About Us
Vianza is a private network for wholesalers and retailers
Our Manifesto
What if every indie designer and retailer who wanted to thrive, could?
Well, we thought we’d answer the call. Want to know why we created Vianza?
We did it for you, wholesalers and retailers, because........
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Busywork is overrated
Research shows wholesalers and their retail accounts spend up to 20-40% of their work week managing orders. Success stops feeling like a good thing when you’re burned out, and it’s tough to scale when paperwork gets more time than products. Doing business on Vianza means fewer faxes, voicemails and updates, no misplaced emails, less busywork.
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You deserve software strong enough for a big company, made for a small business
Here’s the deal: Big-box retailers and large manufacturers selling mass-produced goods already use robust, enterprise-class software to do it profitably. We’ve built something tailored for you—easy, customizable, and smart enough to make you a contender against those big guys.
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When we work together, we can profit together
Even if you’re doing it all for love, your business needs more than love to last. And good neighbors make for good numbers. Vianza lets you create your own private business network, so you can work closely with buyers and sellers online. Our streamlined service can be easily adopted by retailers and suppliers alike. Financial viability for all.
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Collaboration creates better products
When you have a platform that lets you collaborate and co-create like never before, unique offerings have a way of popping up everywhere. Customers love it. We use open-source technology to help you (and your collaborators) get things done.
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Making customers happy goes hand-in-hand with having some fun
You’re in the creative design business—so you’re already a specialist in the art of delighting people. At Vianza, we support that spirit by providing you with personal service and ask-us-anything support. You have more time to make your customers happy, which makes us happy.
We exist so the indie design community can thrive.
OUR TEAM
Mita Patnaik
Founder & CEO
Behind, inside and all around Vianza, Mita is the heart, the vision, and the driving force. She dreams of making the world the kind of place where indie businesses thrive. As a former management consultant and design entrepreneur, she understands the challenges and opportunities that lie at the intersection of business, technology and design. She leverages those insights and brings it to your business in the form of impassioned conversations (if you were one of our first users, you've probably talked to her on the phone), usable technology (this very platform), and detailed, deep-thinking blog posts.
- Favorite City: Paris
- Favorite Color: Grey
- Favorite Motto: "Be yourself; for everyone else is already taken" ~ Oscar Wilde
Jay Patnaik
Co-Founder & VP Engineering
While we're finding ways to make your life easier, Jay is making it happen. His experience building software-as-a-service products and large workflow-based financial platforms makes him an indispensable leader to our product development team. His never-ending problem-solving is instrumental in turning our dreams into your reality.
- Favorite Pastime: Sudoku
- Favorite Food: Sushi
Randi Kofman
VP Sales & Marketing
Randi knew she wanted to be a part of Vianza the moment she met Mita. Randi’s passion for helping small businesses grow was a perfect fit with Vianza’s mission – well, that plus her senior roles with retail brands, consumer products, and tech start-ups. Above all, she loves to solve problems in elegant, innovative and logical ways. She knows first-hand how hard it is to start and manage small businesses. That’s why she’s a Vianza Evangelist
- Favorite sport to watch & do: Mixed martial arts
- Favorite color combo: Pink & Green (long live Preppy!)
- Things she can’t live without: Great kitchen knives
Nishtha Agarwal
Sourcing Manager
Nishtha's responsibilities at Vianza are backed by years of experience sourcing for UK-based brands like Ted Baker, Karen Millen, Oasis and Whistles. This makes her an incredibly resourceful agent for Vianza's community regardless of the product category—textiles, leather goods and more. She encourages people to ask for anything they need as it's likely she can track down a source, tailored for the smaller volume and cost requirements of wholesalers and specialty retail buyers.
- Favorite City: New Delhi
- Favorite Cuisine: Italian
- Favorite Motto: Eat, Pray, Love
Ryan Wolfe
Advisor
Ryan is the former VP/GM of Banana Republic EU & International Franchise Product at Gap Inc. And in his professional career, he's gained an impressive reputation for his ability to manage complex challenges and champion inventive solutions in the retail industry in the areas of merchandising and inventory management. Ryan believes strongly in the future of indie design and curated specialty-retail, and brings a wealth of out-of-the-box thinking to help the Vianza community.
Katherine Gilpin
Advisor
Katherine brings her institutional retail knowledge, passion for growing great brands, and innate desire to simplify work-flow to Vianza. She is the former SVP of US Retail fo Giorgio Armani Corp., where she oversaw the operations and purchasing for all US stores. Prior to Giorgio Armani, she worked for Polo Ralph Lauren and Gap Inc. Katherine has experience in Home Furnishings, Home Improvement, Apparel, and Accessories. She currently sits on the Advisory Board for Green Depot, an eco-friendly home improvement retailer.
- Favorite color: Orange
- Favorite architect: George Merrick
- Favorite Item: Jonathon Adler "Couture" Lamp; made by him at original Broom Street location
Elisabeth Richard
Advisor
Elisabeth is former vice-president of I.T. International Retail & Franchise at GAP. During her tenure at Gap she was responsible for technology strategy and delivering leading technology solutions and services to enable business growth and support operational efficiencies. Her experience includes transformation processes and global technology implementations spanning retail processes from supply chain, merchandising, sales to corporate functions. Prior to Gap, Elisabeth was an IT leader with Esprit de Corp. As an advisor, Elisabeth now shares her best-practice experience with Vianza’s indie brand and retailer community.
Our Story
We built Vianza to be strong enough for a big company, but simple and intuitive enough for a busy entrepreneur. Our wish is for this platform to inspire and connect all of the designers and retailers who dare to follow through on their midnight epiphanies.
Vianza was born from the desire to make it easier to bring inspired products to market.
Co-founder Mita Patnaik knows firsthand how hard it can be to run a profitable wholesale business. When running her textile wholesale business, she wasted perfectly good hours of her life juggling routine tasks for merchandise sourcing and ordering. She decided to take what she had learned working for more than 15 years as a global supply-chain pro for large corporations and develop a best-practice workflow system to support all wholesale indie business transactions—no matter where they're located. If more indie creative makers and sellers can do what they love, satisfying demand for the pretty things that make people happy, then entire communities, neighborhoods, and cities begin to prosper. All because a few indie designers and retailers decided to collaborate online.
OUR PARTNERS
FedEx
You already know FedEx as the reliable shipper, committed to getting your package - large or small - to its destination on time. All Vianza users get up to 50% discount on select shipping services when their wholesale orders are processed through the Vianza private network.
PayPal
Our partnership provides all Vianza users with more convenient payment options. All major credit cards and bank payments, including e-checks, are fully supported to pay for wholesale orders through Vianza.
PRESS
Press Release: July 18, 2012
Vianza drives the future of specialty retail through major sponsorship of Urban Expositions events, including the San Francisco International Gift show, the Seattle Gift Show and the California Gift Show. Read more...
Press Release: October 3, 2012
New service simplifies private-label merchandise sourcing for specialty retailers. Read more...