Can someone please explain why Flexport’s software is being played up as “irreplaceable by the incumbents”? If they’ve proved it’s benefits, only a matter of time before the incumbents have an in-house version.
Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
111–120 of 136 posts
Re: Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
#112Interesting that Ryan has an MBA from Columbia business school, contrary to the typical founder in the valley.
I guess it depends on how you define typical. 30% of unicorns are founded by an MBA and 80% of unicorns have an mba on their exec team: https://qz.com/176063/most-mbas-dont-found-billion-dollar-st...
Is there any data about the success rate of mba founders vs founders from other professions ?
Re: Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
#113We're hiring! Product + Design: https://www.flexport.com/careers/department/design Engineering: https://www.flexport.com/careers/department/engineering
Any chance that you'd be willing to hire a remote product designer?
You never know but I'm in Japan bootstrapping startups and definitely need a product designer. My email is in my profile.
Re: Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is what makes me sad being primarily a programmer. I often wish I had another career first so that I could use the programming skills to solve something there. As it is, I often feel like a loaded gun without a direction to aim in.
You should pick up the domain you're programming in. Like when I was working on a product for the construction industry, I knew all about how certain parts of it worked. I knew all the terms and insider slang and quite a few of the problems they face because I built those things for them. There were plenty of problems I heard about that our product wasn't aimed at. When I was working for the credit industry, and that…
Oh yeah, there's huge value in building a relationship with other parts of the business at a large company.
A lot of people loathe talking to Sales & Marketing but I always try to have a good understanding of their areas. If you build the right relationship it also gives you great trust and authority when cross-department decisions are made since you can (reasonably) speak to both sides.
Re: Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
#115Love it. Logistics and supply chain verticals are ripe for the taking by young, scrappy, and smart companies. We're one of them -- and looking for more like-minded people to join us. If you're interested, hit me up at the email in my profile. I've loved working in the logistics space, because there are so many resources already available. It's a matter of pulling them together into a package of convenience and qualit…
I share your opinions about Logistics and supply chain, especially the curation of available resources. I have sent you an email, thanks.
Re: Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
#116Re: Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean I'm not in the shipping industry, but I'd guess it'd be a long while before Amazon becomes very focused/involved in the particulars of the container shipping industry, where Flexport is focused. Amazon has a lot of other stuff on their plate to tackle. If Amazon ever becomes such a large percentage of global trade that they can actually make use of a whole fleet of container ships then maybe. But for now, just…
>If Amazon ever becomes such a large percentage of global trade that they can actually make use of a whole fleet of container ships then maybe. By the time Amazon becomes a large percentage of global trade, Alibaba will already be in double digits. And remember who has more shipping data to run algos on. In addition, Alibaba already owns an own 3PL operation, and an "Order a container shipment in 1 minute" from 1688
A great video to show just how over the top are the Chinese shipping companies over anything you have in US:
Re: Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
#118Congrats. I remember watching Flexport get pitched to PG and Sam Altman during open 'Office Hours' at Startup School in 2013. https://youtu.be/syoqjYLDs48?t=19m30s
Wow that was extremely impressive. You could tell he had a lot of experience in the industry, because he knew a surprising amount off the top of his head.
Not only that, but PG and Sam were masterful at drilling into the relevant details and understanding the core of his product.
Re: Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is what makes me sad being primarily a programmer. I often wish I had another career first so that I could use the programming skills to solve something there. As it is, I often feel like a loaded gun without a direction to aim in.
Would you be interested in a service that aggregated startup/product ideas from people with deep industry experience but a lack of technical skills? It's something I've been thinking should exist.
oppsdaily.com
Re: Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just because it is in the TV show doesn't mean it's not based on real stuff. Silicon Valley is satire and they have some of the best consultants in the business. A lot of stuff on the show is close to reality. Sometimes it gets it so close I kind of cringe because I've been through similar things in real life. The tabs vs spaces argument comes to mind. Edit: to stay on topic. As other people said, I would take a lowe…
> The tabs vs spaces argument comes to mind. Not refuting your point in the least, but that plot line made me cringe for an entirely different reason--it characterized people who use spaces as though they actually pressed the spacebar once for each space instead of letting the editor handle the work. That said, I think it was a good decision since the majority of the audience (based on my super scientific study where…
> [press] the spacebar once for each space
Python v3.4.0 had a feature regression which hijacked TAB for autocomplete and prevented using TAB for indentation in the basic REPL. To my amazement, there was actually discussion on whether converting a TAB to 4 spaces was a worthwhile feature.
https://bugs.python.org/msg188532
Happily, the TAB was recovered.