How to Find the Right Manufacturers with Kian Golzari, Founder and CEO of Veltra

Kian Golzari is the Founder and CEO of Veltra, a travel backpack company whose mission is to make your journey smarter. He is one of the world's leading manufacturing and sourcing experts and has personally sourced over 2,500 products for global brands like Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Tesco, and Aldi. In 2012, he was awarded the Olympic Games contract to design, produce, and supply the official merchandise, and is currently designing and manufacturing best-selling products on NBA.com.

Kian is an international speaker who has won numerous international awards, including the 2017 Sunday Times Fast Track Award for Top 100 UK Companies in Export Growth. He has also mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs as they design, develop, and manufacture their products.

In this episode…

One of the best decisions an entrepreneur can make before producing their product is validating the idea. To do this, you have to find a manufacturer to produce small quantities that can be used for validation purposes. Once this is done, you can start producing your product in large quantities for the mass market.

However, finding the right manufacturer isn’t always easy—especially if you have to outsource from another country. This means that you have a few things to consider: the number of employees a manufacturer has, their willingness to produce minimum order quantities for you, how many years they’ve been in business and any potential certifications they might have, and the products that make up your manufacturer’s specialty. 

Kian Golzari, leading product development and sourcing expert, is Rich Goldstein's guest in this week's episode of Innovations and Breakthroughs, where he shares his strategies for finding and working with top manufacturers. Kian also explains how to find a sourcing agent, how to validate a product idea, and how to use Alibaba to find quality and honest manufacturers.