Source Ready
Ricky Ho is the co-founder and CEO of SourceReady, an AI-powered product sourcing platform designed to simplify global trade. He studied Industrial Engineering at University of California, Berkeley and has spent more than seven years working across supply chain and technology sectors. Prior to SourceReady, Ricky founded and successfully exited an ERP company that raised over $22 million in funding, building a strong reputation as an innovative entrepreneur in the tech and operations space.
Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2021, Ricky is passionate about using AI to transform how businesses manage sourcing and supply chains. Through SourceReady, he aims to remove the complexity of tariffs, regulations, and supplier discovery by connecting businesses with verified suppliers worldwide—making global sourcing as simple and intuitive as chatting with AI.
Ricky Ho
Co-founder and CEO of SourceReady
sourceready.com
linkedin.com/in/ricky-ho-a25a05104
About the Company
At SourceReady, we make global sourcing simple. Our AI-powered platform helps businesses cut through the complexity of tariffs, regulations, and supplier negotiations by instantly connecting them with the best verified suppliers worldwide. From idea to product, we make global trade as easy as chatting with AI—just tell us what you need, and our technology finds the most relevant suppliers and explains why they’re the right fit.
Behind the platform is one of the world’s most comprehensive supplier databases, built by aggregating and cross-verifying data from hundreds of trusted sources, including customs filings, government registries, trade-show rosters, and supplier websites. By combining powerful AI with reliable global data, we help businesses discover products, research suppliers, and make smarter sourcing decisions in a fraction of the time.
Global sourcing is one of the most broken parts of building a product business, and most founders don’t realize it until they’ve already overpaid, wasted months, or been scammed. In this episode of The Business Game, we’re joined by Ricky Ho, co-founder and CEO of SourceReady, an AI-powered sourcing platform that helps businesses find real manufacturers, automate supplier outreach, and compete with enterprise procurement teams.
Ricky previously built and sold a supply-chain startup after raising $22M from Sequoia and GGV, and now he’s applying AI, customs data, and automation to fix the sourcing problem for small and mid-sized businesses. We break down why platforms like Alibaba are stacked against buyers, how AI agents can negotiate with hundreds of suppliers while you sleep, and why sourcing — not marketing — is the real bottleneck for most eCommerce brands. In this episode, we cover:
- Why sourcing is harder than marketing for most founders
- How customs and shipping data reveal real factory networks
- The truth about Alibaba, middlemen, and supplier markups
- How AI agents automate supplier emails, quotes, and comparisons
- Why AI is better than humans at large-scale supplier evaluation
- Lessons from raising $22M and scaling too fast
- Enterprise vs SMB software: risk vs ROI
- Leadership philosophy: context over control
- Why business is an infinite game — and how to win it