YAN SIM
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I’m a startup operator, advisor and investor. Currently building Operating Crew, a platform that helps DTC brands optimize their supply chain.
I also love the outdoors 🦀, listening to Rach II on rides 🌄, urbanism, traveling to new places, salt water ⛵, finding new ways of seeing the city 🚴, and meeting new people so please say hello 👋🏻.
Here’s a bit of my story, a repository of projects I admire, notes to self, and snippets of my travels and projects. I hope some of this inspires you too.
the journey🎢
It’s been a roller coaster journey, launching startups from scratch as employee #1, to scaling companies 15X to almost $1B in revenues within 2 years. I’ve been fortunate to have been in the trenches with amazing people who have shaped how I think and work.
I’m also taking time off to explore new opportunities so if you know of a company that could use a strategy and operations leader, let me know!
It was amazing being a part of the trailblazing startup that essentially launched the direct-to-consumer movement back in the day, and set the bar high for giving customers a magical experience. In the time I was there, we grew from $250M to $400M in revenues, and 125 stores across the country.
I had the opportunity to lead teams that managed and automated our Home Try-On program operations, launch 60+ new stores for retail expansion, and develop strategy for many other supply chain initiatives.
Series E / $750M ARR online grocery company
As Head of Strategy & Operations, I helped to scale Weee!, an online grocery startup, from $50M to $800M+ ARR in 2 years: owning P&L, building teams and being in the trenches scaling operations 15X through the pandemic, eventually shipping over 30K orders per day across 10+ fulfillment sites.
My teams launched strategic initiatives such as restaurant delivery, alcohol and e-commerce verticals to expand our service area to 75% of all ethnic customers in the US. We also built critical operations infrastructure, and developed a sales and operating planning process to balance supply and demand.
Venture studio / $400M+ venture fund
Launched a healthcare startup as a part of Atomic Ventures and advised portfolio companies on startup operations and supply chain.
Raised $7M seed-round to build operations, customer experience, finance teams to launch a direct to consumer startup focused on sleep within 6 months. Navigated complex FDA-regulated supplements manufacturing, developed double-blind, placebo-controlled sleep studies with a Harvard Medical School professor to test for efficacy. The vision was to meet people where they were with their sleep challenges, whether it be stress, nutrition or their sleep routine.
