Founder Friday: Ammar Moiz, Founder & CEO of Mayple
Issue #37
Founder Friday is a content series from SuperAngel.Fund that highlights companies across our portfolio and the inspiring founders behind them.
In our 37th edition we are featuring Ammar Moiz, Founder & CEO of Mayple, an eCommerce enablement platform that helps brands sell cross-border to customers all around the world.
Ammar’s experience with international trade spans generations. His father ran an import-export business based out of Dubai which has been a global shipping hub for decades due to its strategic location. Ammar also spent the early part of his career at 3G Capital, a global consumer-brand-focused investment firm.
In mid 2020, after being stuck in Dubai for 3 months due to the lockdown, Ammar started looking for his favorite personal care products, supplements, and other day-to-day needs. What he found surprised him - stores were filled with dated selections of legacy products owned by conglomerates like P&G and Unilever. Not to mention, the local delivery and online options weren’t any better, and he couldn’t purchase any of the digitally native brands he preferred that matched his modern lifestyle. After dozens of conversations with founders, it became clear - while all of the U.S. brands had strong domestic distribution procedures, none had systems in place for efficient international sales. Reason being, there is tremendous network, logistics, supply chain and regulatory nightmares that came with it.
Enter Mayple, which simplifies global trade and unlocks the full potential of global commerce. Mayple allows brands to market, sell, fulfill and ship products to customers around the world, seamlessly and cost effectively (with zero upfront investment). Through a Shopify integration, they enable fast and low-cost shipping, giving merchants access to international customers the same way they interact with domestic ones. Mayple supports full-service logistics, digitizes the complexities, including: importing, warehousing, storage, customs, sea freight, pick, pack and fulfilment, last mile delivery and returns.
Global fulfillment has never been faster, more affordable, simpler, or more reliable, thanks to Mayple!
H/T Aubrie Pagano & Tim Masek for the intro
Describe your company in 5 words or less.
Ammar: Global Supply Chain for eCommerce.
What was your primary motivation for starting your business?
Ammar: As Direct-to-Consumer business have proliferated over the last decade, most have been focused domestically with very little global penetration/reach. Most logistic solutions and the advancement in the industry has been around domestic distribution and the scaling of services akin to Amazon Prime (2 day shipping). We wanted to build a solution that would enable a great shopping and post purchase experience for consumers around the world, so brands and DTC businesses could scale globally, seamlessly.
What piece of advice would you give an entrepreneur starting a business today?
Ammar: I am not sure I've earned the stature to be giving advice to other entrepreneurs, but I would probably say, ensuring that you're setup to be resilient both individually and surrounding yourself with people and a lifestyle that enables and encourages resiliency is crucial.
What do you love to do in your free time?
Ammar: Read. I spend a lot of time reading global and financial news affairs. How seemingly small events in one part of the world affect the macro and political outlook always excites/interests me.
What is the most interesting place you’ve visited recently and why?
Ammar: Belgrade, Serbia. Belgrade is an interesting city that has been fought over and suffered devastation from over 155 wars. Serbians are also multicultural having been influenced by Slavic, Western European and Ottoman cultures. What was most remarkable to me is the spirit of the people, who had an amazing positive disposition and outlook towards life, despite the history of violence they've suffered through.
What is your favorite app or tool in your work life and in your personal life?
Ammar: I've been using Monday.com recently which is a great tool for both aspects of life. I've learned that simply keeping a checklist is a very underrated hack. I learned this from a book I read, many years ago, called The Checklist Manifesto.
What do you believe is the most important skill or attribute of a successful founder?
Ammar: There are several but for me I've always focused on what I've naturally lacked - patience. I think patience is such a virtue to building a strong long-term business. Some of the best builders in the world have uncanny resilience but also patient approaches.
SuperAngel.Fund is an early stage fund that invests in Consumer (CPG, eComm SaaS), PropTech & Future of Work. You can learn more at SuperAngel.Fund.
