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Big freight tech for your small business — WHAT THE TRUCK?!?

How can you make freight tech work for your small business?

Big business or small, you can utilize freight tech

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It’s a new year and WHAT THE TRUCK?!? is back, kicking things off with a discussion about democratizing the freight-tech landscape. 

Dooner and Michael Vincent begin on a solemn note, bringing news of Liam Salmon’s passing. Liam was featured on several WTT?!? episodes in 2020 for his courageous fight against an inoperable brain tumor. 

Howard Salmon, Liam’s dad, shared the news and we remember Liam with a moment of silence; you can continue to support the family through their loss at Liam’s GoFundMe page


Headlines

Market capacity has fallen slightly but is still tight to begin 2021, with high tender rejection rates and spot rates still dominating. Freight backlogs are continuing at ports, so U.S. import volumes are expected to also stay high. 

Neil Kauhi has been sentenced for an elaborate $3.2 million fraud scheme that targeted 33 trucking investors; prosecutors say Kauhi used money garnered from family and friends on personal expenses, including his daughter’s wedding. 

Ex-trucking executive Daniel Fruits has also been indicted on fraud charges after stealing nearly $14 million from his employer, Secure Transit LLC. Court documents allege Fruits spent the money on luxury cars, watches, a horse and a home. 


Keeping small business up to tech standards

Moving a business forward is all about how you use tech, and William Guidry, chief strategy officer for Diversified Robotic, puts his focus on pusing small businesses using tech advances. 

Guidry says Diversified Robotic is less about replacing people with machines and more about using software bots to automate how people work; automation streamlines the process and creates “a sustainable competitive advantage” for companies to differentiat low e them from competitors. 

Another avenue for freight information

Podcast fans rejoice: Dooner and The Dude talk to Benjamin Kowalksi, sales coach at Southwestern Consulting, about his role as podcast host of Freight 360

Kowalski says his goal is to produce content that provides different avenues for smaller companies to get training to increase sales and margins without spending too much on that training. 

Amazon has some competition

Amazon has become synonymous with instant consumer gratification, but STORD is giving the e-giant some competition with options for smaller businesses. 


STORD co-founder Jacob Boudreau joins the show to highlight how small businesses can efficiently connect the dots on their supply chain activity during the shipping process. 

STORD has secured $46 million in total investments so far, using Chattanooga, Tennessee-based Dynamo as a jump-start for their company; Boudreau says he and his co-founder, Sean Henry, “locked ourselves in a room and cold-called companies” to get initial customers but now they’re moving faster than imagined. 

You can find more WHAT THE TRUCK?!? recaps and recaps for all our live podcasts here

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Kaylee Nix

Kaylee Nix is a meteorologist and reporter for FreightWaves. She joined the company in November of 2020 after spending two years as a broadcast meteorologist for a local television channel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kaylee graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2018 and immediately made the Tennessee Valley her home. Kaylee creates written summaries of FreightWaves live podcasts and cultivates the social media for FreightWaves TV.