This Week in Startups E995: The Next Unicorns: NEXT Trucking CEO & Co-founder Lidia Yan brings trucking into the digital age with her two-sided marketplace, shares insights on finding & focusing on an untapped market, owning & innovating drayage, navigating the trucking industry as a woman & scaling the right team for su
Oct 30, 2019
Lidia Yan, CEO and co-founder of NEXT Trucking, is revolutionizing the industry with her two-sided marketplace focused on drayage. She shares her journey into trucking and the challenges faced as a woman entrepreneur. Lidia discusses how NEXT disrupts traditional brokerage systems, the impact of technology on pricing, and the industry's struggle with driver shortages. She also highlights the evolving role of e-commerce giants like Amazon and offers insights on achieving early profitability in startups.
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Family in Logistics
- Lydia Yan's family, especially her husband, has a long history in logistics.
- Her husband operated a traditional third-party logistics (3PL) company, giving her exposure to the industry.
Trucking Sectors
- Trucking is divided into five sectors: truckload, less than truckload (LTL), drayage, intermodal, and small parcel.
- NEXT Trucking focuses on drayage, the port-to-warehouse transport, and mid-mile warehouse-to-distribution center transport.
Co-founder and Inspiration
- Lydia Yan's husband, Elton, is both her co-founder and an inspiration for NEXT Trucking.
- He currently works on the sales team at NEXT Trucking.