How a SupCarta engagement works.
From first contact to ongoing engagement — the onboarding flow, what we deliver, how we stay accountable, and what you should expect from us.
The onboarding flow
Every engagement starts with a structured onboarding period. We don't take on work blind — we need to understand your operation before we can run it effectively.
Introduction call (30–45 minutes)
We learn what you ship, where, and what the current compliance situation looks like. You learn how we approach the work. By the end of this call, we both know whether this engagement makes sense. If it doesn't, we'll say so.
Discovery and documentation audit
We review your existing compliance documentation, identify gaps, and map your supplier network. We ask for access to whatever exists — ERP exports, previous customs filings, existing ESG questionnaire responses, supplier certificates. We don't need everything to be perfect; we need to understand the current state. By end of week one, we'll have a shared view of what needs attention first.
First deliverables
Active work begins. The first outputs will be specific to your practice area — this might be a classification decision on a priority SKU batch, a first-draft ESG questionnaire response section, a supplier document checklist with status, or a monitoring dashboard setup. We share what we've done and explain the decisions behind it.
Full engagement cadence
By week three, we're in the normal working rhythm. Daily updates on open items, escalations to you when a judgment call is needed, and a weekly written summary of what was completed, what's in progress, and what's coming up. You have a direct channel to the specialist on your account — not a team inbox.
Engagement review and handoff
A written summary of everything we did, what we found, what's still open, and what an ongoing engagement would look like — including scope and indicative pricing. You decide whether to continue. Nothing auto-renews.
Service-level commitments
Quality assurance
Every significant output goes through a two-stage process:
- AI-assisted drafting: We use AI tooling to handle drafting, data normalization, and classification research where it accelerates the work without reducing the accuracy. The AI does not make final decisions.
- Specialist review: A human specialist validates the output against the actual regulatory requirements before delivery. For classification work, we document the reasoning chain. For questionnaire responses, we identify the evidence source for each claim. For supplier documents, we verify against the relevant standard.
You receive the output with the reasoning — not just the answer. That means you can review it, question it, and understand where we're confident versus where the requirements are genuinely ambiguous.
What's out of scope
Being explicit about what SupCarta does not do:
- Customs broker of record: We prepare documentation and work with your licensed broker. We do not file entries under our own customs broker license.
- Legal advice: We handle compliance operations, not legal counsel. When a question has legal implications, we flag it and recommend a qualified lawyer.
- Importer or exporter of record: We do not take title or legal responsibility for goods.
- Physical inspection or logistics: We work with documentation and data — not physical goods.
- Audit defense or representation: We prepare audit-ready documentation. If a formal audit or enforcement action occurs, you'll need legal representation. We can support your lawyers as a documentation resource. {{TODO: confirm scope of audit support}}
How we communicate
We adapt to your existing communication setup. Typical options: email for daily updates and deliverables, a shared workspace (Notion, Google Drive, or similar) for document tracking, and a synchronous call slot for escalations and weekly reviews. {{TODO: confirm communication tooling preferences}}
We don't create overhead. If a question can be answered in writing, we answer it in writing. Calls happen when they're faster than writing.
How we engage with new customers
Engagements are scoped per customer — typically project-based for specific work like audit responses or documentation programs, or monthly retainer for ongoing supplier ops. Reach out and we'll talk through what fits your situation. {{TODO: once you have 3–5 closed engagements, decide whether to display a public anchor or stay scope-quoted}}
Customers who come on early work directly with the founder — one named specialist on your account, not a rotating team. That means flexibility on how we scope the work as we build the service together, lower-friction onboarding, and no long-term lock-in. We'd rather earn the ongoing relationship than lock it in upfront.
To start, reach out via the contact page. Tell us what you ship and where — that's enough for an initial conversation.
Ready to get started?
Tell us what you ship and where. We'll come back with a plan.