A written deliverable
Real categories, channels, footprint, commercial terms, the brands they have worked with, and our view on each name.
Distributors, Tmall TPs and Douyin partners, twenty years deepA contact list tells you who exists. We tell you who fits.
We did the sourcing already. You do not have to start where most brands do.
Twenty years of meetings, vetted into one private database.
A directory cannot protect you from a wrong-partner mistake. A database built one meeting at a time can. Almost every name in Compass is someone our team has met, briefed, or worked with on a real brand project.
Partner sourcing, in three shapes.
We use Compass to draw you a list of distribution and channel partners worth talking to, validated against what we have seen recently and what we know about your category.
Shortlist
Three to five vetted names, briefed in depth, ready to meet. For brands that already know what their distribution should look like.
- Curated names. Three to five partners that match your category, your stage, and your channel mix.
- In-depth briefs. Footprint, brands they have worked with, commercial terms, our view on each.
- Working session. Senior people walking through every name. Why this one, why not that one, where we would push in negotiation.
- Warm introductions. You walk in with a relationship behind you. You tend to get the senior team, not the pitch team.
Market map
Fifteen to twenty names, structured for comparison. For brands still working out what their distribution should look like. Followed by a focused shortlist when you are ready.
- Longlist coverage. Fifteen to twenty names, mapped by category, channel, and footprint.
- Structured comparison. Same categories on every row, so you can compare options on the same axes.
- Channel logic. Cross-border versus domestic, Tmall TP versus distributor, B2B versus DTC. We say which fits.
- Sequenced shortlist. The most common shape for first-time China entries. Map first, then a focused shortlist drawn from the names that survived it.
Replacement
For brands that already signed with the wrong partner. The shortlist work is the same. The constraints are tighter and there is usually a contract to unwind.
- Replacement shortlist. Same vetting, same warm introductions, but built around an active operation.
- Transition planning. How to move inventory, channels, and content without losing the launch window.
- Contract unwind support. We help on the resourcing side. Finding a replacement, comparing options, running the transition.
- Discreet by default. No public noise. We have done this enough times to know when to keep quiet.
A list is not worth much if you do not trust the thinking behind it.
A working session
A senior operator walks you through the list, name by name, and tells you where we would push in negotiation.
Warm introductions
We do not sell introductions to strangers. If a name is in Compass, someone here has sat across the table from them.
Honest assessments
Who we would recommend without thinking twice, who we would warn you off, and who only fits a very specific kind of brand.
China rewards brands that pick the right partner first.
It punishes the ones that do not.
The punishment is rarely loud.
What the wrong call costs
- Eighteen months. Inventory sits in a warehouse.
- The wrong hands. A flagship run by a team that has never moved your category.
- Two years. Your China entry, gone.
A database built one meeting at a time, over twenty years, can protect you from that.
Three lines we keep clean.
So you always know what you are paying for, and what you are not.
- We don't
Sell access to the database.
No login, no seat license.
What we do insteadThe value is the context around the rows, and that does not export to a CSV. You get our read on each name, in person.
- We don't
Run the partnership once it is signed.
Sourcing, not management.
What we do insteadTheChinaPath does that work separately, when you want it. Two teams, one clean handoff.
- We don't
Promise outcomes two years out.
No one honest can.
What we do insteadWhat we can do is make sure every name on your list earned its place. The rest is yours to run.