← Parenting in a Tech World
Loading summary
Transcript104 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hey, y', all, it's Sam. And if you've ever unboxed a bark product, whether it was a phone, a watch, a home, or a sink, and wondered what the journey looked like before it landed on your doorstep, this episode is for you. Today we're going behind the scenes in a way we've never done before, sitting down with two of our own. Sherry, the manager of our distribution center here in Utah, and Crystal, our operations support specialist. It's a different kind of episode, and honestly, one I've been really excited to record because the story happening inside the warehouse is one that every bark family deserves to hear.
- [00:32]
B
Foreign.
- [00:39]
A
So excited to be here. Being in the warehouse, I'm jealous that I work from home and my only coworker is my dog, and you guys get to come in here, and the energy is awesome. So for people who only know bark from, you know, the interactions they might have online, whether that's on our website or they're seeing our ads or just the box showing up, you know, how could you or how would you describe what's actually happening behind the scenes here?
- [01:05]
B
Thank you. We're actually really excited to be here.
- [01:07]
C
We're pretty proud of what we do here. It's pretty fun. We. We. We do get to work with people every day, so we do think that we're unique as far as the bark experience. So. But it's busy. There's a lot going on here, so we handle all. All different processes from. From flashing watches to processing phones to shipping everybody's order and being here in the warehouse. Sometimes we don't get to see the, like, front lines that everybody else gets to see. But behind the scenes, we try really hard to remember what we're doing here and why we're doing it and what it's for.
- [01:46]
A
I love that. And I want to take it a step back maybe to kind of the beginning when this was just an empty warehouse. You know, it's big. It's beautiful. There's a giant barcas on the walls. Like, it's. It's full of stuff. I mean, there's lots happening here. What was it like standing in here when the space was still empty?
- [02:09]
B
Overwhelming. Yeah, we. Skylar came to me and asked me if I'd be willing to help start a warehouse. And luckily, I didn't really know what that entailed, or I think I may not have said yes, but we stood in here one afternoon. He'd already leased the space, and we just kind of looked at it and just thought, okay, okay, we can do this. And none of us knew exactly what was going to transpire. Like, we all were just like, let's just dive in, see what happens. And, yeah, it's. You've. You've seen it. It's transformed. It's not anywhere near what it looked like when we first walked in.
- [02:54]
A
Yeah, I believe that.
- [02:56]
B
Yeah.
- [02:56]
A
Crystal, as someone in operations support, you know, you're probably very close to, like, everything that's happening day to day to make sure things keep running. What does that look like that you can share? And what do you think people might not realize is going into. Into everything that the team's doing?
- [03:15]
D
I think everybody here at bark on the front lines here at the distribution center, everywhere, is all in to make the experience the best possible for every family, every child, everything like that. But coming in, you know, it was just a couple people. Sherry was like a captain, and we were like, okay, what are we doing today? Because every day was a new surprise, a new adventure. And I was like, I'm here to fill in, help wherever. On both sides here. Either the bark distribution center center, or if there's something another employee needs or customer operations side, like, just addresses or just different problems that you might come across. And we all.
- [03:56]
B
Crystal's kind of the. If it needs to get done, ask Crystal.
- [04:00]
A
We. We have to have one of those, right?
- [04:03]
C
Yeah.
- [04:03]
B
Yeah, it was me until she got here. And then I was like, you know what? You can do this.
- [04:09]
A
A dynamic duo. Were there any moments as you're getting the warehouse brought up to what it is today that just kind of went, like, almost hilariously wrong? You were like, we envisioned it being this very specific thing, and it could not have been more opposite of that.
- [04:29]
D
Yesterday or last year.
- [04:33]
B
Exactly. I think that one of the things that we talk about all the time in the warehouse is no two days are alike. We do the same thing every single day, but no two days are alike. And we just never know what's going to come our way.
- [04:47]
C
As we were.
- [04:48]
B
As we were getting things going, we just did a lot of things, like, by the seat of our pants. I mean, it was literally like, well, let's try this, and if it doesn't work out, I think. I think that this is a story that is kind of long, but I'm going to dive into it here. Let's hear it. So things were going great. We had three employees. We're maybe eight. I think we're almost a year in. We had been here for almost a year, so we hadn't had quite all the seasons yet. And Suddenly I had noticed that there was a problem and we thought we had mice. So I was setting mice traps. Colin mice, mousetrap companies, whatever. And we were doing all of the things to trap these mice. I had a conversation with the cell, the suite next door, the owner there, and he was like, I've never seen a mouse here, but it could be bats. And I was like, wait, what? And we could literally hear them, like up in the eaves. And all of a sudden I was like, oh, my gosh, we have bats. And funniest thing is, one night, Skyler, we. We had the. We had everything sprayed for mice. They sprayed all the exits. And apparently at night when the bats leave, whatever they sprayed disrupted them. And they were flying all over in the warehouse and the alarms all went off. And Skyler called me and he's like, are you, are you getting an alarm? And I'm like, no. And he's. I go. He goes, wait till I send you this video. And he sends me the video. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, are those bats? And he's like, yes, those are bats. So he and his wife came over, opened the door to try to let him out. Of course they didn't go out. They just went and hid. So for the next week or two,
- [06:33]
D
I want to add, this was my first week on the job.
- [06:36]
A
Oh my gosh. Welcome. Welcome to it.
- [06:39]
B
Welcome to Bark. But we, we ended up having to have a whole company come out because you can't, you can only remove them, you cannot kill them because they're protected. And so we went through this entire process. I mean, there were bats dive bombing us. Some days we literally had to like, call it a couple of days. So I would say as far as like getting it going. So we moved in and had to evict the bats.
- [07:05]
A
Oh my gosh.
- [07:06]
B
But we didn't know it until like nine months in. So anyway, that was, that's definitely a story for the, for the archives.
- [07:13]
A
Yes, 100%. I remember.
- [07:16]
B
I think.
- [07:16]
A
I can't remember if it was like a stand up that we had like the company or if it was just in Slack. But it blew up and everyone was like, bats. And we all saw the videos and I, I mean, no, thanks. That, that's when I'm thankful I work from home with just my dog.
- [07:31]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [07:31]
C
Oh, yeah.
- [07:32]
B
It was, it was like, it was gold to share it with everybody because everyone was like, this is awesome, you know, But I'm like, not if they're diving at you.
- [07:39]
C
Yes.
- [07:40]
A
No, you're Just trying to type.
- [07:41]
B
Yeah, we. We found him actually, for months after
- [07:43]
D
that, like, underneath the box. Boxes dead or whatever in the bathroom. It was fun. It was so fun.
- [07:52]
B
It was a good time. Is a good time.
- [07:55]
A
On that same note, is there a favorite memory that either of you have that kind of captures the culture of the bark team? You know, we talk a lot about the culture at bark, even though we're a fully remote company, obviously, outside of the distribution center and what it means to us, but is there anything you can think of that kind of just really captures it?
- [08:14]
D
Well, here at the bark distribution center, I feel like. And then the whole team across the board, online, you know, working from home, or here at the bark distribution, I feel like we're all pretty in sync. Like, when somebody says something, it's either gonna pop up a random song that you're both gonna start breaking out singing just randomly, or, like, you're along the same lines, you're thinking the same things, Your goals are the same things. So you're all willing to jump in, make it work. Make the best experience for everybody inside and out for us here, for parents, families, everywhere.
- [08:49]
A
I love it.
- [08:50]
B
Yeah. As far as, like, a specific memory or something, I don't have anything specific, but I will say that the vibe here is good. Like, it's. It's just like everyone works together. Everyone has fun. I mean, you've seen. We've got the basketball court or the hoop, I should say. It's not really a court. We have the basketball hoop. We've got the video game. We've got.
- [09:13]
D
We have.
- [09:14]
B
We have places for people. It's a fun place to work because you can take a break. Break. And you can do things. Sometimes the work we do is heavy at bark, you know, and so. And we don't always see that here, but we try to keep it in. In the back of our mind. We try to just know that what we're doing is we're not just shipping another box.
- [09:31]
C
Right.
- [09:32]
B
We're not just processing another phone. We're not just processing a return. These are all children that are actually affected and chills. And so sometimes we just have to keep it light, you know, and be like, hey, everyone, stand up. Take a break. Go shoot some hoops. Go, you know, go get something from the fridge. And for me, it's all about trying to make those experiences make it a great place to work, make it a good. Good atmosphere, you know, Just try to keep. Keep everything light, but also a good vibe that everybody wants to come here. Yeah.
- [10:03]
A
I love that.
- [10:04]
D
Yeah. Work hard, make it a little awkward sometimes, you know, just bring the positivity in with all of it. And everybody's, everybody's willing to put forth whatever they have to.
- [10:16]
B
I've never asked anybody to do anything here that they haven't been willing to do.
- [10:19]
C
Yeah.
- [10:20]
A
And I think to kind of both of yalls points, what we're doing is so much bigger than shipping phones and watches and watch bands, accessories, whatever it is. We really are delivering a safer piece of tech for families to kind of navigate the ever changing digital landscape that these kids are growing up in. And I think that that's one thing I love about Barks culture is that we're all working toward that same mission of just helping to protect kids online. Like that's it. At the end of the day, you know, kind of thinking about like the team aspect, you know, what are the things you look for when you're building a team here? Like if you, if we were to be hiring at the Bark distribution center right now, what are like some top qualities that you're looking for? And like, you know, what does it take to come be a part of what we're doing here?
- [11:12]
B
Yeah, I think first and foremost just wanting to be involved in such a wonderful endeavor. You know, we just want people that, that want to feel like their job means something. And then also, obviously we're looking for the basic things. Dependability, you know, will you be here? But you know, it, it does get, it does get a little tedious sometimes. We, like I said earlier, we do the same thing almost every single day, but every day feels a little bit different. But sometimes, you know, when you're on your hundredth phone of the day, you know, you might be kind of like, wait, what's going on here? And so we do a lot to remind everybody really what we do here and why we do it. And yeah, I mean for us, I think it's just love our vision, you know, be. Be involved in that and really want to do something good in the world.
- [12:08]
D
Yeah. And not knowing, you know, I came in afterwards and I was just super grateful Sherry and Skylar were willing to take a chance on me, you know, and it, it's been life changing.
- [12:20]
C
Yeah.
- [12:21]
A
Gosh, that gave me chills too because it is, it's life changing work and the, the impact that we're able to make. Anytime I talk to friends or people that I meet and kind of explain to them, you know, here's my job, here's the company, here's what, here's what bark does, they're like, it's really cool that the work you do every day is actually making an impact in the world. And I think that that's something that before I came to bark, I didn't realize I was missing. Like, you know, I was always excited to get up and do my job, but the ability to come in and even though I'm in marketing, you know, like, this podcast is a perfect example. You know, it's. This is now a resource that parents have to listen to to stay up to date on what's happening online. So it's. Sometimes it is, like, really fun work, and then you remember how important it is.
- [13:09]
B
No, that's exactly true. We going back to the first time Skyler and I ever walked here, through here, and he asked me if I would do this thing. I had no idea what this thing was like. I had no idea. And the. You know, at the beginning, yeah, it was just create a warehouse. But then as I learn more about bark and as I learn more about the vision and as I learn more about what we're doing, like, it just became. It just became part of me. Like, it just is really part of me. Like, I have so much pride in this, in what we do here at the BART distribution center. I. I love. I love everything about it, and I. I feel. I have ownership of it. I feel responsible for it, you know, and I just feel like that.
- [13:53]
A
That.
- [13:54]
B
That goes out to all of the children that we take care of in the families is that I just feel really, really, like, responsible for what happens here. And we really, really try hard to. To make everything that goes. That leaves this warehouse perfect so that when it gets to the family, it does what it's supposed to do, because what good would it do if it didn't protect them?
- [14:16]
A
Oh, I love that. And that kind of sets me up. Unless you have anything to add.
- [14:19]
D
Oh, I was just gonna say, as a mom, I wish I. My kids are a little bit older now, and I wish I would have had or the knowledge or the availability of something like this. And I'm. I'm just incredibly grateful that it's there now. And occasionally we do get to leave. We not get to. But occasionally we leave the Batcave, the bark distribution center, and we go out into the schools, and we get to talk to parents. And it's not really to sell anything or do anything, but it's just to educate about, you know, technology and the dangers and the great tool that it can be. And I just love the availability to be able to go and talk to all the people, you know, it's a privilege.
- [15:03]
B
We don't do it much, but we fill in sometimes.
- [15:05]
D
No, I'm very infrequent. I love it.
- [15:09]
A
You know, before that box does land on the doorstep of the. Of the family who's ordered a bark product, can you kind of walk us through, you know, what happens once someone places an order? Like an order comes in, you know, what does that look like for the team? Every step until it, you know, is loaded up onto the truck and on its way.
- [15:27]
B
All right, you asked for it. So obviously we were prepared ahead of time. We process phones here all day, every day, so they're ready to go. But when an order comes in, I think there's like an 18 hour window where it gives the customer time to, you know, confirm that they really want it. And then we see them every morning, the team comes in and. And we pack the orders. There's one person who picks and packs everything and prints the shipping label and gathers all of the things. Then there's a team that actually boxes them with our cute bark tape.
- [16:04]
A
We love branded bark tape.
- [16:05]
B
Yes, we do. You know what? Actually, that reminds me.
- [16:07]
C
There was. There was.
- [16:08]
A
That is a good story.
- [16:09]
B
Yeah, there was. When we were building the warehouse, we're like, it's. We had this saying called it's just the.
- [16:15]
A
Where it's just.
- [16:15]
B
Just a warehouse. But then we're like, oh, but we're a tech company, so branding matters. So we're like, oh. So we. It would be like, it's just a warehouse, but it's got to look good. So hence the, you know, giant barkas on the wall. We were, we were very, very, like, intentional about making sure that, you know, it was branded to like, barks branding.
- [16:36]
A
But it's just a warehouse.
- [16:38]
B
So we would always. We just had a joke going that was like, it's just a warehouse. And then we'd go further.
- [16:43]
A
Yes. What we were supposed to do.
- [16:44]
B
In true bark fashion. In true bark fashion, exactly. So anyway, so then once the shipping is done, once the. Once it's boxed, we. We tape it up, put the label on it, and then FedEx comes a couple times a day and picks them all up. And I think you guys have some footage of them coming and it's. It's actually kind of fascinating to see how many we ship every single day.
- [17:02]
A
I believe it.
- [17:03]
B
And so we've just kind of slowly grown. So now we have the print shop and so we're printing all things bark. And that's been Amazing. And it's just. It's just awesome because we're. It gives us so much control. Like, we can control what we're sending out to the customer. If we decide to change the insert with the phones, if we decide to change our incentive program, it can be changed in house versus. Oh, no. We ordered, you know, several hundred thousand of these for the whole quarter, but now we don't want to do that, so we can change anything. So it just gives us a little bit more control, autonomy, all of the things that. That make us being able to take care of our customers a lot better.
- [17:39]
A
Yeah.
- [17:39]
D
There's definitely been a few moments where I look at Sherry, and I was like, wait, do you know how to do that? And she'll. She honestly will be like, no, but I'm going to figure it out. And that's what I love about her. And that's, you know, that's what a really great leader, you know, does. And that's. I feel like Bark is full of those. But, yeah, lots of times I've been like, wait, do you know what you're doing? And she's like, no, I don't, but I'm going to figure it out. And she does.
- [18:01]
C
Yeah.
- [18:02]
A
I love that every day. That's awesome. We talked about a lot today, and I think I have a couple of closing questions, and if there's anything else we haven't talked about, we can. For families listening, what do you want them to know about the team here who's physically packaging the products that are coming to their doorsteps? Like, if you could. I mean, I think to kind of give you guys a second to think about it. What I love is that there's. I'm not a parent myself, but there are so many parents working here at Bark, and I think that that's what makes us so much more passionate about what we do, is that we. We've been through it, we're going through it, whatever, you know, like, it's real parents who also really just want to help other parents as they navigate what's happening online. So I'll let y' all share what you. What you'd want them to know.
- [18:57]
B
So I. I think. And I kind of touched on this before, you know, as we are in this warehouse setting, we don't always. You know, we're not always in the thick of the front lines and we see our customers. But for me, from day one, from the very first time I ever shipped a package, I wanted that customer to open that and feel delighted and just feel happy. About it and know that they're helping, they're changing things. I'm way too old for any of this social media stuff because I did not have the Internet as a teenager. I did not have that. If my childhood had been, you know, a real or on stories so different than kids are being raised now. It's so different. And I just think that as we send out these packages, and one of the things I always try to remember is I personally feel hurt when something comes back and maybe the customer didn't use it or it was a return and they didn't like how it worked or something. I, like, personally feel I take that to heart because I'm like, no, no, like this was supposed to help your family, you know, But I just feel like from the very beginning, I've had such vested interest in making sure that when they get it, it's perfect and it does what we say that it's going to do. You know, we spend hours processing these phones, and, you know, it's something that we have to do to every single phone to make sure that bark is loaded on that phone and watch. And so for me, I just. I just hope that a customer would know that. That we cared about that before it went out the door, and that we care about what it's going to do for the next several years for their child. And it matters.
- [20:37]
D
Yeah. And when you're in the thick of it, you know, packaging, boxing, doing any of that, I think about how exciting it is to get a package or something new in the mail, you know, or different things, or the. The comfort it brings a parent to know that, okay, my kid's going to be okay on this. But the kid's also super excited because now they have a little more freedom, and they're gaining that trust and the flexibility from their parents, but yet they're still protected and safe. And, you know, it makes you feel good.
- [21:06]
A
I love it. All right, so as Bart continues to
- [21:09]
D
grow,
- [21:11]
A
like, what do you think is next for the team here at the distribution center?
- [21:15]
D
Who knows?
- [21:18]
B
Yeah. Surprise, surprise. That's exactly right. We never know. I mean, I. I obviously think we're in a period of growth right now, and I think it's just going to continue. I just feel like really good things are happening at bark right now, and more and more kids, more and more parents are understanding the importance of it. And, you know, we just. Parents can't bury their heads in the sand anymore. They just can't. It's too important. And so, first of all, I just think Growth. We've already moved from one suite into two suites, so we've already grown a little bit. And I can only see it going up from here. I do feel like, you know, every single day, we get a request from somebody to say, hey, do you think we can do this? Or, hey, do you think we can add this?
- [22:06]
A
So on the.
- [22:07]
B
On the business side of things, I think that they are, of course, growing, but I think on the customer side, I think it's. I think it's exponential from here. I think it's just going to blow up soon.
- [22:17]
D
Honestly, I. Who knows? Every day's a new surprise and where it's going to go. I do think, you know, it's just going to grow in maybe a larger demographic, you know, more than just kids or just where people need it, and especially in the world we live in, you know, just the safety and tech and all of that. I can see it going larger, more than just younger kids or maybe expanding a little.
- [22:41]
B
I think, too, our products are evolving as, you know, things change. And so I would say watch for things coming, you know, that, you know, like. Yeah, exactly. As a need arises, we can adjust and we can make changes. And that's the beauty of Bark, too, is that we have our own engineering team. We have all of these people that are so brilliant and so good at what they do that if a need arises or something changes in the world, something changes. Just in an operating system, anything. They can be like, let's fix it.
- [23:12]
C
Yeah.
- [23:13]
B
And so I love that about it. So I just think, you know, overall, the future's super bright, and we're not getting smaller, that's for sure. We're definitely growing.
- [23:23]
A
I love it. Yeah, it was so much fun. I've been really looking forward to doing this episode, and I'm super pumped that we're here with the team. Team and, you know, that they're so excited to also be a part of, you know, the crazy things that the marketing team wants to do. So I'm looking forward to this coming out and to sharing it, but also to all the other social content that hopefully people will be seeing soon.
- [23:47]
C
For sure. For sure.
- [23:48]
B
And they're loving it. And, yeah, stay tuned, because there's some fun stuff coming.
- [23:52]
D
I love it. Thanks for having us.
- [23:53]
A
Oh, my gosh, of course. Thanks so much for coming.
- [23:55]
B
Like, literally, like I said, we love sharing the warehouse whenever anybody comes, because
- [23:59]
A
we're pretty proud of it.
- [24:00]
D
Yeah.
- [24:01]
A
No, and it's something that I think even as someone who's not physically here every day, like, it's. Y' all should be very proud of it. I'm proud to be a part of it, and I don't get to do it every day, so thank you.
- [24:12]
B
Thank you. Thanks. And thanks for having us. This has been fun.
- [24:15]
C
Super fun.
- [24:16]
A
Love it.