Catching Up With TapRen Tech Solutions’ Tristan Ren

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

I am always looking for companies that develop new and innovative ways of doing things, so I was delighted when I got a call from Tristan Ren, who wanted to tell me about his new company TapRen Tech Solutions. As I talked to “Ren,” I realized this was not your normal value-added broker. (I know everyone hates that term but that’s what many of these companies are.)

Everyone says that outsourcing to Asia, especially China or India, will save you money, but there is much more to it than that. There are many challenges, from finding and qualifying good manufacturers that meet your quality requirements and deliver product on time, to getting the product here, handling tariff issues, and getting product to customers.

TapRen was formed to help small- to medium-sized companies successfully outsource PCBs and assemblies as well as cables and battery packs—whatever needs outsourcing.

Dan Beaulieu: Ren, thanks for reaching out. Tell me about your background.

Tristan Ren: I was born and raised in Mainland China. I went to South Korea for my master's in electrical engineer, and in 2014, after working there for three years, I immigrated to the U.S., completed another master's degree in computer science, specializing in data science, followed by work on various projects with different companies. I worked at Intel for some time, then as a language service provider in downtown Portland, Oregon. I founded Tristata Technology and worked as a software/AI consultant for some time. Two years ago, I founded TapRen.

Beaulieu: Where did the idea for TapRen come from?

Ren: Tejas Tapsale is my co-founder and we met while working at Intel. We both have that entrepreneurial spirit and connected instantly. We’d go out to lunch and talk about business, and different tech in the market. Even after I left Intel, we’d meet over the weekend to discuss life, the tech market, and different business ideas. 

In one of those conversations, Tejas mentioned that sourcing electronics from China is very hard. He had been doing some market research and said that, for companies wanting to outsource, there was no easy way to find a good supplier in China. Every one he found online seemed fishy. He thought that maybe I could help local companies find the right resources. I agreed and thought if there were many companies with a similar problem, I could start a consultancy where we help source things from Asia. 

To make it work, one of our associates from TapRen goes to the actual factories, inspects and tests the product, and negotiates on the spot for better pricing. It made me think that with my background, I should be able to find a better way. But then again, I had to learn the hard way.

Beaulieu: What do you mean by that?

Ren: At first, it was tough. I had to learn that if we were not careful, we could lose money. The first company I placed an order with in China ghosted me after I had paid him with my first customer’s money. That was a lesson hard to learn. 

Beaulieu: But I assume you eventually found some reliable partners? 

Ren: Yes, eventually. I went to some good contract manufacturers I could trust. They were reliable, and I am still working with them today. We now have four or five quality and dependable suppliers from China and India. 

Beaulieu: What does your staff look like?

Ren: I manage the operations, and I have two account managers who handle all the customer interface for most customers. I work with large customers, and I have PCB designers reporting to me. We are trying to keep the company very lean, so I wear many hats.

Beaulieu: Ren, what makes your company stand out?

Ren: We offer a holistic approach, meaning we do everything for the customer, including providing engineering and design services, and finding the best value in the bare boards and assembly. Most importantly, we are developing a long-term relationship with our customers. We want them to come to rely on us as if we were part of their company. We even help them with the design of the product. We handle all the quality and delivery issues, and we offer credit if they are having financial issues.

Beaulieu: You offer credit? Tell me more about that.

Ren: We want a deep relationship with a customer; in many ways, it is a partnership, so like a good partner, if they are having difficulties, we are there for them. Dan, we want customers for life. Once they start working with us, they stick with us. The credit option applies to customers we have worked with for at least a year. Our Chinese contract manufacturers (CMs) insist on getting their money upfront, so we will handle that for our trusted customers. It depends on the situation. Normally, we ask for 70% upfront, but if it’s a big order, some companies will ask us to front the money, and in the right circumstances, we will do that.

Beaulieu: What can you tell me about your zero-defect policy?

Ren: We want our customers to be happy, and that means worry-free in all aspects of our services. If something goes wrong, we handle it. It’s always the customer first. In my book, that’s the only way to do business. Internally, I call it doing the right thing for our customers; externally, it's a zero-defect policy. I tell the same thing to our team: There will be some mistakes, so do the right thing for our customer. Our loyalties with customers come first. It’s the culture we try to enforce in our daily business.

Beaulieu: You have told me that TapRen offers the most competitive prices in the business. How can you do that?

Ren: We work with many suppliers to evaluate and compare costs so we know the market price and which shops are the best. That allows us to provide our customers with the best overall value available on the market today. We also take a very slim margin, which is all part of playing the long game.

Beaulieu: You’re also offering design services now?

Ren: Yes, we have a team of established and experienced designers in the U.S. and India, which gives us an advantage and allows us to handle all our work at much better rates than domestic designers. Of course, we don’t do any ITAR work, so we are free to work with designers all over the world. We have found our customers find this service very valuable.

Beaulieu: What kind of companies do you serve?

Ren: We cater to small- to medium-sized businesses, from a million to maybe 50 or 100 million. These companies will get the most benefit from outsourcing. We support contract manufacturing for electronic instruments in industrial applications, consumer electronics, and medical devices, and these days, electric vehicles or renewable energy seem to be picking up.  

Beaulieu: I assume you work with colleges and universities. Would you elaborate on that?

Ren: Yes, that happened by surprise. Some Oregon State University students are building EVs for the EV Formula One race, and they found us organically through a Google search. One day, we got a call from a student asking for manufacturing help for some of the boards for her EV. 

We had a video call, they showed us their car, and the required PCBs. They said any help would be appreciated. So, we gave them boards for free. When I went to OSU in Corvallis to personally deliver those PCBs, they were so happy. You know, sometimes, being the cause of someone's smile is of more worth than we think. That day, seeing those happy students, I realized that.

Beaulieu:  What is your reach globally?​​​​​​​ 

Ren: If you are talking about sales, we are focused on our service in the U.S., but we want to expand to Canada and Europe. The key is figuring out the supply chain. Next year, we plan to grow beyond North America. 

Beaulieu: What is your reach in North America?

Ren: Most of our customers are from the West Coast, but we want to expand. We still have a lot of market left to cover. 

Beaulieu: How are you marketing in North America? Do you have a sales team?

Ren: Currently, we get all our customers via reference, by soliciting them, or even some organically. We haven’t needed a sales team, but now we are growing and learning, so we are considering hiring someone for sales to help us reach our expansion goals.

Beaulieu: There is a lot of controversy about China right now. How does that affect your company?

Ren: It has created some buzz, and I do worry about it. So far, we have yet to see any direct effect on our business. Our current customers are satisfied with the same contract manufacturer (CM) service. New queries ask if we have outsourcing facilities from other parts of Asia. The whole supply chain setup, from sourcing components to PCB manufacturing to assembly, is so streamlined with Chinese CMs that we can reliably predict delivery time. Most of the time, we have time-sensitive orders. Also, the quality of these CMs are good. So, we will continue to work with our Chinese CMs.  

Beaulieu: Do you have other alternatives? Are you looking for other supplies to buy PCBs from?

Ren: We have one CM from India, but we are looking for more CM tie-ups from places like India, Vietnam, and Thailand. We have to go through the same process we did with our previous CMs, like checking for pricing, quality, and delivery time. We need to vet them thoroughly. I'm not sure if they can compete with our current supplier. But in the end, it's our customer's decision; if they want a CM outside China, we will work toward it.  

Beaulieu: Where do you want to be in three to five years?​​​​​​​ 

Ren: In the short term, we want to streamline our process and expand our CM portfolio. We also hope to expand our customer support team so we can get more long-term contracts in PCB design. Finally, we hope to reach $5 to $10 million in revenue. 

In the long term, we are still figuring out. You know, there are changing market dynamics, geopolitical tension, and supply chain disruptions. Who knows if there will be new import bans or tariff increases, and there are a lot of these factors that would affect us. So, we are trying to figure out the best way to grow. For this reason, we are growing cautiously, keeping ourselves lean and frugal on spending. We want to be agile and malleable to the market conditions.

Beaulieu: Ren, thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. I really enjoyed our conversation.​​​​​​​ 

Ren: Thank you, Dan. These are very good and insightful questions. I hope I've added clarity about TapRen. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. I'm really grateful for it. 

Beaulieu: My pleasure, Ren.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.