Company context
The company acquires previously used consumer electronic devices through multiple channels, verifies ownership, erases data, diagnoses condition, repairs or harvests parts, grades finished units and resells them with defined customer protections. Its model seeks to extend product life and make technology more accessible while reducing avoidable waste.
The business carries unusual information, product and balance-sheet risks. A device may hold residual personal data; ownership may be defective; internal components may not match the exterior identity; cosmetic grades may be applied inconsistently; non-genuine parts may affect safety or performance; and inventory values can fall quickly as new models enter the market. Rapid growth can therefore produce revenue while accumulating warranty, return, fraud, obsolescence and customer-trust liabilities. The Board seeks an Independent Director who can govern this full lifecycle.
The Board mandate
The Director will strengthen governance over device provenance, data erasure, diagnostic accuracy, parts authenticity, grading, inventory valuation, warranties, customer communication, channel conduct and cash conversion. The role will help the company move beyond volume-led growth toward repeatable contribution, measurable product quality and institutionally credible circularity.
The appointee should challenge business practices that create information asymmetry between seller, platform and buyer. A lower purchase price is not value creation if it reflects unclear title; a higher resale margin is not durable if the customer receives a device whose battery, repair history or functional limits were inadequately disclosed.
Strategic and governance responsibilities
-
Verify lawful provenance. Review seller identity, proof of ownership, device identifiers, activation status, theft or loss screening, financing locks and handling of suspicious transactions. Exception approvals should be rare, documented and independently monitored.
-
Assure data erasure. Establish approved methods by device type, evidence retention, failed-erasure quarantine, physical destruction where necessary and controls over devices awaiting processing. Completion certificates must be tied to verified outcomes.
-
Protect device identity. Reconcile external identifiers, internal boards, parts, software and test results. Prevent identity switching, duplicate records or component substitution from undermining provenance and warranty analysis.
-
Govern diagnostic standards. Define mandatory functional, electrical, battery, camera, connectivity, display and safety tests. Calibration, technician competence and diagnostic-tool changes should be controlled and auditable.
-
Make grading reproducible. Establish objective cosmetic and functional criteria, image evidence, sampling, blind re-grading and customer-facing definitions. Grade inflation should be treated as a conduct and provisioning issue, not a sales technique.
-
Control parts and repair quality. Review supplier approval, genuine or compatible-part disclosure, serial or batch traceability, rework, soldering and battery safety. Parts harvested from other devices require controlled qualification and traceability.
-
Strengthen inventory valuation. Use model age, grade, condition, repair cost, channel demand, market-price movement, return status and obsolescence. Management should not defer markdowns to protect short-term margin.
-
Govern channel economics. Compare direct, marketplace, institutional and wholesale channels after acquisition cost, inspection, repair, logistics, payment fees, return rate, warranty, discounts and working capital.
-
Protect customers. Ensure accurate disclosure of condition, battery performance, parts status, warranty scope, return eligibility and service process. Complaint reasons should drive grading, repair and procurement improvement.
-
Control warranty and returns. Track cohorts by model, repair action, technician, part supplier, grade and sales channel. Provisions should reflect emerging failure evidence rather than only historical averages.
-
Manage fraud and collusion. Address false devices, internal component theft, seller collusion, manipulated diagnostics, refund abuse, return substitution, courier loss and channel partner misconduct. Separate duties where value can be redirected.
-
Govern environmental claims. Measure devices placed into second life, parts reused, materials responsibly recovered and hazardous residues transferred. Avoid equating every purchased device with waste prevented.
-
Align growth incentives. Reward collected contribution, return-adjusted quality, inventory turns and customer outcomes. Acquisition teams should not be paid solely for units sourced, and sales teams should not benefit from grades later reversed.
-
Build institutional readiness. Strengthen financial close, risk ownership, whistle-blower protection, related-party controls, cybersecurity, leadership succession and evidence needed for a later strategic transaction or public-market path.
Decisions expected at Board level
The Director will contribute to expansion of buyback channels, institutional sourcing, repair-centre capacity, private-label warranties, embedded credit, acquisitions, overseas sourcing or sales, device-insurance partnerships, capital structure and readiness for the next institutional stage.
Material proposals should disclose provenance risk, data-erasure accountability, grade and return assumptions, repair capacity, inventory days, price-decline sensitivity, warranty tail, customer ownership, cash requirement and downside exit route. Growth should be rejected where information or liability boundaries remain unclear.
Audit, trust and performance agenda
The Board dashboard should cover devices acquired; provenance exceptions; data-erasure failures; diagnostic and grading reversals; repair yield; non-genuine-part exceptions; inventory ageing and markdowns; price variance; return and warranty cohorts; customer complaints; fraud losses; channel contribution; cash conversion; environmental disposition; privileged system access; audit findings; and liquidity runway.
Internal audit should perform device-to-system tracing, surprise inventory counts, controlled re-grading, data-erasure evidence sampling, parts-use reconciliation, seller-payment testing, return-substitution analytics and warranty-provision back-testing. A suspected data remnant, unsafe repair practice or organised fraud pattern must reach the Board promptly.
Candidate profile
Candidates should have at least 20 years of senior experience across consumer electronics, after-sales service, retail, reverse logistics, product quality, data security, circular economy, audit, finance or growth-company governance. Experience in high-velocity inventory, warranty operations, customer conduct, device security or repair networks will be especially relevant.
The Board welcomes former CEOs, CFOs, COOs, quality leaders, information-security executives, retail leaders, supply-chain heads, Audit Committee members and scale-up directors. The successful candidate will combine consumer empathy with financial scepticism and should be comfortable inspecting intake, diagnostic, repair, storage and returns operations.
Eligibility, independence and conflicts
Active inclusion in the IICA Independent Directors Databank is mandatory. The candidate must be independent of founders, investors, management and major commercial partners. Investments, assignments or close relationships involving device brands, retailers, marketplaces, repair networks, recyclers, logistics companies, warranty providers, lenders or institutional sourcing partners must be disclosed.
The appointee may not use the position to direct devices, parts, insurance, finance, recycling or advisory work to a connected entity. Strict personal-device, customer-data and Board-information security will apply.
First 100-day priorities
- Trace selected devices from seller onboarding through ownership checks, erasure, grading, repair, sale and warranty outcome.
- Review data-erasure failures, grade disputes, return substitution, unsafe parts and fraud investigations.
- Reperform inventory valuation for high-age, high-return and rapidly repricing cohorts.
- Inspect an intake centre, repair operation and returns process.
- Reconstruct contribution and cash conversion by acquisition and sales channel.
- Agree Board escalation thresholds for data, safety, provenance, grading and inventory events.
First-year outcomes
Within twelve months, the company should demonstrate defensible provenance, verified data erasure, repeatable grading, cohort-based warranty insight, realistic inventory values and growth incentives aligned with customer outcomes and cash. The Director should help make circularity a controlled product promise rather than a marketing description.