23/07/2024
Oliver's 750+ Ecommerce Tools
Vic and I started Nolo Apps to empower Operators to realise Airtable's competitive advantage inside their brands.
My journey from Sales Advisor to Trusted Advisor
Our journey to starting the business began with partnering to do some tech advisory. I had a healthy level of imposter syndrome, stepping from being a salesperson who worked hard to be seen as a trusted advisor to becoming a paid-for trusted advisor outright.
I've been designing tech stacks and following the Ecommerce ecosystem since 2010 when I started at Peoplevox, a WMS startup. My market mapping for our partnerships and competitive analysis grew into the foundation of the Ecommerce tools directory.
Peoplevox at IRX in 2010
When I started consulting in 2022, I created an Airtable web clipper to capture tools and add them to my records whenever I came across them. I was actively contacting and reviewing 2 to 3 tools per week to nail down my go-to solutions and shortlists across the categories my tech advisory clients needed.
The beginnings of the Nolo Revolution
In August 2023, we went all-in on Nolo Apps, and my focus switched from knowing the whole market to market mapping and competitive analysis for the Airtable apps and use cases we have built or are working on. Because of this, solution categories like PIM and PLM are super strong in the directory.
The search for an ERP
In January 2024, a £50M brand approached me to help them find a new ERP that was anything but NetSuite. It seemed like a worthy cause, so I conducted a deep ERP and OMS review, further enhancing this category and my understanding of the market.
If you'd like a sneak peek at the directory and want to understand more, click the link below to watch a video overview.