Introducing Volos Global: an AI export advisor for small manufacturers

Most small manufacturers we talk to have the same problem. Someone abroad asked about their product, or domestic growth flattened, and now international sales look interesting. Then they try to price the opportunity and hit a wall: what tariff code applies, which countries are realistic, what a shipment actually costs once duties and freight land, and what paperwork is required.

The traditional answers are expensive. A market study runs into five figures and takes weeks. A consultant costs more. Both are hard to justify when you are still trying to decide whether exporting is worth pursuing at all.

What Volos does

You describe your product, your cost of goods, and where you manufacture. A set of AI agents then produces a decision package:

• Classification. A likely HTS code, alternatives that were considered, and a confidence score.
• Country ranking. Markets ordered by realistic opportunity, not just size.
• Landed cost and margin. What a unit costs delivered, including duties and freight bands, per market.
• Compliance flags. Sanctions exposure, export-control watch items, and known market barriers, with citations.
• Documentation. The checklist for your corridor, plus commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, and shipper’s letter of instruction drafts you can actually print. Templates only — not a filed entry.
• Logistics options. Ranked shipping modes with cost vs transit tradeoffs — bands, not bookings.
• Payment terms and Incoterms. First-export guidance on how you get paid — not a financing offer.
• Distributor candidates. Public-research leads from official guides. Verify them yourself; not a live partner match.
• A recommendation. A prioritized "what to do next," not a data dump.

The free assessment gives you the tariff code and a ranked market teaser. Essential unlocks up to two markets; Standard is the full report.

What it is not

We think being explicit here matters more than sounding impressive.

Volos is decision support, not licensed customs brokerage or legal advice. Before your first real shipment, confirm the classification with a licensed customs broker. We tell you this inside the product too, next to the classification itself.

There is also no human review desk and no partner network. It is the AI and the code. When a report points you toward finding importers or distributors in a market, Distributor Finder turns official ITA Country Commercial Guides into structured public-research candidates — category leads and official directories, not companies that pay us for referrals. Verify every firm yourself; it is not an endorsement. If that ever becomes a paid relationship, we will say so plainly rather than quietly introducing an affiliate link.

Where estimates come from

Every material number carries an effective date and a source. Duty rates come from published schedules; freight figures are bands, not carrier quotes. When confidence is low, the report says so instead of rounding uncertainty away.

Reports also get better as they accumulate. Anonymized, aggregated patterns across corridors — which classifications hold up, where documentation actually causes friction, which markets people really ship to — feed back into later recommendations. Nothing user-identifying is used, and a pattern has to appear several times before it influences anything.

Try it

Start with a free assessment. It takes a few minutes and tells you your tariff code and strongest candidate markets before you decide whether to pay for anything. You can also open a sample Standard report without signing up.

If something is wrong or broken, tell us. We would rather hear it early.