Weight the criteria differently than an established brand would. For a startup, sourcing
capability and a willingness to refuse the engagement matter more than advertising
sophistication, because almost every decision that determines your first year gets made
before a single advertisement runs.
The short version
- Weight sourcing and market judgment above advertising skill.
- A startup's biggest risks are pre-launch, not post-launch.
- Working across time zones is normal now. Location matters less than presence in sourcing markets.
- Ask what would make them refuse the engagement.
- Score on four startup-specific criteria, not on general agency reputation.
The startup-weighted scorecard
I run Flapen from Abu Dhabi with 50 operators managing about 70 brands, sourcing
through Guangzhou and creative through Dubai. The criteria below are weighted for a business
that has not launched yet, which is a different problem from optimizing an existing account.
| Criterion | Weight | Why it matters more for a startup |
|---|---|---|
| Market judgment and willingness to refuse | ×3 | A bad market cannot be fixed later |
| Sourcing and quality inspection capability | ×3 | Remote sourcing failures are the costliest mistake |
| Creative production, in-house | ×2 | Primary image caps everything from day one |
| Advertising sophistication | ×1 | Matters, but later and less |
Notice advertising is weighted lowest. That inverts how most agencies present themselves,
because advertising is the most visible and most billable capability. For an unlaunched brand
it is the last constraint to bind.
Why sourcing dominates for startups
Most first-year failures I see are decided before launch.
A supplier who ships inconsistent quality generates returns and negative reviews that no
listing work repairs. A landed cost that turns out higher than quoted destroys a margin that
looked viable in a spreadsheet. A product that fails compliance in the destination market
cannot be sold at all.
None of that is an advertising problem, and all of it is expensive to discover after inventory
has shipped. Our sourcing, quality inspection, and compliance frameworks were built across 300
plus brands through the Guangzhou studio, and that capability matters more to an unlaunched
brand than any campaign structure.
The refusal question
Ask what would make them decline to work with you.
For a startup this is the single most informative question, because the most valuable thing an
agency can do before launch is tell you not to. We use a $2 million per year minimum market
size as an entry floor, because below that there is not enough revenue to capture profitably
once you account for cost of customer acquisition.
An agency with no threshold will validate whatever you bring them, which is worth nothing at
exactly the moment you most need judgment.
Does location matter
Less than it used to, with two exceptions.
Sourcing presence matters. Quality inspection requires someone physically at the factory.
An agency with people in your manufacturing market is materially different from one
coordinating remotely.
Marketplace operating experience matters, meaning which countries they run accounts in
rather than where their office is.
Beyond those two, working across time zones is normal. What to check is overlap: how many
hours of the working day you share, and what the response commitment is outside them. Get it
in writing with business days defined for their location.
What a startup should ask
- What would make you tell me not to launch this?
- Who inspects the goods, and are they physically there?
- Who shoots the primary image, and is it in-house?
- What is your minimum market size?
- What do I pay separately from the fee?
Question five prevents the most common budgeting surprise. Inventory, Amazon fees, trademark,
freight, and ad spend sit outside any agency fee. Total capital for a single-product launch
runs $8,000 to $15,000 including all of it.
What most agencies will not tell you
Agencies present themselves through advertising capability because it is the most visible
service and the most recurring revenue. For a startup that ordering is backwards, and nobody
volunteers a re-ordering that de-emphasizes their main product.
The other thing: "worldwide" in agency positioning usually means willing to work with clients
anywhere, not operating in marketplaces everywhere. Those are different claims. Ask which
marketplaces they run accounts in this quarter, by name, and treat a capability list as
marketing rather than as evidence.
Related answers
- Amazon agency for startups with small budgets
- Best Amazon agency for global marketplaces
- Amazon FBA agency for beginners
- New seller audit checklist from an agency
- Hiring an Amazon agency: the complete guide
Ask us what would make us refuse. There is a specific number at Flapen.
