Building Tannorium has taught me that creating a marketplace is one challenge. Convincing an established industry to trust something new is another.
I have been trying to bring leather manufacturers and tanneries in Karachi onto Tannorium, but getting the attention of some of the bigger names has not been easy.
Initially, I wondered why. Karachi has some of the biggest players in Pakistan’s leather industry. Why wouldn’t they want to be part of a dedicated leather marketplace?
Then I started understanding the business relationships that already exist in this market.
The Business Relationships Behind Karachi’s Leather Industry
During my conversations and research, I came across a reality I had not fully appreciated before.
Some established agents and traders have spent 40–50 years building relationships with manufacturers and buyers. Many business transactions happen through these existing networks.
These relationships are not built overnight. They are based on years of dealing with one another, understanding requirements, negotiating prices, and knowing whom to approach when a problem arises.
Now imagine introducing a new online platform into this environment.
For a manufacturer who already has established buyers and trusted agents, joining Tannorium may not immediately look like an opportunity. It may look like an unfamiliar business model with uncertain benefits.
I needed to understand this reality rather than assume that every manufacturer would automatically see the value in what I was building.
When I Discovered That People Were Already Asking About Tannorium
One day, I contacted someone I had found through social media and went to meet him.
He was from the second generation of a family involved in the leather trade and was working as an agent or trader himself.
During our conversation, he told me something interesting: manufacturers in Karachi had been sending him Tannorium’s link and asking what the platform was.
That was an important moment for me.
People were noticing Tannorium, even though I had not personally approached all of them. But instead of coming directly to me, some were asking people they already knew and trusted.
It showed me how strongly existing business networks influence the way people evaluate something new.
The same conversation also exposed some genuine weaknesses in how we had presented parts of the platform.
The Criticism That Made Me Look Again at Our Checkout
When he reviewed Tannorium, he pointed out a product listing that looked suspicious to him.
The product was priced at $2 per piece, with a minimum order quantity of 100 pieces. When a buyer proceeded, the checkout showed a total of $200.
The listing and checkout did not make the transaction sufficiently clear. The displayed unit price and minimum quantity may confuse the buyer.
He also questioned why a buyer was being directed to checkout without first speaking to the manufacturer.
From his perspective, these were warning signs.
I could have dismissed his concerns because he was an agent working in the same industry we wanted to disrupt. Instead, I looked at the experience from a buyer’s perspective.
If someone unfamiliar with Tannorium encountered that listing, would the pricing make sense? Would they understand the minimum order quantity? Would they feel confident proceeding with a transaction?
Those were legitimate questions.
I discussed the issues with our development team. We decided that products better suited to custom requirements or bulk purchasing should have an enquiry option rather than an inappropriate direct purchase flow.
We are also developing a chat feature through which buyers can communicate with eligible Gold and Platinum suppliers on the platform.
The objective is to make the buying process clearer and give buyers a way to discuss their requirements before placing an order.
That conversation helped us identify improvements we needed to make.
Tannorium Is a Marketplace, Not Just a Supplier Directory
During the same discussion, the agent suggested that buyers should simply receive the manufacturer’s contact number and negotiate directly.
I understood his perspective, but it raised a fundamental question for me.
If Tannorium only displays supplier contact details and sends buyers elsewhere to complete their transactions, what makes it different from a directory?
My vision is to build a platform where buyers can discover suppliers and conduct business through a structured environment.
That includes supplier information, product listings, communication tools, and transaction protection through our Trade Assurance model.
A directory helps you find someone. A marketplace should do more than that.
The distinction is important because the problems I want to solve extend beyond supplier discovery. Buyers also need clarity about what they are purchasing, confidence in the transaction process, and a defined way to address problems.
That is the purpose behind building Tannorium as a dedicated leather marketplace.
Why I Take Criticism Seriously
At the end of our meeting, the agent told me that he had also thought about building a similar platform for a long time but had never found the time to pursue it.
He also said he would not recommend Tannorium to the people in his network because, in his opinion, it looked suspicious.
I did not agree with his overall judgment, but I paid attention to the reasons behind it.
A new platform has no automatic right to trust. It has to earn that trust through its product, communication, and execution.
I consider criticism a form of free quality assurance. People who question Tannorium may identify problems that I have overlooked because I am too close to the product.
Not every criticism is correct, and not every suggestion deserves to be implemented. But when someone points out a genuine weakness, ignoring it would be foolish.
I would rather improve a confusing checkout today than lose a buyer tomorrow because we failed to recognise the problem.
Why I Didn’t Build a Paid Leather Directory
Another suggestion I received was to create a directory exclusively for Pakistani leather manufacturers and charge each business Rs. 500 or Rs. 1,000 per month.
The argument was simple: if hundreds or thousands of businesses paid a small monthly fee, the revenue could become meaningful.
On paper, the calculation is straightforward. But that was not the business I set out to build.
I did not spend my time developing Tannorium to create another directory that collects supplier listings and monthly subscriptions.
My ambition is to build a dedicated marketplace for the leather industry, serving buyers and suppliers across countries and supporting transactions rather than stopping at contact discovery.
A directory subscription model might be a viable business for someone with a different objective. But it does not address the full problem I want Tannorium to solve.
I have to stay focused on the business I am trying to build, not change its direction every time someone suggests an easier revenue model.
Keep Building, Keep Improving
Building Tannorium means dealing with scepticism, established business relationships, product challenges, and people who will not immediately understand the idea.
I cannot control how everyone perceives the platform, and I cannot force anyone to join it.
What I can control is whether we listen, improve the product, communicate clearly, and keep doing the work.
I believe our responsibility is to make Tannorium better every day. The results are not entirely in our hands. As a Muslim, I believe we should make our best efforts, act honestly, and leave the outcome to Allah.
We will keep working, learning from our mistakes, and building the platform we believe the leather industry needs.
Tannorium is still growing. There is a long way to go, and the work continues.
Maaz Ahmed Khan
Founder & CEO, Tannorium