Hour Three · The 8-Hour Business Launch Master Plan

Sourcing

Sourcing determines margin, speed-to-customer, quality control, and how much capital is needed upfront.

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App Build Paths Shopify Build

The Issue

Sourcing shape depends on the model picked in Hour 1

The shape of "sourcing" depends entirely on the model picked in Hour 1:

Physical product — print-on-demand, dropshipping, wholesale, or custom manufacturing (covered below)
Service business — booking front-end, productizing the offer, provider sourcing
App / software — visual no-code builder, AI prompt-to-app, or engineering. See the App Build Paths page for the full route.

Where to Go · Physical Product

Print-on-demand

Zero inventory, supplier ships when you sell

Printify

Cheapest, widest catalog, multiple print partners

Printful

Better quality control, slightly higher prices

Gelato

Best for international (local print partners worldwide)

Dropshipping

Supplier ships, you never touch product

Spocket

US/EU suppliers, faster shipping than AliExpress

AutoDS

Automation-heavy, good for scaling

Zendrop

Shopify-focused, decent supplier vetting

DSers

Official AliExpress partner, cheapest but slowest shipping

Wholesale

Buy inventory, hold it, sell it. Note: 3PL Costs seen in Hour 7 can provide logistics help

Faire

Wholesale marketplace with net-60 terms for new retailers

Abound

Similar to Faire, growing brand selection

Tundra

No fees on either side

Wonnda

European wholesale + private-label hybrid (cosmetics, supplements, food, household). Faire-meets-Alibaba.

Custom manufacturing

Your own designed products

Alibaba

Global manufacturers, requires diligence on samples

Pietra

Curated suppliers for beauty, jewelry, apparel

Maker's Row

US-based manufacturers (slower, pricier, but local)

Keys to Success

For products: order samples. Don't dropship a product you have not seen in person.
For services: productize from day one. Write the pricing page like you're selling a professional product, not your time.
For apps: pick your tier consciously. No-code trades speed for durability; AI prompt-to-app trades durability for speed. Pick based on the importance of speed to market.
Lock in unit economics, understand at what volume levels they start to change.

CoWork Ops Layer · Hour 3

Default loop · Physical productCadence: Weekly + event-driven · Trigger: Inventory thresholds, supplier emails

CoWork can

Monitor supplier inboxes for price changes, MOQ updates, lead-time changes
Track sample arrival vs. promised dates; build a vendor reliability scorecard
Compare landed cost across multiple suppliers in a running Excel sheet
Draft re-order POs from a template when inventory drops below threshold
Pull Alibaba/Faire/Spocket new-listing emails into a "potential sources" doc

Setup cost: ~1 hour once. Weekly human time: ~20 minutes.