Current Tech Infrastructure & Ownership
- Brainforge team handles Shopify integration and 3PL middleware
- Custom middleware for order processing to stored warehouse
- Transitioning from Where To Go to Stored (live January 2025)
- Digital Ocean hosting for all infrastructure
- All backups managed within Digital Ocean
- No separate data storage systems currently
- Tech team often becomes default support for unowned systems
- CX tools (Gorgeous, Guru) managed by others but tech gets support requests
- Element Ops dashboard nightmare: built by former analyst using open source tools
- Will be replaced when Stored migration completes
Data Sources & Reporting Systems
- Source Medium: primary acquisition dashboard
- Set up by Source Medium team, minimal tech involvement
- Used by Carlos (marketing) and Blake (partnerships) primarily
- Creates Looker dashboards but adoption unclear
- Tech team wants more oversight of integrations going forward
- Current data landscape scattered across teams
- Marketing apps administered by Carlos
- Finance moving from QuickBooks to NetSuite (Phil driving)
- No central data warehouse or unified reporting
- Key systems identified:
- Shopify (main e-commerce)
- Elevar (acquisition tracking via pub/sub to Source Medium)
- Google Analytics (conversion data, pipeline analysis)
- Recharge (subscriptions, data flows to Shopify)
- Klaviyo (email marketing, not CRM)
- Currently using both JotForm and TypeForm
- TypeForm: campaigns, wholesale applications → Excel spreadsheets
- JotForm: various forms, unclear reasoning for dual setup
- Initiative to consolidate all forms to native solution
- Build using React, store in Postgres
- Planned for Q1 2025 execution
- Distributed Samples system: internal order processing
- Sends samples/replacements through 3PL outside Shopify
- Will integrate with NetSuite for inventory/cost tracking
Vendor & Access Management
- Tool procurement process lightweight
- Business drives initial requests, tech provides input when remembered
- No formal security reviews (too small)
- Prefer shorter contracts (1 year max) for flexibility
- Access management via Google Workspace SSO where possible
- LastPass for password management (want to move to 1Password)
- Considering Osano for cookie management (rejected 3-year contract)
- Legacy systems with unclear ownership/usage:
- Triple Whale (attribution tool, usage uncertain)
- Blue Onion Labs (former finance app, likely discontinued)
- Stitch (unknown purpose)
Technical Capabilities & Preferences
- Team has familiarity with Snowflake and BigQuery as users
- Comfortable with technical evaluation of data platforms
- Want involvement in vendor selection and integration planning
- Soligo already selected for ERP integrations
- Has pre-built Shopify connectors
- Could potentially handle broader orchestration needs
- Team capacity available for custom integrations
- Willing to build simple REST API connections vs buying tools
- Prefer to avoid complex connector tools for single endpoints
Next Steps
- Brainforge to meet with Steve and Andy (tech leads) next week
- Wednesday December 10, 11am Pacific scheduled
- Review architecture diagrams and technical approach
- Carlos interview scheduled to understand marketing data usage
- Source Medium usage analysis needed from current users
- Access provisioning for Brainforge team as platforms are evaluated