
#206 Ricky Ho: How Do You Know a Factory Is Any Good?
Ricky Ho is the Co-Founder and CEO at SourceReady , an AI-powered global sourcing platform that helps retailers, brands, and independent creators identify and vet manufacturers using customs shipment data pulled from more than 85 countries. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Ho became known for applying data-driven supplier ranking — using the quality of a factory’s existing customer base as a proxy for its own production quality — to a sourcing industry historically built on opaque, relationship-gated information. SourceReady launched in December 2024, positioning itself against pay-to-play incumbents like Alibaba by offering unbiased, data-backed supplier matching. Previously, Ho founded Treelab, a supply-chain ERP startup backed by Sequoia Capital and Tencent. He raised $22 million for the company and sold it at age 23, giving him a rare second run at the global sourcing and supply-chain problem before turning 30. Hey, Thanks for reading this. I mean that. There’s a lot of content out there competing for your attention, and you spent some of it here. I hope it was worth it. Even better, I hope it prompted you to think about something differently enough that you’d share it with someone who’d get something out of it too.I started this podcast because tactics never stuck with me. What stuck were stories — business biographies, autobiographies, the decisions people made and why they made them. The principle only clicks once you know the story behind it. So I built the thing I wanted to listen to. Every week I have two conversations with people who build in technology and product. Then I write the essay in my premium newsletter (Taste Maker) to distill the principles and reflect on the narrative — one that puts you inside the conversation, through my eyes. What caught me off guard. What I kept thinking about after we hung up. Where the principle actually lives once you strip away the jargon. I make this for myself first. If you read the way I do, you’ll want it too. Subscribe to The Way of Product PS — If you want to pitch coming on the show, or you know someone I should talk to, shoot me an email at caden@hey.com with "January752" in the subject line so it gets past my filters. I'm not optimizing for famous guests. I'm optimizing for interesting conversations, even from people who aren't LinkedIn influencers. Get full access to The Way of Product w/ Caden Damiano at www.wayofproduct.com/subscribe











