
Flexport (YC W14) raises $65M Series B - Gasparila
https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/26/freight-forwarding/
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stephenboyd
Why does everyone keep saying international shipping isn't sexy? It has a
profound global impact and you can see it happening massively everyday with
the work of thousands of people as giant ships come into the port and
load/unload. I know the heart wants what the heart wants, but it should be
considered at least as sexy as hosted version control, mobile marketing
analytics, 'big data', automated taxi dispatch, or any other hot areas.

~~~
iamabraham
Of course it is a profound problem in a massive market with tons of financial
and world-changing potential. So are things like commercial fire systems,
utility-line inspection, and senior care. My snarky barb about the unsexiness
of it comes from what feels like excess coverage of gaming, "shared" economy
services, and on-demand services. These things are certainly important in
their own right, but offering a different way to deliver me a Jimmy John's
sandwich is far less meaningful on most every level than, say, reducing the
radiation and waste created everytime more concrete is poured.

I hope Flexport is super successful. My jab was not at them at all.

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sleazebreeze
As a former developer at one of the mentioned "large competitors", it became
clear to me that the logistics and shipping field is wide open for startups
like Flexport. DHL and Expeditors are still thinking it's the 80s and they
don't know any other way of conducting business.

Congrats on the raise, I can't wait to see what you guys do in the future!

~~~
inuhj
My experience with flexport has been nothing short of awful. Poor sourcing,
unqualified staff, and high prices. Compared to established enterprises that
are experienced shipping perishable goods reliably they are not a serious
competitor. Flexport couldn't even tell me the dimensions of the crates,
number of crates, or weight of the crates they were supposed to deliver.
Innovation is not a pretty UI in the freight industry.

~~~
anon83727123444
Same, I stopped my interview process early and kept my job in industry. They
have a few OK senior guys, sort of, but the rest are just startup monkeys
learning as they go. Most companies don't like that when they see it given,
you know, you're trusting them with your supply chain. Awesome idea though.

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thedogeye
Now we just have to pretend we didn't so we don't waste it all...

~~~
HorizonXP
Just picture @pb asking you what your burn rate is, and that should help.

Congrats on the raise! Any specific plans between now and series C?

~~~
paul
That would be a good motivational poster :)

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numlocked
Am I reading this right that they did $500k of revenue in August?

'The round came together over the summer, but “we’ve grown revenue 80% in two
months,” and racked up $500,000 in August, Petersen says'

What does that mean, 'racked up'? Surely they are not 'very profitable' and
also worth $300m on a $6m revenue run rate...right?

Also -- seems like a great company and power to them. Just confused by that
line in the article.

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a-no-n
This is great to see as having likely validation. In 2009, I met some Russian
guys whom moved to Long Beach specifically to do fractional freight-forwarding
matching/auctioning startup to replace the crazy amount of manual paperwork
and inefficient legwork involved in that industry at the time. I think they
might've been much too early, and timing is one of the more important success
factors.

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throwawaylalala
Flexport customer here; compared to working with other freight forwarders abd
customs brokers the experience is night and day a better and simpler
experience.

~~~
asah
Same here, changed the game for us.

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ryanmccullagh
Hey FlexPort, are you hiring :) I would love to be considered for a software
engineer position!

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supster
[https://www.flexport.com/careers#join](https://www.flexport.com/careers#join)

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tcas
Hopefully this will allow them to take on smaller clients -- we've wanted to
start to move some of our shipments from air to sea, but unless you're
shipping multiple containers a year they don't have capacity for new clients
right now.

There doesn't seem to be a great solution for trying to save money when you're
shipping only a few thousands KG a year.

~~~
throwawaylalala
Keep asking, and get bigger:)

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iamabraham
I think it's curious that there are four comments in two hours because this
industry - like many ready for big change - are unsexy.

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aluminussoma
I think they're a very fascinating company! I just don't know what else to
comment. I hope they do well.

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ttam
Met Ryan in 2013 at Startup School.. could already feel he was going to hit it
big when he was telling me what Flexport was doing!

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msoad
I don't know much about Flexport but it feels like a scammy company to me. I
listened to the their interview at start up schools radio, I didn't like their
attitude.

There is also lots of fake comments praising the company in this thread. Very
weird to do this at this stage of company.

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akanet
While you are certainly entitled to your opinion, I think a better comment
would have involved research and a more concrete position on why you think
they feel "scammy" to you. Clearly they have large customers that pay them for
a very specific, tangible service (shipping), so I'm not sure where the scam
angle is.

Calling a company scammy because you don't like their "attitude" might be
jumping the gun.

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bisRepetita
Every time Flexport is hiring on HN, it goes front page. I always wondered
why...

Are they gaming the system? Has PG a way to pump them up since he is an
investor? Or is shipping sexy to the HN crowd?

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FabioFleitas
YC companies can post on the jobs board
([https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs](https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs)). Job
postings automatically go to the frontpage and don't have any upvote system

