AMZ Prep

At AMZ Prep, we’re building the cloud supply chain for marketplaces - one platform that unifies prep, fulfillment, freight, and parcel so brands can scale across Amazon, Walmart, TikTok, Shopify, and beyond with Prime-like speed and compliance.

With 22+ warehouses across North America and Europe, we give sellers and marketplaces the infrastructure they need without forcing them to build it themselves. 

Our distributed network, software, and compliance workflows make it simple for brands to expand globally while staying fast, reliable, and profitable.

What we do best:
- Freight and middle-mile routing into Amazon and Walmart
- FBA prep, kitting, relabeling, and compliance at scale (10M+ units monthly)
- DTC and TikTok Shop 2-day fulfillment in the US, Canada, and Europe
- B2B distribution for retailers like Costco
- Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) 2-day fulfillment 

We’re rethinking what a supply chain company looks like - software, logistics, and marketplaces under one roof.

Founder, CMO

Sequence

Advisor

Founder, CMO @ AMZ Prep | Fulfillment for Global Merchants | Follow me to watch us build a 100M Company

At AMZ Prep, our daily mission is to work towards our bold vision: To propel sellers and brands to amplify their global eCommerce footprint through the seamless integration of logistics, fulfillment, advertising, strategy, creativity, and growth within a single, unified solution. 

Our vision may seem audacious to some, but at AMZ Prep, we thrive on embracing challenges, particularly the ambitious and audacious ones. It's this unwavering spirit that has catapulted us into becoming a retail powerhouse that's been quietly making waves.

If you're seeking to be part of a team that's committed to achieving remarkable accomplishments, we invite you to join us on our journey. We're constantly on the lookout for exceptional individuals to become a vital part of our team. Whether your expertise lies in Operations, Finance, Customer Experience, Business Development, or Software Engineering, please don't hesitate to connect with us for any career-related inquiries.

Hasbro is losing control on Amazon.

And it's a $100M+ mistake.

WHAT I FOUND:
- Checked a popular Hasbro listing on Amazon
- 10K+ units sold in past month by Amazon.com alone
- But here's the kicker: dozens of other resellers on the same listing
- Pricing all over the map
- Some sellers shipping from overseas with 2-3 week delivery times

THE REAL PROBLEM:
Hasbro has no control over:
- Who's selling their products
- What customers are paying
- How fast it gets delivered
- The actual customer experience

We see this with brands in our warehouses daily. They ship to Amazon, then watch helplessly as resellers undercut them on their own listings.

The math is brutal:
- Resellers buying at wholesale
- Marking up 30-50%
- Still beating the brand's direct pricing
- Taking millions in revenue that should be direct

Meanwhile, Hasbro's sitting on inventory in their own warehouses while resellers are moving 10K+ units monthly.

This is an industry-wide disaster happening in plain sight.

The solution? Control your supply chain or watch someone else profit from it.

Which major brand do you think is bleeding the most from reseller chaos?

Blair Forrest 

Founder @ AMZ Prep | Global Amazon 3PL with 22 warehouses globally for FBA Prep, AWD, DTC, B2B & Seller Fulfilled Prime + 24 hour inbound speed to FBA | Follow me building a $100M+ company

Just turned a $400 economy flight into a $2.4M annual contract. This is what building a bootstrapped logistics company actually looks like.

YESTERDAY'S GRIND:
• 4:30am: Uber to airport
• 6am: Toronto to Chicago
• 9am: First meeting with $40M brand
• 11am: Warehouse tour with their team
• 2pm: Second meeting (they brought lawyers)
• 5pm: Flight home
• 8pm: Back in our warehouse checking orders

Total cost: $400. Deal closed: $2.4M annually.

THE REALITY:
While VC-backed competitors fly teams in business class, I'm eating airport Tim Hortons and answering emails on the tarmac.

They have corporate cards. I have revenue.

THE DIFFERENCE:
Every dollar I don't spend on flights is a dollar I can invest in faster check-ins, better tech, or another warehouse.

They have higher overhead. I have tighter margins and reinvest every dollar.

THE TRUTH:
Building a logistics company without outside money means you fly coach, close deals in person, and get home to pack orders.

But when you own 100% of your company? That middle seat feels like a throne.

Who else is building something real without OPM?

Friday afternoon. Warehouse manager runs into my office.

"We've got a problem. Big problem."

$400K shipment. 10,000 units. All mislabeled.

THE MISTAKE:
New team member. Printed FBA labels for the wrong SKU. Nobody caught it during quality check. Already loaded on the truck to Amazon.

If it ships, we eat $400K.

THE SCRAMBLE:
Called the driver. He's 20 minutes out. Turned him around. Unloaded everything. Weekend crew called in. 48 hours of relabeling.

Cost us $8K in overtime. Saved us $392K.

WHAT IT TAUGHT ME:
Process discipline isn't about perfection. It's about catching disasters before they become catastrophes.

Now every shipment gets triple-checked:
1. Picker scans
2. Packer verifies
3. Loader confirms

Three people have to fuck up for a mislabel to ship. Haven't had one since.

THE REAL LESSON:
That $8K weekend wasn't a cost. It was tuition. And the education was worth every penny.

Your most expensive mistakes become your best processes. If you're paying attention.

What's the closest you've come to a fulfillment disaster?

Flew to Dallas and back yesterday. 16 hours. No hotel. Closed a $3M deal.

THE ITINERARY:
4:30am - Wake up
6:00am - Flight out
11:30am - Land in Dallas
12:30pm - Tour at their warehouse
4:00pm - Back to airport
6:30pm - Flight home
11:00pm - In bed with the wife 

One day, in and out. 

THE REALITY:
Same-day trips aren't glamorous, but they make things happen. 

(Honestly Ive started to like them over the years...back home with the wife fast). 

But here's what matters: I was there.

Face to face. Looking them in the eye. Walking their warehouse floor. 

Understanding their actual problems.

Not on Zoom. Not through email. There.

THE MATH:
Round-trip flight: $1700
Closing probability increase: 300%

THE LESSON:
But some investments pay for themselves 5,000x over.

Hotels are nice. Multi-day trips are comfortable.
But comfort doesn't close deals. Presence does.

The willingness to fly 2,000 miles in a day shows commitment that no slide deck can match.

16-hour days aren't sustainable forever, but:

Momentum is.

Whats your take?

I could've raised $20M. VCs were interested. I chose to bootstrap instead.

Now I fly economy while competitors fly private. But I own 100% of my company.

THE VC PITCH:
Multiple firms wanted in. Growth capital. "Strategic partnerships." Board seats.

The math looked good on paper. Accelerate growth. Hire faster. Expand warehouses.

I said no.

THE REAL TRADEOFFS:
VC-backed competitors:
• Burn $500K/month
• Hire 50 people at once
• Beautiful offices
• First class everything
• Answer to boards

My reality:
• Every dollar matters
• Hire slowly, fire fast
• Warehouse is our office
• Economy middle seats
• Answer to customers

THE HIDDEN COSTS:
They wanted 30% for $20M. Standard terms. 2x liquidation preference.

Do the math. I'd need to sell for $100M+ just to see real money. And I'd lose control along the way.

THE BOOTSTRAP REALITY:
Yeah, I eat airport Tim Hortons while they eat airport sushi. They have expense accounts. I have a credit card I pay myself.

But every warehouse we open? Funded by revenue. Every hire? Justified by growth. Every decision? Mine to make.

THE PAYOFF:
When you own 100%, that $2.4M contract I closed from my economy seat? All mine. No dilution. No board asking why I didn't fly business class to "represent the company better."

That middle seat discomfort? It's temporary. Giving away your company? That's forever.

Who else chose the harder path?

Reddit roasted me for flying economy to close a $2.4M deal.

“Should have used some of that $400 to wash that greasy hair”
“Why even waste the $400, just video call”
"This is why you'll never scale"

My favorite: "Imagine bragging about being cheap."

THE REALITY:
That $400 economy flight? It's $3,600 I didn't spend on business class.

$3,600 buys:
• Another warehouse rack
• Two months of software upgrades
• A week of overtime for peak season
• 100 shipments to Amazon FCs

THE MATH:
We close 40-50 deals a year. If I flew business to every meeting, that's $180K.

$180K could hire 2 warehouse leads. Or upgrade our entire WMS. Or cover placement fees for 50 brands.

But sure, I should've gotten the lie-flat seat.

THE TRUTH:
My competitors fly first class on VC money. They have lounges and expense accounts and company Amex cards with no limits.

They also diluted 40% of their company to get there.

I own 100%. Every dollar saved is a dollar earned. Every economy seat is another month of runway.

THE LESSON:
Reddit thinks bootstrapping is poverty mindset. I think giving away your company for comfort is the real poverty.

That middle seat discomfort? Temporary.
That equity you gave away? Forever.

$2.4M deal closed. $3,600 saved. 100% ownership maintained.

Who else is building something real without OPM?

I told a $50M pet brand one Toronto warehouse was enough. They opened two. Turns out, their retail strategy proved me wrong.

THE CONVERSATION:
"Just use Toronto. Amazon routes everything there anyway. Save the Vancouver costs."

Their response: "What about Pet Valu? What about Manchester Pet?"

And that changed everything. They had retailers.

THE REALITY CHECK:
Amazon-only brands? One Toronto warehouse works perfectly. Everything flows through there anyway.

But add B2B retailers? Whole different game.

Pet Valu needs Quebec access. Manchester Pet pulls from the west. Local pet stores want same-day pickup.

Suddenly that Vancouver warehouse makes sense.

THE SPLIT:
• Toronto: 60% of volume (all Amazon + eastern retailers)
• Vancouver: 40% of volume (western retail + overflow)

Cost per order went up $0.80. But they picked up 47 new retail accounts they couldn't service from Toronto alone.

THE LESSON:
I was thinking like a 3PL. They were thinking like a brand.

Amazon is just one channel. The minute you add retailers, your entire logistics strategy changes.

One warehouse might be efficient. But two warehouses might be profitable.

How many channels are you really optimizing for?

20,000 people bought an Owala® water bottle on Amazon last month. Half of them got ripped off.

THE AUDIT:
Spent an hour analyzing every Owala listing. The pricing spread is insane.

• Amazon Direct: $29.99 (Prime delivery tomorrow)
• Used listings: $22.49-$26.99 (beat up packaging)
• Resellers: $49.43-$49.99 (3 week delivery)

Same. Exact. Product.

THE RESELLER GAME:
These third-party sellers are banking on lazy shoppers. They know most people click "buy now" without checking who's selling.

One seller has 43% positive ratings. Still moving units at $49.99.

Another promises "new" but ships in 3 weeks from who knows where.

THE REALITY:
Amazon's algorithm doesn't always show you the best deal first. It shows whoever pays for placement or has inventory closest to you.

Meanwhile, Amazon's sitting on thousands of units at $29.99 with next-day delivery.

THE LESSON:
This is exactly why brands lose control on Amazon. Resellers hijack your listings. Mark up prices. Tank your reviews with slow shipping.

And customers blame the brand, not the seller.

We see this play out daily. Brands spending millions on marketing while resellers destroy their reputation for a quick buck.

THE FIX:
Always check who's selling. Click "other sellers" before buying anything over $20.

Or better yet - if you're a brand, lock down your listings. Control your distribution. Don't let random sellers represent you.

How many times have you bought from the wrong seller without realizing it?

Entrepreneurship feels like this:
Monday: I’m going to be a billionaire.
Tuesday: I should shut this thing down.
Wednesday: we’re back.

Repeat forever.

The trick isn’t avoiding the swings.
Operate like it’s Wednesday every day.

We cut our sales team from 15 people to 4. Revenue went up 3x.

Everyone said we were crazy. "You need bodies to scale." Turns out they were wrong.

THE OLD MODEL:
15 salespeople. Fancy CRM. Weekly forecasts. Quarterly kickoffs. Looked impressive on paper.

Reality? Most were order takers. Waiting for inbound leads. Following scripts. Hitting quotas by luck, not skill.

THE WAKE-UP CALL:
Analyzed our numbers. 4 people generated 80% of revenue. The other 11? Burned payroll.

So we made the cut.

THE NEW REALITY:
4 killers who actually give a shit. They know logistics. They solve problems. They answer their phones at 9pm when a shipment goes sideways.

No scripts. No quotas. Just "take care of the customer."

THE RESULTS:
• Response time: 4 hours → 15 minutes
• Close rate: 12% → 47%
• Customer retention: 68% → 91%
• Revenue per rep: $2M → $9M

THE DIFFERENCE:
Big teams need managers. Managers need meetings. Meetings need PowerPoints. 

Small teams need results.

Our 4 people know every client by name. They understand inventory flows. They prevent problems instead of apologizing for them.

Four killers > fifteen order takers.

Who else learned this lesson the expensive way?

Most brands hate switching 3PLs. So we stopped pushing them to.

THE PROBLEM:
Spent years pitching full 3PL takeovers.
"Move everything to us. We'll save you money."

The response? Radio silence.

Brands don't switch 3PLs like they switch socks.
It's painful. Risky. Career-ending if it goes wrong.

THE PIVOT:
Started asking a different question:
"What if you keep your 3PL but use our trucks?"

Suddenly, conversations changed.

No warehouse migration.
No system overhaul.
No retraining staff.
Just better freight rates.

THE REALITY:
Freight became our gateway drug.

Brand saves $2-3 per shipment.
CFO sees immediate impact.
No operational disruption.
Trust builds.

Six months later: "What else can you handle?"

Now we're talking FBA prep.
Then kitting.
Then full fulfillment.

But it started with trucks.

THE MATH:
Full 3PL pitch close rate: 5%
Freight-first close rate: 35%
Freight clients who expand services: 60%

Same destination. Different route.

THE LESSON:
Stop selling what you want to sell.
Start solving the problem they'll actually pay to fix.

Sometimes the easiest product is the best wedge.

We thought we were in the 3PL business.
Turns out we were in the trust business.

Freight just happened to be the door.

Who else discovered their best product by accident?

I got engaged in Italy last month.

Three months of planning. Backup plans for backup plans. Every detail thought through.

And everything still went sideways.

The restaurant I booked months in advance? Closed for a private event.
 The perfect sunset proposal spot? Thunderstorm.
 Customs paperwork? Delayed.

Sound familiar?
It hit me how much running a business feels the same way.

You plan for months. You map contingencies. You think you’ve covered everything.

Then something breaks, a supplier drops, a client delays, a system crashes.
And you roll with it.

Because just like in business...the magic never comes from the plan.
 It comes from the recovery.

That dinner that wasn’t supposed to happen?
 We ended up in a tiny family-owned place overlooking the Amalfi Coast.

Way better than plan A.
And she still said yes.

Business or life - the plans never go perfect.
But if you can laugh when it rains and adapt when it breaks, you’ll always be fine.

Who else feels like entrepreneurship is just one long practice in handling chaos calmly?

Things I thought I’d be doing on Sunday when I was younger: brunch, gym, wife time...maybe a nap.

Things I’m actually doing:

 • Rewriting a cold DM for the 12th time
 • Sketching out a new outbound campaign
 • Stress-checking the pipeline numbers again
 • Messaging the team about tomorrow’s priorities
 • Pretending I’m “off” while obviously working


The founder life nobody talks about: you never really clock out. 

Your brain just runs the next quarter’s playbook in the background while you pretend to relax.

My wife asked what I was thinking about.

 I said “nothing.” Truth? I was 

calculating how many new customers we need to close this month to hit goal.


Who else is lying about “taking Sunday off”?

5 interviews a day. Brain fried. Need the best question that reveals if someone will actually succeed.

THE PROBLEM:
Everyone sounds good in interviews. Great answers. Perfect energy. Then they start and it's a different person.

I've tried everything:
• "Tell me about yourself" (rehearsed story)
• "Why this role?" (more rehearsal)
• "Biggest weakness?" (humble brag incoming)
• Case studies (they Google the answer)

Still batting 70% at best.

MY CURRENT FAVORITE:
"Walk me through the last time you had to figure something out with zero guidance. What did you actually do?"

No right answer. Just reveals how they think when nobody's watching.

But I need better questions. The kind that cut through the bullshit.

What's the ONE question that's never failed you?

(Bonus points if it makes candidates sweat a little)

Just signed a $64M supplements brand. But only for their FBA Prep.

THE SITUATION:
Massive supplements brand doing $64M+ annually.
Hundreds of thousands of orders monthly.
Their current 3PL crushes DTC fulfillment.

But Amazon? Complete disaster.

They came to us for one thing: FBA Prep.
Not DTC. Not B2B. Just Amazon.

THE PROBLEM:
Traditional 3PLs treat Amazon like regular fulfillment.
It's not.

• Kitting requirements change weekly
• Compliance rules are a moving target
• 20-30 day inbound times kill inventory turns
• One labeling mistake = entire shipment rejected

This brand was bleeding cash on Amazon penalties.
Their 3PL couldn't keep up.

THE NUMBERS:
Their 3PL: 20-30 days to FBA
Us: 2-4 days

Their kitting costs: $3.50/unit
Ours: $2.10/unit

Their rejection rate: 12%
Ours: Zero rejections last quarter

THE REALITY:
Smart brands are splitting their fulfillment.

Keep your DTC 3PL for what they do best.
Use specialists for what they don't.

We’re not here to do everything for everyone.
We're building the fastest, most compliant path to FBA.

That's it. That's the focus.

THE LESSON:
The best 3PLs know their limits.
The smartest brands exploit specialization.

One warehouse doing everything poorly costs more than two doing their jobs perfectly.

Jack of all trades is dead.
Masters of one win.

Who else is done trying to make generalists work on Amazon?

Got roasted on Reddit today....

Apparently flying economy to close a $2.4M deal makes me “cheap” and “unscalable.”

My favorite comment:

 “Imagine bragging about saving $400.”

Here’s the truth:

 That $400 flight saved $3,600.

 $3,600 funds a new hire for a month, an entire marketing campaign, or product upgrades that actually move the business forward.

Do that 40–50 times a year and it’s $180K saved.

 That’s a full team’s salary. Or six months of runway.

My competitors fly business on investor money.

Im not saying investors is a bad thing, there is a time and place (we still listen to investor calls often, its not off the table - just there is a time and place for it). 

 But for now, I fly economy on my own dime.

Because the middle seat is temporary.

 Ownership is forever.

$2.4M deal closed.
$3,600 saved.

 100% control.

I also got roasted for my hair being greasy...is this true? 

Link in comments

Taking weekends off doesn't slow growth. It speeds it up.

THE GRIND:
Used to work every Saturday and Sunday. 7 days straight. No breaks.

Thought I was being hardcore. Building faster than everyone else.

Wrong.

THE CRASH:
By Thursday, my brain was mush. Making dumb decisions. Missing obvious opportunities.

Worked 100 hours a week, producing 40% output.

That's 40 productive hours disguised as hustle.

THE SHIFT:
Started taking Sundays completely off. No emails. No Slack. No "quick calls."

Monday morning? Sharp. Clear. Seeing solutions I missed all week.

THE MATH:
Old way: 100 hours x 40% efficiency = 40 productive hours
New way: 80 hours x 80% efficiency = 64 productive hours

Less time. More output. Better decisions.

THE REALITY:
Your best ideas don't come from grinding harder. They come from stepping back.

Exhausted founders make expensive mistakes. Rested founders see opportunities.

THE LESSON:
Growth isn't about hours logged. It's about clarity of thinking.

And clarity doesn't come from a Red Bull at 2 AM. It comes from actually disconnecting.

Who else discovered that rest is a growth strategy, not a weakness?

We're hiring across the board at AMZ Prep®. This is what scaling 100% YoY looks like.

WHAT WE NEED RIGHT NOW:
• Customer Success Manager - Keep our brands from churning
• Head of Operations - Own our 22-warehouse network
• Project Managers - Launch new facilities without breaking old ones
• Sales - Close deals, not just demos
• Sales Ops - Build the machine that builds the machine
• BDRs - Find the brands bleeding money on fulfillment

THE REALITY:
Growing this fast means everything breaks. Systems that worked at $20M fail at $40M. People who crushed it last year can't handle this year's complexity.

So we hire ahead of the pain.

WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR:
Not industry experience. I can teach you fulfillment. I can't teach you hunger.

If you've scaled something from chaos to process, I want to talk. If you've built systems that don't break under pressure, even better.

THE PITCH:
We're not the biggest 3PL. But we're the fastest growing. Join now and help build the playbook everyone else will copy in 3 years.

Fair warning: It's intense. But you'll learn more in 6 months here than 3 years anywhere else.

If you know someone who fits, drop them my way. Good people know good people.

Ready to build something that matters?

Just explained zone skipping to a brand shipping 10,000 parcels monthly. Their face when I showed them the math.

THE PROBLEM:
They store everything in Toronto. Ship nationwide. Vancouver orders? $18 per parcel. Montreal? $15. Bleeding money on every cross-country shipment.

WHAT ZONE SKIPPING ACTUALLY IS:
We fly your parcels on passenger planes to skip provinces. End of day, all Vancouver orders get bundled, flown overnight, and released locally. Like having warehouses everywhere without paying for them.

THE MATH THAT MADE THEM SWITCH:
• Toronto to Vancouver via carrier: $18
• Toronto to Vancouver via zone skip: $7
• Savings: 61% per parcel

Same 1-2 day delivery. Fraction of the cost.

We use Air Canada passenger planes. Every night, parcels fly to Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary. Next morning, they ship locally. No storage in multiple cities. No inventory splits. No complexity.

THE KICKER:
They thought they needed warehouses in 3 cities. Turns out they just needed smarter shipping. Now saving $110K monthly on the same volume.

Zone skipping isn't new. But 90% of brands have never heard of it.

That's expensive ignorance.

We used to blast 1,000+ cold emails a week. Now we send 50.

Revenue went up.

THE OLD PLAYBOOK:
Spray and pray. Hit every Amazon seller with a pulse. Book 20 calls, close 1. Celebrate the win, ignore the waste.

Our sales team was drowning in shit leads.

THE SHIFT:
Started using SmartScout. Only targeting brands doing $10M+. Suddenly every conversation mattered.

No more:
• "We're just starting out"
• "Can you store 5 units?"
• "What's your cheapest option?"
• "We'll circle back next year"

THE MATH:
Old way: 1,000 emails → 20 calls → 1 client (worth $50K)
New way: 50 emails → 10 calls → 3 clients (worth $500K)

Less work. Better clients. Higher revenue.

THE HARD PART:
Saying no to "opportunities." 

A $2M brand reaches out? Pass.
Perfect fit but only 100 SKUs? Pass.
Great founder but shipping 50 units/month? Pass.

My team thought I was insane. "That's money walking away!"

THE REALITY:
Small clients take the same onboarding time as big ones. Same support tickets. Same account management.

But one pays $5K/month. The other pays $50K.

Your choice.

THE LESSON:
The leads you say no to determine the business you build.

Chase everyone = mediocre everything.
Chase the right ones = exceptional outcomes.

Who else learned to say no before saying yes?

Taplio

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