Flexport: Silicon Valley’s Solution To Supply Chain Chaos | Forbes
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Published 2022-02-07
Backed by some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent VCs and tech billionaires, including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Yuri Milner and Masayoshi Son, Flexport was founded in 2013 to automate paper customs forms. It now does much more, helping customers like Georgia-Pacific (Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper), plumbing fixtures maker Gerber and speaker maker Sonos handle all the headaches of shipping inventory from factory to warehouse to store. Flexport’s software analyzes and optimizes a customer’s supply chain, then automates it, often coming up with ways to shave days off delivery and save customers millions in late fees. Flexport’s centralized tracking and messaging cut out thousands of emails, saving clients an average of four work hours per week. For a price, Flexport will even offset their carbon footprint.
Shipping is a huge pond. Global spending on logistics reached $9 trillion in 2020, about 11% of the world’s gross domestic product, according to consultancy Armstrong & Associates. Third-party logistics, of which freight forwarding is a big part, amounts to nearly $1 trillion. In the U.S., it’s a $230 billion business, good for 1.1% of national GDP. Demand is at a record high—global trade volumes rose 8.3% in 2021, according to Allianz subsidiary Euler Hermes. Americans spent 20% more on goods last fall than in February 2020.
Read the full story on Forbes: www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2022/02/07/flexpor…
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All Comments (21)
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Yo Forbes, can u start explaining some of the solutions that these companies you guys feature are offering? So we can really understand the value creation and look more into it. High level "x company is solving y problem" is not that useful
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Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.
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Paid advertisement more so than a revolutionary firm
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He sounds like and somehow looks like Tony Robbins, great company.
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I have been in the logistics industry for 24 years and have crossed paths with Flexport. Alot of fluff supported by investors bells and whistles with a very under experienced staff. They glorify themselves through marketing and includes mostly employees with masters degrees in anything but supply chain. Hot air. Never trust a start up that is based on investor backup only and really seek out industry expert professionals, and company’s that have zero to little outsourced funding and have true growth based on performance. Flexport truly needs to get more experienced staff and higher ups, the supply chain industry is one that is very easy to fake it until you make it, but that can only go so far. Also this Forbes article explains nothing about the actual supply chain issues and how they, well HE, self proclaimed hero plans to fix it?
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What is the difference between this and a Port Community System? Seems like they are literally doing the same thing. Integrating all logistic parties into a more automatic way of exchanging information, to have a more efficient flow of data and cut on time and costs...
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Fascinating
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Very nice 👌
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So what is Flexport?
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🚀 More effective for Forbes to share 30 second elevator pitch of Flexport to a high schooler so we understand the pain point being solved and solution.
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yea, funding from Silicon valley, you say?? that needs to be promoted!! the whole world doesn't know what to do with shipping industry, the whole world is waiting for you-- you are the One! the one who will set things in order!!!
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True, Supply chain is in chaos. Working with experts like Flexport helps. Additionally with expert back office support specialising in Forwarding / Logistics business..it becomes much easy to manage.
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Wait how is this company different than the likes of Kuehne + Nagel? Which has been doing the exact same thing for years now.
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The video starts after 5 minutes. Bunch of fluff.
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I am going to use my amazing data analysis skills (being a BBA Finance major with tons of time in excel) to totally revolutionize an industry like this dude. I am going to optimize air travel by placing people onto other peoples laps. The data analysis comes in cause we are gonna have one dude at the front of the plane guessing peoples weights and I have to put those estimates into an excel sheet and pair people up accordingly. Can I have an interview now forbes? Also forbes is going through some shizz rn cause their crypto security expert just got arrested for laundering stolen crypto. GG
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It starts and ends with end to end visibility/transparency.. tons of potential as these tech solutions continue developing
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I just wanted to know, how I can participate in this innovation? Who to show innovation?
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Where is the solution?
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As someone who works in supply chain/freight forwarding, I can say this: flexport is not doing anything different than what other major FFs are doing. Most have the same customer facing software that Flexport loves to boast about. & from I’ve seen, their data is not really all that automated. They still rely on data entry teams, so essentially it’s the exact same product, just marketed differently…. None of which is worthy of a video. This just seemed like one big ad!
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Welcome Dave clarke
