The Start-Up Entrepreneurs Journey with Oren Zaslansky - Founder and CEO of Flock Freight

Show Notes:

• Oren is a graduate of California State University at Long Beach & Harvard Business School
  • Young President's Organization (YPO) member
• 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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