I left Flexport, a reflection, and then

I spent four years at Flexport, a company that tried to shake up the old-school freight industry with tech. I recently left to start my own business. Though Flexport didn’t quite hit the high notes we hoped for, I don’t see those years as a loss. They taught me that while tech can do a lot, it can’t fix everything in shipping without really knowing the ins and outs and teaming up across different areas of expertise. Flexport’s projects were driven by the belief that technology could revolutionize the freight industry, yet they sometimes overlooked the hard-set habits and natural elements involved. Accurate predictions in shipping require deep knowledge of geography and weather, aspects not always considered. Moreover, many involved, from truckers to ocean carriers, are reluctant to abandon paper-based systems that work for them or share data that might point out flaws and eat into profits. These realities of the physical world and human nature proved significant barriers. The unresolved puzzle in the freight world is billing accuracy. It’s a thin-margin business, with the complication of disputes over 20% of invoices, often leading to ‘leakage’ where customers don’t pay. Just as passengers might be bumped off an oversold flight or face cancellations due to weather, cargo transport sees frequent disruptions. Such inconsistencies mean rates and actual costs often mismatch. I am building a platform that not only simplifies billing for industries with variable quotes and invoices but also minimizes manual intervention by automatically tracking service offerings and rate changes. This ensures accuracy and gathers all quote-to-cash data in one place, streamlining the entire billing cycle. If you are interested, please sign up at: https://www.billflow.ai/ I am happy for a call at my Calendly as well: https://calendly.com/xin-shen0/30min