Category Visionaries Brian Glick, CEO of Chain.io: $18 Million Raised to Transform Logistics Data Integration
Chain.io is a vertical integration platform deeply embedded in the shipping and logistics space, helping connect massive freight companies with retail brands through the millions of messages required to track shipments and navigate customs. With $18 million in funding, the company has positioned itself as critical infrastructure for an industry that became front-page news during COVID. In this episode, Brian Glick shares hard-won lessons about building in a legacy industry, the realities of enterprise sales cycles, and why he never took himself out of the sales process.
Topics Discussed:
- Building vertical iPaaS for logistics before the category existed in supply chain
- How COVID accelerated understanding of data movement as a strategic problem
- The challenge of selling complex integration technology to legacy industries
- Transitioning from founder-led sales while maintaining founder involvement
- Using podcasting as relationship-building infrastructure for 10-year customer lifecycles
- Building authentic employee thought leadership without formal programs
- The impact of AI on traditional integration and data movement businesses
GTM Lessons For B2B Founders:
- Don't fully remove yourself from enterprise sales—strategically deploy your founder advantage: Brian learned that completely stepping back from sales was a mistake. Instead, he discovered the power of strategic founder involvement: "As a founder I am an incredible asset to my team, but that doesn't mean I have to be on every meeting." He now enters deals at the beginning to build relationships, trusts his sales team to advance opportunities, then returns at crucial moments to help close negotiations. This approach maximizes founder value while empowering the sales team.
- Timing pain points matters more than pain intensity: Chain.io experienced a counterintuitive sales pattern during COVID—initial uptick as customers felt pain, followed by a downturn when pain became overwhelming. Brian observed: "A little bit of pain is good for sales... when it gets too much pain, people freeze up." B2B founders should recognize that acute customer pain creates urgency, but excessive pain paralyzes decision-making. The sweet spot is when customers feel enough discomfort to act but retain capacity to evaluate new solutions.
- Legacy industries require relationship-based, not scale-based GTM motions: After trying to build a "standard SaaS BDR SDR style go-to-market machine," Brian realized it was wrong for both his market timing and industry culture. He pivoted back to relationship-driven sales focused on live events and consultative engagement. For enterprise logistics customers making decisions that affect 40 countries, "nothing is simple and no decision is made by one person who's going to click a buy now button." Founders in traditional industries should think more like SAP than HubSpot.
- Use podcasting as relationship infrastructure, not lead generation: Brian launched his podcast "almost day one" as free marketing, but discovered its real value in relationship building for long sales cycles. He doesn't track metrics or measure ROI traditionally, noting: "I know that I've gotten a CIO of a major freight company... [who] sent me a screenshot of my podcast... and I know how much that one customer pays me is more than I've ever invested in the podcast." For B2B founders with complex sales cycles, content should build relationships rather than optimize for attribution.
- Build category understanding through customer education, not just problem-solving: When Chain.io launched in 2017, "that category did not exist in supply chain." Brian spent years helping customers understand that data movement was a strategic, first-tier problem rather than something "you tack on the end of some other project." Category creation often requires patient market education—founders must be prepared to invest in customer understanding before expecting rapid adoption, especially in conservative industries.
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Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.
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