20VC: Flexport's Ryan Petersen: Reflections on Leadership from 13 Years Leading Flexport, Why Velocity not Speed is Most Important in Company Building, How Money Creates Inefficiencies in Scaling, The Future of Trade with China & Why Remote Work is so Cha

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2023

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ryan Petersen is Founder & CEO @ Flexport, a leader in global supply chain technology. In 2022, Flexport moved more than $26 billion of merchandise. Over the last 10 years, Ryan has raised close to $2.5BN for the business with the latest valuation pegging the business at $8BN. Prior to starting Flexport, Ryan was the founder and CEO of ImportGenius, a premier provider of transaction data for the global trade industry.

In Today's Episode with Ryan Petersen We Discuss:

1. The Origins of a Generational Defining Leader:

What did Ryan want to be when he was growing up?
How did scooters and motorbikes in China lead to the idea for Flexport?
What does Ryan know now that he wishes he had known when he started Flexport?

2. Speed and Money: The Secrets To Execution:

Does Ryan believe speed is key to execution? What is the difference between speed and velocity?
What advice does Ryan have to founders who raise a lot of money? How should it impact hiring?
What are the most common ways founders become inefficient post-fundraising?
Why does Ryan look to invest in founders with jaded pasts and a chip on their shoulder?

3. The Art of Resource Allocation:

Are the best CEOs the best resource allocators?
What is the single best resource allocation Ryan has made? What did he learn?
What is the worst? What did he learn?
What have been Ryan's biggest hiring mistakes? How did that change his approach?

4. The Wider World:

Is Ryan long or short on China? Why?
Will we see global trade become nationalized? Why?
Will we see interest rates raised further? What impact does that have on trade?
What has been the impact of war on trade and the shipping industry?

5. Ryan Petersen: The Father and Husband:

How has having kids changed how Ryan approaches leadership and management?
How does Ryan juggle 2 young kids and leading a 2,500 person company?
How does Ryan retain romance with his wife while also being a full-on CEO of a large co?
Does money make you happy? What does it help with? What does it not help with?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	if you raise a lot of money, you should immediately the next day do a hiring freeze and don't
0:04.1	hire anybody for 90 days and go, look, money's not going to solve our problems. We're going to
0:08.0	solve our problems. And so over hiring in general has been our biggest mistake. And I've never
0:12.5	seen a company successfully raise a bunch of money and not start spending it in ways that don't,
0:17.1	that aren't actually very small. I don't think speed is the most important thing. I think it's velocity has a vector.
0:22.3	It's speed in the right direction.
0:23.8	If you're going the wrong direction, you're like, this is terrible.
0:26.7	Welcome back. This is 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings.
0:29.4	And joining us in the hot seat today is I think one of the great CEOs and founders of our time.
0:33.9	It could not be a more pertinent time for him to join us also. Having recently resumed the
0:38.0	role of CEO, yes, I'm thrilled to welcome back Ryan Peterson, co-founder and CEO at Flexport. Fun fact,
0:44.7	in 2022, Flexport moved more than $26 billion worth of merchandise, and over the last 10 years,
0:51.8	Ryan has raised close to $2.5 billion for the business,
0:55.0	with the latest valuation pegging the business at $8 billion.
0:58.4	But before we move into the show today,
1:00.5	Did you know that every 20VC episode you listen to is recorded with Riverside?
1:05.8	Riverside is insanely good.
1:07.5	Like, I would pay $1,000 per month for Riverside.
1:10.7	It's that good. Why? Well, first off, ease. Your guests do not need an account. One click and they're in the recording room with you. It is fantastic, especially for high profile guests. Second, they record your video and audio track separately and in the background. So they're not only higher quality, but the guest
1:27.8	does not need to record their end and then send after, which is a total nightmare.
1:32.3	But for me, honestly, what I love so much is how much thought they put into the product.
1:36.3	Like when the internet quality is low, they will disable the video for the cool, but for the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Twenty Minute VC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Twenty Minute VC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.