Tell us a little about yourself and FourKites.
I graduated from Northwestern with a Masters in Industrial Engineering and Management Science. My first project was helping AB InBev facilitate the movement of delivery trucks. Finding ways to solve such inefficiencies became my passion.
After seven years on supply chain issues i2Then two and a half years on supply chain products OracleThe time was right for a transformational logistics initiative.
Amazon has revolutionized the B2C customer experience and I know this kind of visibility doesn’t exist on the B2B side. I started FourKites to transform supply chain management.
Forkits is the first company to apply SaaS technology to GPS-enabled electronic inventory devices, enabling shippers to improve on-time delivery and optimize their supply chains based on actionable data and predictive intelligence. Today, we’re focused on providing real-time and predictive visibility across the end-to-end supply chain, beyond shipping to yards, warehouses, stores and more.
What caused the rapid growth of Forkits?
Our points of difference. The first is our network. Our supply chain information is powered by a global network of quality, real-time data on one platform. It is our second group. Real-time visibility will continue to grow and improve. Users need to feel confident that the people defining the product roadmap have a deep understanding of the use cases and pain points.
The third point of difference is close cooperation with customers. By co-innovating with our customers, we’ve developed solutions that help solve some of the most complex supply chain challenges facing large, global enterprises. Co-creation is even baked into our online customer communities, where customers can request new features and product improvements.
How important is cooperation in logistics?
Collaboration—both within and between supply chain organizations—helps companies eliminate waste, maximize profits, and promote sustainability.
The logistics industry has a long history of decentralization – proprietary workflows, processes and systems are largely unknown or unknown to outsiders. These workflow bottlenecks can be overcome through shared systems that facilitate communication with supply chain networks, partners and stakeholders.
Information is critical to effective supply chain collaboration. Without it, the best anyone can do is make an educated guess. For exporters under constant pressure to succeed, that’s simply not enough.
How does FourKites help its customers?
We help customers in four ways. First, we help them reduce costs. One of the largest meat producers in the US reduced their monthly costs by 22% in the first year of using FourKites.
We also improve productivity, by: providing up-to-the-minute insights so crew know which inventory is priority, improving turnaround times for drivers and door staff; and push load level information to all support members to drive time-to-value for each deal.
We increase customer satisfaction by helping suppliers exceed expectations and outperform their competitors.
Finally, real-time visibility helps companies reduce emissions. For example, Paul Avampato, head of global logistics at Henkel, uses FurKites data to better understand where waste is in the supply chain.
Who inspires you?
Too many to mention individually; I wouldn’t be here without a lot of support along the way. But I have to check my father’s name as an inspiration, because he was doing a small business.
Best advice ever given?
A couple of years into the business, one of my mentors encouraged me to switch from founder-led selling to value-led selling. When you start a business, at first it’s all founder-driven sales. You are the main sales person there. The founder is selling it, and it’s going to be a feature-function sale because we’re all product-oriented. But at some point, you have to switch to value-based selling. You need a professional team and the right leader to lead that transition.
