The CEO Spot: From Silicon Chips to Supply Chains – Dipti Desai’s Mission to Modernize EDI

Written By Rick Watson

In this debut episode of The CEO Spot, Rick Watson sits down with Dipti Desai, Founder and CEO of CRSTL, for an unfiltered look into one of the most quietly powerful protocols in commerce—EDI.

From her early days as an electrical engineer in Silicon Valley to building mission-critical infrastructure for today’s omni-channel brands, Dipti shares the journey that led her to found Crystal—a SaaS network designed to modernize the way suppliers and retailers communicate.

We explore:

The surprising origin story of Crystal during the PPE crisis

Why EDI is more like the English language than a piece of legacy tech

The difference between the application layer and the protocol layer—and why it matters

How penalties, complexity, and digital transformation are reshaping supplier operations

Why Crystal doesn’t charge by seat and how it's enabling real collaboration at scale

The future of B2B commerce in an age of AI, API, and protocol convergence

Whether you’re a founder, brand operator, or just EDI-curious, this episode unpacks how structured data exchange is fueling the future of retail—and why ignoring the "boring" infrastructure could be your biggest mistake.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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