SlickShift: Vast Market, Outdated Tools, Immense Opportunity
How we are disrupting logistics space with technology.
TLDR
SlickShift is where technology meets logistics, creating a smoother, more productive world. We're making logistics communication effortless and putting visibility into freight and driver locations at everyone's fingertips. Our goal is to revolutionize communication in logistics just as Slack transformed communication within companies.
Our MVP was released just a few weeks ago—but we're already experiencing traction. To keep this momentum going, we're looking for two engineers and a person who is passionate about growth to join our team.
For more information on the engineering and growth positions, please see -> HERE <- and -> HERE <-.
Please pass this information along to anyone you think is outstanding and might be interested, or consider applying yourself. I genuinely believe we're on the right path, and joining us now promises to be an incredible journey.
Continue reading to learn all the details, but the take-home message is this: joining our team offers an incredible opportunity to develop a customer-facing product for a massive industry, where typical software solutions are cumbersome, especially at a moment in time when AI, one of the most significant technological revolutions, is happening.
The story - why?
A good friend of mine, Janek, runs a logistics company. We've had countless conversations over the years, and he's often been vocal about the software they use in business. He would say, “It’s unbelievable how bad the software we use is. In my personal life, I use so many great apps on my phone, but at work, it's like the last 20 years never happened.” My typical response was, “Yeah, cool story, man. But let's talk about something else.” (Un)fortunately, Janek is persistent. He convinced me to visit his office and see for myself. After my first visit, I found myself returning again and again, leading to the following realization:
To understand why - lets see how a typical logistics company works and what they do.
Companies which need to move the cargo hire a logistic company - to move it between manufacturers, warehouses, and different businesses. Logistics companies typically have its fleet (cars/trucks and drivers) as well as office workers: forwarders and dispatchers. Forwarders organize and oversee the shipment of goods across international borders, handling logistics and customs formalities, while dispatchers coordinate the scheduling and routing of vehicles for the efficient delivery of goods.
Work of forwarders and dispatchers is communication heavy. It also requires a good understanding of where drivers are, what challenges they experience (you would be surprised how many calls a dispatcher receives because drivers can not find a loading place or warehouse), are they tired etc. They are in constant communication with clients, drivers and other members of the team to make sure that operation runs as a well oiled machine. On top of that, as in any operation that involves different people, things go wrong, and in the logistic industry they go wrong on a regular basis. Imagine you are responsible for a cargo movement and you just realize that your cargo went to Sicilia instead of Finland. What do you do now? Real story btw.
After observing the day-to-day operations the following became clear:
There are some industry-specific backend systems, known as TMS (Transportation Management Systems), where all transport-related activities need to be manually documented. People typically don't enjoy using them because of the necessity to meticulously log every piece of data.
Besides that, forwarders and dispatchers utilize whatever tools they can to get through their day. This includes Google Maps, Google Spreadsheets, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, SMS, and Notepad. They spend a significant amount of time on the phone, contacting drivers and clients. They may receive up to 40-50 phone calls daily. There are numerous repetitive tasks, such as texting a driver, "Where are you?" multiple times a day. I was amazed at how outdated some TMS systems can be. But what was most astonishing was the lack of industry-specific software designed to help forwarders and dispatchers navigate their day in the most productive manner possible.
Yet, the need for a solution like that seemed obvious, as people were employing the apps they knew in the most sophisticated and impressive ways I had ever seen.
It seemed there was an opportunity, and Janek and I decided to dig deeper.
In order to move forward, we had to do the following:
Find partners in crime who would like to help us.
Decide which problem needs to be tackled first and how.
The team
I reached out to Mike and Alex, people whom I knew very well from Base. I gave them a brief introduction to the space and the high-level idea of the opportunity. The ask was as follows:
Would you like to dig deeper into this space, become familiar with how it works mainly by visiting different logistics companies, following their daily work, and based on research like that, decide if we should build something?
More about everyone:
As mentioned before, we've known each other for over 20 years. Janek is an industry expert; he founded Black Orange, a logistics company, almost 10 years ago on his own. Today, the business employs over 40 people, has a fleet of more than 30 cars, and is growing. He has firsthand experience in every possible role within the logistics industry. Since the industry requires extensive cooperation between different vendors, he "knows people" and can quickly open doors to many other logistics companies. We started working on the first version of the product in September and launched it three months later. The team at Black Orange were and continue to be critical early adopters, providing us with harsh yet invaluable feedback. Building a tool like SlickShift without full access to the live workings of a logistics company from day one wouldn't have been possible. At the same time, Janek is an extremely ambitious and competitive person—a tough cookie.
One of the best engineers I've ever worked with, Mike joined Base as one of the first two people we hired back in 2011. We worked together for 10 years. He was one of the most crucial contributors to the engineering success of Base. The challenge with Mike is that he is an extremely fast typist (he uses the COLEMAK keyboard layout - QWERTY is for rookies) and an even faster thinker when it comes to coding. Because of this, he still can't build stuff as quickly as he would like. At the same time, even if he doesn't lock his laptop, making any jokes is impossible, as the letters on his keyboard are unrelated to the underlying keystrokes. He could work anywhere, but at his core, he is a builder, and that's why we do stuff together.
We worked together at Base for more than 5 years. On one hand, Alex is an engineer, but predominantly, he is an amazing thinker who loves working closely with customers. He is extremely product-focused. I worked with Alex on one of the biggest and most challenging implementations at Base. Alex also led a professional services team, and we collaborated extensively on Growth at Base. Privately, Alex is a great cook, a bookworm, and, generally speaking, a highly knowledgeable and curious person.
Bart
I’m the least interesting part of the team; however, my key responsibility is to enable our group to gain traction as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thus, in general, I try to assist as much as possible in all aspects of the business.
We decided to give ourselves 2 months for research. During that time, we spent a lot of time with a handful of logistics companies, observing how they work and what problems they experience. We started in the summer of last year.
The problem
We visited many companies, and the following observations became clear:
Drivers often receive the same questions about their location or estimated time of arrival, leading to unnecessary duplication of efforts.
When dispatchers and forwarders hand over shifts, they need to update each other on recent activities. Without direct communication visibility, important details can be missed if not properly relayed.
Dispatchers are burdened with manually inputting data into TMS and other systems for back-office operations, which is not only time-intensive but also a major source of frustration.
The lack of an effective tracking system means it’s often unclear when exactly cargo will arrive.
Dispatchers and forwarders are relatively young, tech-forward individuals who spend a lot of time using outdated software.
There is a spaghetti of tools which people use to navigate their day: Google Maps, Google Spreadsheets, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, Gadu-Gadu, SMS, Notepad, etc.
Our key observation is that communication within logistics companies is inefficient and fragmented, with a notable lack of proper visibility and transparency in understanding what’s happening with a fleet in real time.
After that time, we decided to build an MVP, and by doing so, we started SlickShift with four partners: Mike, Alex, Janek, and myself.
The solution
Our goal is to simplify communication between drivers, dispatchers, and freight forwarders, eliminating misunderstandings and the need for constant phone clarifications. SlickShift consolidates all essential information into a single platform, avoiding the necessity for multiple apps. We aim to improve tracking and transparency by providing complete visibility of routes, including each driver's current position and the distance remaining to their destination.
That’s just the beginning. The moment we become the heartbeat of a logistics company, where forwarders and dispatchers spend their days, all the unstructured data—conversations with drivers, routes, documents, etc.—will become available to be “digested” by AI. From there, a plethora of other options will emerge, including insights for decision-makers, process automation, and out-of-the-box documentation of tasks (which currently is a tedious job done daily).
We’ve built and released the MVP, which is already being used by a handful of companies. The adoption is amazing, with more than 60% daily active users per account.
What we’re also super excited about is the size of the market. According to different sources, there are between 1.2 and 3 million logistics companies just in the EU, with almost 400,000 in Poland alone.
This highlights a huge, essential industry that, by its nature, requires technology—trucks, drivers, forwarders, dispatchers, clients—it all needs to function as one organism.
What’s next and why now?
I really hope that if you've managed to get this far, you're at least somewhat convinced that we might be onto something.
There are another 10+ companies waiting to be enabled to start using SlickShift. We also have more conversations with other folks lined up.
The traction and early feedback we're experiencing have made us believe that we need to "full send" it.
Because of that, as mentioned in the beginning, we're looking for two engineers and a person who is passionate about growth who would like to join us. Why join us versus anyone else?
Working in a startup is awesome. Things happen quickly, and the impact of your work is immediate.
We are highly product-focused. If you enjoy building stuff, pushing it to production, and seeing people use it immediately, it’s the right place to work.
The nature of the product is that it's highly real-time and engaging. Logistic companies either use it or not - it’s impossible to use it "just a little bit." All communication happens here, so if it clicks, the user engagement is phenomenal, which is highly rewarding.
It’s very early on. To be more specific, there is no signup process, people can’t log out from the app by clicking the “logout” button (we didn’t have time to add one), there is no search, etc. Despite all these limitations, people still use the product and love it.
The industry is huge, and the software, for the most part, is ancient, so there is a lot of room to grow.
Being a platform that gathers a company's communication in one place offers enormous AI opportunities.
The work is remote - we try to meet in person every now and then, but generally speaking, we are remote.
If you value becoming an owner of the company you work at, we've got you covered. Equity is an important part of your compensation.
For more information on the engineering and growth positions, please see -> HERE <- and -> HERE <-.
Please pass this information along to anyone you think is outstanding and might be interested, or consider applying yourself. I genuinely believe we're on the right path, and joining us now promises to be an incredible journey.