Smash Notes

Back to Ryan Petersen of Flexport on Compounding Success and Winning, with Ryan Petersen.

How Did Flexport Get Its First Customers

SEO and ads on the internet. Pre-launch, while still experimenting with the idea of Flexport, Ryan built a landing page and collected sign ups from some of the biggest companies in the world. Based on that, he knew it had the potential to be big.

Transcript

Ryan Petersen of Flexport on Compounding Success and Winning ·

Y Combinator

More from this episode

  1. What Makes Freight More Difficult Than Regular Package DeliveryAnything that is too heavy for a driver to pick up is a freight package, and it requires a whole different network to move it around.
  2. Why Did Ryan Petersen Go to Business SchoolHis business was not making a lot of money. In fact, he says he'd made less money at the time than some people who were not even trying to make money.
  3. Why Does Flexport ExistIt is important to enable makers and creators to continue their work, otherwise we will end up living in the world where one mega-corporation ends up making…
  4. Should Entrepreneurs Do Business School"MBAs don't make great founders" is a notion created by sample bias, where people who want typically get an MBA are most often not startup founders and don't…
  5. How Do You Win at StartupsRyan says you have to be ready to fight, in perpetuity. If you stay in the fight long enough, you will win, but no one knows how long that might take.
  6. How Do You Poach Clients From Legacy ProvidersFlexport goes after their competitor's clients and shows their value proposition - they can deliver visibility and control over their freight, at the same…
  7. How Does Flexport Technology Change the Freight IndustryFreight forwarding is the #1 on the list of businesses that can be automated with technology.
  8. What Do You Do If Investors Don't Want to InvestYou can either figure out a different business, one they do want to invest into, or figure out a way to self-fund a business or fund it through customer…
  9. What Are the Biggest Lessons in StartupsSuccess compounds. Instead of trying to create an execute on some master plan, move fast and get little wins over and over.

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