Reboot

Chapter 13Growing in China

In 2011 both our business in Australia and the China team had grown. We had moved from our first China office and away from the little boy across the road. By the time we moved, he had grown to a little boy chattering happily, wielding his toys and making his family laugh. I could see myself in this little boy. While he had grown from baby to toddler, I had grown from a confused and nervous baby entrepreneur to one who just might find her feet, any day now.

We'd set up our new China office and small team inside some available space in our main supplier's factory, which had some clear benefits: we were connected to existing infrastructure, able to check on shoe orders quickly, and there was no freight time or cost from the supplier to us. This was all really positive — until it wasn't, which I'll get to later.

The business was growing reasonably quickly and we'd come to the conclusion that we needed someone in a management role, on the ground, full-time in China. A law school friend of Michael's was considering a career change, and we thought he'd be a great fit. Brendan was incredibly intelligent, fearless when it came to the unknown and fluent in Mandarin. And, he has some of the best comedic timing I've ever witnessed in real life.

You may notice that I haven't listed his qualifications in manufacturing shoes. That was because he didn't have any. We didn't have strong networks in those areas in those days and, besides, we were really focused on ...