with marketplaces, department stores, and other channels, they take a cut. You have fulfillment costs, and returns are through the roof.

Unified commerce is a way to optimize everything, save on operating costs, and unlock new opportunities. The growth side of the business goes hand in hand. When people start to grow, they start to feel these operational pains and the need to improve their infrastructure. But people always want to grow more, and the question becomes: Can you handle it? Do you have the infrastructure to handle it? Can you predict when you need more inventory? Is your business seasonal (which is highly relevant in the apparel industry)? Are you prepared to fulfill at a higher volume than you're currently doing? Do you have the staff to support multi-channel selling? Do you need to hire more staff because of your growth, or can you put in an operating system to help you achieve those efficiencies? It sounds like there are solutions for that.

Andy: What's next for you and DigitBridge?

Justin: For us, we're here to help small businesses and support modern commerce, which is evolving every day. The way we sell today is changing completely. It used to be heavily B2B and wholesale, then selling to boutique stores, and now it's D2C. We're really big on dropshipping here; we really believe in it. We're working on some cool technology to help people from a dropshipping standpoint—not just to work with different retailers, but to work with department stores and sell products on different channels.

Print-on-demand is huge now and is top of mind for us. We have great print-on-demand technology to help those companies, and that's going really well. Live auction selling and social commerce are also emerging. There are all these new channels for selling these days, and people need to be able to operate them from a single hub. The old way of doing things was for companies to have separate teams to support each different channel. We don't believe in that. We believe one team can support a multi-channel strategy, and we want to make sure SMBs are able to do that.

Andy: Do you guys see yourselves ever doing anything in the B2B space in terms of unifying SaaS subscription commerce, like a NachoNacho?

Justin: We work very closely with B2B companies. The original impetus of the company was to help wholesalers and people doing B2B digitize their businesses. That is a very legacy industry where people are often not up-to-date on technology. We really believe that wholesalers need to be able to go D2C and support those operations.

A B2B business is very different from a D2C business. It requires a different skillset and different shipping methods. You go from shipping boxes and pallets to single items in packages that need packing slips and shipping labels. It's a completely different world. We support both. We were originally tasked with helping these wholesalers survive. Malls and boutique stores are closing, making wholesale tough these days. It is still an important channel, and we support it, but we also believe people need to expand beyond it.

Andy: Are there any last points you'd like to share with the audience, maybe focusing on the benefits of your services and where they can learn more about your product?

Justin: Sure. If you need to modernize your business, absolutely come talk to us. We spoke a little bit about AI; if AI is something you want to incorporate more into your business, you have to have that technological infrastructure and foundation to truly take advantage of it. If you think you're lacking that foundation, we'd love to help.

If your business is growing, we love growing businesses. That's when people really start to feel the pain. They used to be able to do things manually with spreadsheets or over email, but once you hit a certain point of scale, that's just not feasible anymore. Having automation applications within your business is necessary to scale cleanly and grow the way you want to. We want to help with that as well.

We're excited to partner with NachoNacho. If you're interested in learning more, go through the NachoNacho link at digitbridge.com/nachonacho. We're offering a 50% off onboarding fee for all NachoNacho users who come through that link, plus a free month of service. There's no obligation; we'd love to just talk to you about your business. We have a lot of in-house experts here who come directly from the consumer goods and apparel industries, and we just like to talk shop. It has to be a fit on both sides. We offer an operating system that touches all aspects of your business, and if it's not a fit, no problem. We would just like to help you understand if a system like ours would be useful for you right now, or if you're just thinking ahead, that would be great too.

Andy: Usually, it's better to get ahead of the problem before it hits you right in the face, especially if you start seeing growth come in, because otherwise, it can become a little too late. You mentioned implementation challenges—some people get so busy. Especially when dealing with smaller businesses, we're dealing with company leadership whose focus is on strategy and growth. We try to make sure we make implementation and onboarding as easy as possible, but it is a two-way relationship. Getting ahead of the problem, implementing it, and having a little bit of bandwidth to get it in line really sets you up for that next phase of success.

Andy: Awesome. Well, Justin, it has been great having you on today. I'm looking forward to doing a lot more with you guys. I don't know how anybody could say no to that 50% off deal—it's a great offer. I look forward to seeing you next, probably at our LA event, or are you going to New York City as well for Tech Week?

Justin: Sounds good. I love any excuse to go to New York anytime, but I'll definitely see you the first week of June.

Andy: I'll send you an invite right around the corner. All right, take care, bud.

Justin: Andy, thanks! You too.