In this episode of Blue Ocean by StartOps, we sit down with Michael Rossiter, Co-Founder and CEO of Atomic — an AI-native inventory management platform used by a growing number of omnichannel brands.

Built by former Tesla planners who lived through the Model 3 ramp, Atomic is a unit-level simulation engine that reconciles demand and supply constraints in real-time — offering the control of spreadsheets with the power of enterprise-grade planning software.

We dive into Michael's experience managing Tesla's Sales & Operations Planning during hyper-growth and how those hard lessons shaped what Atomic is today. Michael has fresh and interesting answers to questions like:

Why do planning teams always end up back in spreadsheets? (Hint: it has to do with what he calls "the trust deficit")
What does "planning excellence" really look like?
Will inventory planning end up dominated by vertical or horizontal AI SaaS?
What is the actual cash impact of implementing planning software?

Whether you're a CEO, a CFO or a planner, you'll find some useful gems in this episode.

Learn more about Atomic or get in touch here: https://startops.network/companies/atomic

Defining and achieving "planning excellence" | Michael Rossiter @ Atomic Supply