Where the Source Matters
Sourcing, market entry and venture build-out between Europe and China.
The firm qualifies the factory, runs the RFQ and the quality control on the ground in China, and builds the structure a venture needs to hold a market on the other side. Feasibility inside 48 hours. A formal RFQ inside 7 days.
48 hours
Feasibility check on every brief: go, no-go, or what is missing
7 days
Formal RFQ from two to three vetted factories, as one landed-cost matrix
1,000 to 10,000+
Units per run, from growth runs to enterprise volumes
8 pillars
Paper, plastic, textile, linen, sensor, circuit, module, battery
Three ways in. One discipline underneath.
What the firm sells
A brief arrives at one of three doors. All three run on the same intake and the same 48-hour feasibility check, and each is led by one named principal.
01Sourcing & Supply
Brief → Sample → Logistics
Factory selection from the vetted base, one landed-cost matrix, the golden sample, inspection at mid-production and before shipment, freight and customs.
Phoebe Ye ~ Operations Lead ~ on the ground in China
The service in full
02Venture & Market
Intention → Attention → Retention
The direction stated, the partners found in person, the position held once the product is in market. China or the DACH region, from either side.
Pierre Blanquett ~ Founder ~ Shanghai and Hamburg
The service in full
03Design & Development
Brand → Product → System
The product that does not exist yet: brand, packaging, product architecture and the digital presence, built as one system with the supply behind it.
Piotr Zalewski ~ Systems Architect ~ Noo Studio
The service in full
Which door is yours.
The route in one look
Start from what you have in hand. The intake is the same for all three; the route decides who answers.
The specification exists. The factory is the question.
↓
Brief → Sample → Logistics ~ Phoebe Ye
The direction is still to be set. The market is China or the DACH region.
↓
Intention → Attention → Retention ~ Pierre Blanquett
The product does not exist yet, or exists without the presence it needs.
↓
Brand → Product → System ~ Piotr Zalewski
The Firm on the Ground
Three days as a visitor beat three weeks at a desk.
Five stages. Two commitments.
How a brief becomes a shipment
Every stage ends in something the client can hold. The first two carry the service levels the firm publishes; the balance is released only on a passed pre-shipment audit.
Stage 1
Supplier Mapping
Feasibility note: go, no-go, or what is missing
48 h feasibility check
Stage 2
Cost Validation
One landed-cost matrix from two to three vetted factories
7 d formal RFQ
Stage 3
Factory Selection
The factory visited, the terms set, the ticket active
Stage 4
Product Architecture
The golden sample signed off before any batch
Stage 5
Production Command
Mid-production inspection, 100% pre-shipment audit, freight and customs
Stage 1 of 5Strategic Supplier Mapping
Within 48 hours of intake the firm says whether the brief is possible against current Asian raw-material indices, which of its vetted factories can deliver the specification, what discovery is needed where the base is incomplete, and the outcome: go, no-go, or needs clarification.
ArtefactFeasibility note on the sourcing ticket: factory shortlist target, the index benchmark used, operational fit.
Stage 2 of 5Comparative Cost Validation
Within 7 days of a go, a formal RFQ from two to three vetted factories, normalised into one landed-cost matrix: works price, local logistics, export duty, ocean freight, destination duty. One document, the total cost at the destination port for each candidate.
ArtefactThe landed-cost matrix. The total price at your door is known before the first deposit is paid.
Stage 3 of 5Commercial Selection
Samples from the leading candidates, an in-person factory visit where the engagement size justifies it, final negotiation on aggregate volume. Pierre presents the matrix with a recommendation; the client owns the selection.
ArtefactThe selected-factory record and the signed scope. Status reported in the weekly check-in.
Stage 4 of 5Product Architecture
The golden sample: the physical benchmark every unit of mass production is measured against. Specification sheet, moulds where required, certification and testing (REACH, RoHS, FSC, OEKO-TEX, ASTM as required), and the acceptable quality limit with minor, major and critical defect thresholds. Signed off in writing before any batch starts. No sample ships internationally until it has been physically inspected in Asia.
ArtefactThe approved golden sample, the locked QC checklist, test reports and certificates. The sample you approve is the product you receive.
Stage 5 of 5Production Command
From order placement to destination receipt: milestone tracking, a mid-production inspection at roughly 15% completion, a 100% pre-shipment audit against the golden sample, loading inspection with a photo set, freight, customs documentation with a verified HS code, and the balance payment released only on a passed audit. Nothing leaves the origin port until the operations team has physically touched the product.
ArtefactInspection reports, the loading photo set, the customs set, destination receipt and the closure record. Lead time as agreed at stage 2.
Sourcing and cross-border ventures, between Europe and Asia.
The firm
sentiention™ is the disciplined cross-border partner for ventures, brands, and capital between Europe and Asia. It works with founders and companies who are trying to move across markets: the products, the suppliers, the lines that supplement what is already being sold, and the partners who make the crossing possible.
The firm is a triad. Pierre Blanquett holds the European front: client trust, deal structure, communication. Phoebe Ye runs the Asian execution: factory selection, RFQ deployment, sample audits, quality control, logistics. Piotr Zalewski builds the system the two run on, from intake to the knowledge platforms. The handoff between the three is rigid by design, which is what lets the firm commit to service levels that are unusual in cross-border sourcing.
Rigorous where the analysis needs to be rigorous, and human where the decisions are actually made.
Where the firm sits inside a partner’s structure.
Cases
Not introductions and referrals. In each of these the firm’s principals hold a named role inside the partner’s own team, upstream of sourcing or across the whole crossing.
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GermanyCo-FounderOperating Partner & Growth Lead
Germany ~ Co-Founder ~ Operating Partner & Growth Lead
Nordling Outdoor
An operating partner inside a rooftop-tent brand that roughly tripled in a year: on the board, on the fair floor, in the factories.
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GermanyNordlingNAYSFirst Cast TV
Germany ~ Nordling ~ NAYS ~ First Cast TV
UPNORTH 4.0
How a rooftop-tent brand built a year of attention around one fishing film, with no media budget, and moved into the fishing hall.
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GermanyNordling OutdoorPackaging System & Studio
Germany ~ Nordling Outdoor ~ Packaging System & Studio
Nordling Packaging
Two products from Chinese factories, one packaging system: the rules of a box written once, a studio that applies them to any size.
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GermanyStrategic PartnershipsHead of APAC
Germany ~ Strategic Partnerships ~ Head of APAC
WandWert Deutschland
Both principals on the core team of a Hamburg media house that brings Asian brands into Europe.
Three people, three functions.
The principals
The European front, the Asian execution, and the presence between them. By the time a brief reaches operations it has already been qualified.
