“Pumped to meet ya!”
That was my first reply to the person we hoped would take over fulfillment for Apply.
We were meeting Friday morning at the house in Cold Spring. The house was also where we kept product, packed orders, and did a lot of the work that did not fit neatly inside a startup pitch. I suggested 9:00, checked my schedule, then immediately wrote back to ask for 8:30 instead.
Very professional.
The need was real. Our inventory sheet had dozens of individual stickers and sets. Some had a healthy count. A lot were down to a handful. Several were already at zero. Keeping track of what was in stock, what was launching, what had sold at Artists & Fleas, and what needed to be packed was becoming its own job.
Then the orders came in.
Forty-five order notices hit the inbox across Saturday and Sunday. That was great. It also turned the inventory problem into a fulfillment problem very quickly. Somebody had to find the right products, pack them, print the labels, and get them out without the rest of the company stopping.
The interview went well. A contract went out Friday afternoon. It came back signed Saturday night with a note saying he was excited to join the team.
Apply had somebody who could own the physical work.
I needed the help because TRX was moving too. Version 10.1.0 went through a run of TestFlight builds that week, including a build of the main app. We were trying to get new members from subscribing to doing their first useful workout. We had several versions. Every one looked simple until we tried to make it.
Monday morning I flew from New York to Orange County. More TRX builds arrived while I was in California. Apply's daily report kept arriving too.
This was the arrangement I had signed up for: build the digital operating system at TRX, keep Apply growing, and get on the plane when being in the room mattered.
The desk was small. The bikes took up most of the room. The work fit wherever it could.