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Ryan Petersen on Building Flexport, a Modern Freight Forwarder

Y Combinator
1.78M subscribers
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52K views 6 years ago
Ryan Petersen -   / typesfast   - is the founder and CEO of Flexport - https://www.flexport.com/. Flexport is a global freight forwarder powered by software and analytics. They are making international trade easier for over 10,000 companies in 70 countries. They were part of the YC Winter 2014 batch. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon -   / craigcannon   *** Topics 00:00 - What is a freight forwarder? 2:45 - Selling electric scooters on eBay 15 years ago 5:30 - Ryan’s business school experience 10:00 - Amazon competing with their vendors 13:00 - Matt Susk asks - What were the most important takeaways from Columbia Business School? Would you encourage entrepreneurs to pursue a MBA? 16:40 - Tyler Hogge asks - How did you get your first three clients at Flexport? 19:40 - Being a solo founder 22:45 - Varun Khurana asks - What's your strategy for rapidly hiring the best talent in so many different global hubs? 25:30 - Challenges o …...more
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What is a freight forwarder?

0:00

Selling electric scooters on eBay 15 years ago

2:45

Ryan’s business school experience

5:30

Amazon competing with their vendors

10:00

Matt Susk asks - What were the most important takeaways from Columbia Business School? Would you encourage entrepreneurs to pursue a MBA?

13:00

Tyler Hogge asks - How did you get your first three clients at Flexport?

16:40

Being a solo founder

19:40

Varun Khurana asks - What's your strategy for rapidly hiring the best talent in so many different global hubs?

22:45

Challenges of scaling Flexport

25:30

Some of Ryan’s favorite books

27:15

Scaling culture

29:20

Jassim Ali asks - How has the Trump policy on foreign trade affected your business so far?

34:00

PowerDecal asks - How do you poach clients from legacy providers?

39:00

Automation in freight forwarding

46:00

Jason Yannos asks - If you weren't operating Flexport and had to source a new idea to work on, where would you start?

49:00

Derisking product ideas

53:00

Biggest lessons learned at Flexport

56:30
Ryan Petersen on Building Flexport, a Modern Freight Forwarder
981Likes
52,626Views
2018Aug 30
Ryan Petersen -   / typesfast   - is the founder and CEO of Flexport - https://www.flexport.com/. Flexport is a global freight forwarder powered by software and analytics. They are making international trade easier for over 10,000 companies in 70 countries. They were part of the YC Winter 2014 batch. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon -   / craigcannon   *** Topics 00:00 - What is a freight forwarder? 2:45 - Selling electric scooters on eBay 15 years ago 5:30 - Ryan’s business school experience 10:00 - Amazon competing with their vendors 13:00 - Matt Susk asks - What were the most important takeaways from Columbia Business School? Would you encourage entrepreneurs to pursue a MBA? 16:40 - Tyler Hogge asks - How did you get your first three clients at Flexport? 19:40 - Being a solo founder 22:45 - Varun Khurana asks - What's your strategy for rapidly hiring the best talent in so many different global hubs? 25:30 - Challenges of scaling Flexport 27:15 - Some of Ryan’s favorite books 29:20 - Scaling culture 34:00 - Jassim Ali asks - How has the Trump policy on foreign trade affected your business so far? 39:00 - PowerDecal asks - How do you poach clients from legacy providers? 46:00 - Automation in freight forwarding 49:00 - Jason Yannos asks - If you weren't operating Flexport and had to source a new idea to work on, where would you start? 53:00 - Derisking product ideas 56:30 - Biggest lessons learned at Flexport

Follow along using the transcript.

Y Combinator

1.78M subscribers