import <7 Degrees>

Platform of Vetted Offshore Manufacturers

7 Degrees is a platform that connects founders with vetted offshore manufacturers, streamlining the process of finding reliable production partners. Inspired by LinkedIn, founders can go onto the platform to fulfill their offshore manufacturing needs and find manufacturers that are vetted by other founders that they know or are connected to founders that they know. Through this network of connections, the platform establishes a basis of trust and referral.

Key skills:

• Full-Stack
• Entrepreneurship
• User Interviews

Ideation Process

The process of arriving at 7 degrees was an interative and redundant one. Starting with a team of four, I dove deep into the manufacturing industry. I took to countless online resources to determine what problems manufacturers and their stakeholders go through on a day to day basis. Eventually, one trend emerged: the lack of trust and transparency in the offshore manufacturing space. US founders are turning to overseas manufacturing to reduce costs, yet they are taking major risks trusting a firm to take over the entire production of their prototypes. We brainstormed various solutions as a team, but the problem that consistently kept coming up was the core trust issue. Finally, we came up with 7 degrees, a platform where all manufacturers are vetted by the most trustworthy connections: a founder's own. This platform also includes other trust features such as ratings & reviews. Through multiple user interviews from both founders and manufacturers, we have gotten incredibly positive feedback. This is a real problem that real founders face, and 7 degrees is the fix.