Can a Startup Succeed in Logistics Today?

How can a new company break into the venerable freight-forwarding business? Technology holds the key. For decades, freight forwarding was dominated by a host of smallish, regional firms, many of them family-owned and passed down through generations. Later, the function got swallowed up in the global mega-providers who offer a whole range of logistics services. That has made it tough for new entrants to succeed. Now, however, the doors appear to be opening, thanks to technology. Turns out there's plenty of room for a startup that's out to digitize and automate a business that has long been highly paper-intensive. On this episode, we speak with Ryan Petersen, CEO and founder of San Francisco-based Flexport. He recounts how he built the company with little or no up-front money from big investors, and how it has grown beyond expectations over the past four years. Petersen also offers advice to others who seek to break into the highly regulated business of logistics with new service models. It might be one of the last sectors to be transformed by technology and data.