Mike Nopper

10+ years in product ops & manufacturing across North & Central America.

Consulting remotely for founder-led product brands.

Lessons from the factory floor

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

Hi, I'm Mike.

I have a fairly non-linear life path, so I thought I'd introduce myself.

👇

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

hiring without systems just multiplies the chaos faster

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

150 SKUs to update. 30 new ones to design.

Four person team.

Growing backlog. Frustrated founder.

I thought we needed better scheduling.

We needed a prioritized list.

Those are very different problems with very different solutions.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

The bottleneck I expected was technical.

The bottleneck I found was psychological.

That's been true more often than not.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

Good design is truly empathetic in a way that makes the solution feel obvious.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

@G_Shenanigans_ 😭

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

The calls started immediately.

I'd CC'd everyone.

I thought transparency was the right move.

What I'd missed was that transparency has a chain too.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

Coming along nicely. Container leaves mañana for Toronto.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

Factory visit day

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

@vampire_weekday Sonoforma makes furniture for musicians.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

AI is exceptional at ideation and helping us visualize material combinations that would otherwise be impossible to achieve.

But design is deeply empathetic, and holding the material in your hands can never be replaced

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

The factory may prefer a change to snap-fit during assembly,

but Design takes the blame when screws would have been better in the field.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

What's on your not-to-do list today?

Choosing what not to do is the hardest operational decision most founders never make explicitly.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

This is Juno. She's now spent more time in Nicaragua than she has in Toronto.

Jungle pup

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

This was the hardest physical thing I've ever done.

We walked 90km over 5 days through the mountains and jungles of Peru, finally arriving at Machu Picchu.

I was amazed at how many people in their 60s were a part of this trek.

I choose to be like them.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

Founders are the business in the early days.

Their psychology gets imprinted onto the systems.

Usually that's what makes them great.

Sometimes it's what keeps them stuck.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

@G_Shenanigans_ Incredible scale in an otherwise empty landscape

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

@bajadobe Give them good nose pats when you see them. They deserve it.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

@DamonZumbroegel To what degree do they plan this? What does that planning look like?

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

@DamonZumbroegel Love the courtyard architecture. Common here as well. An unassuming front door and a beautiful oasis behind it.

Don't judge a door by its cover.

[Mike Nopper @TheMikeNopper]

600 pieces. $500K contract.

Multiple stakeholders.

I treated them all as one audience, CC'd on an email.

They weren't.

Each one had their own client, their own concerns, their own chain.

Communication isn't just what you say.

It's who it's for.