Taking the Leap The Start-Up Entrepreneurs Journey with Oren Zaslansky - Founder and CEO of Flock Freight
Nov 13, 2022
01:34:36
Show Notes:
- Oren is a graduate of California State University at Long Beach & Harvard Business School
- Marc Andreessen “Software is eating the world!”
- Flock Freight – “We are building an enormous tech stack and incredible cutting-edge technology business while building a best-in-class freight block – algorithmic ride-sharing of freight.” https://www.flockfreight.com/about-us/
- 50% of the semi-trailers on the road are only 50% full. This is wasteful of space and increases carbon emissions to move cargo.
- Terminal-free or hubless shipping to move cargo across the country.
- Key performance indicators in the freight industry.
- On-time pick up
- On-time delivery
- Damage
- Transit time
- Loss/theft
- (9:45) HBS Professor Francis Frei - Three Wedges of Business
- Customer Delight
- Supplier Surplus
- Profits for the Firm
- Flock Freight is the only Certified B-Corporation in the freight industry!
- It is important to be environmentally AND financially sustainable
- (18:00) Is deflation coming to the freight industry?
- Transportation as an industry is $7 Trillion globally and $1 Trillion in the US
- (20:50) How does Oren pivot and tackle the challenges of entrepreneurship while dealing with the stress of the job?
- “It is better to expect that you will have to chew glass daily!”
- “Because it is hard it is worth doing! Don’t expect hard things to be easy.”
- (27:00) Why is it important to have close friends, confidants, mentors, and coaches around you on your journey to help you?
- (29:00) “Business is like middle school.”
- (33:00) What is it like to navigate an 18-month near-death experience for his business?
- (39:00) What is it like to have big outside investors like Softbank, Google Ventures, GLP, and Signal Fire as investors in your company?
- (49:00) Why is it important to wear your values on your sleeve as a leader and CEO?
- (50:40) Why does Oren invest so much in continuing education?
- Why I started vs. Why I stayed.
- “I loved it because I felt safe.”
- (1:04:00) How can society come together to communicate better and see different points of view?
- Be conscious about the world around us
- Be thoughtful about others’ viewpoints and perspectives
- “99% of the world is the same…we all want to live in peace and raise our families in peace and prosperity.”
- As you move up Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, you are able to have different types of conversations.
- (1:11:45) What is coming down the pike with technology advancements, AV (autonomous vehicles) and how will this impact the economy?
- Upwards of 2.5m truck drivers could lose their jobs over time
- Creative destruction in all industries are changing jobs and careers across many sectors…causing “career migration or career immigrants”
- (1:22:00) We love our truck drivers!
- “It’s hard…Let’s do it!”
- “The benefit of being a for-profit is we are sustainable! You can do well by doing good.”
- Book Recommendations
- Mornings on Horse Back – David McCullough
- War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
- Washington – Ron Chernow
- Hamilton – Rob Chernow
- (1:25:00) Why Oren is reading historical biographies of leaders
- “They were people who worked on big things with a lot of purpose behind what they did and many times were reluctant but they felt called and felt compelled into service.”
- “I’ve been filling up my tank on people doing hard things!”
- Final Question: If you had the ability to give a state of the union address to the American people what would you say?
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