Dhruv Saxena is the CEO of ShipBob, a technology company that streamlines shipping and order fulfillment for e-commerce businesses. Dhruv co-founded ShipBob in May 2014 with Divey Gulati, out of YCombinator. Prior to ShipBob, he spent two years as a software developer at InContext Solutions, another Chicago startup. And previously he spent a few years as a research assistant at Purdue University.
ShipBob has raised a total of $62 million from investors like Bain Capital Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels and Y Combinator.
Shipbob provides same-, next-, and 2-day shipping for e-commerce companies of all sizes taking the hassle out of storing, picking, packing, and shipping products. The startup aims to help small to midsize e-commerce companies ship their products at speeds similar to Amazon.
Listen to the full discussion here:
- Stream by clicking here.
- Download as an MP3 here.
Connect with the Guest:
Dhruv Saxena: LinkedIn | Twitter | Company Website
Some of the highlights from the podcast:
- How is ShipBob unique? What is special about the product?
- Hot manage threats and disruptions in the market
- ShipBob’s International Expansion Strategy
- Lessons learned growing from 100+ employees to 450+ employees
- Every single thing the employees do must be optimized
- Trust that the team around you is as wise as you.
Show notes:
- [01:27] Tell us more about your background. You started in the research assistant and then moved to be the founder and CEO of a startup – ShipBob. How did this happen?
- [06:51] What is the story behind ShipBob? And why did you decide to found it?
- [11:47] What are some examples of the clients you work with?
- [18:19] How do you make money? Can you give us more details about your pricing model?
- [21:13] What is your strategy for international expansion?
- [24:24] What differentiates ShipBob from the next type of a similar service?
- [27:26] What do you think might be the biggest threats or disruptors to your journey later on?
- [33:15] How do you delight end customers while considering their immediate clients? How transparent is it to the end consumer to have encountered innovative shipping services?
- [36:19] How do you manage onboarding? How do you train them? How do you get your newly graduated staff to speed in terms of logistics and Supply Chain Management knowledge?
- [44:46] Have you needed lately any senior executive from outside the company? What is the most challenging part about finding and attracting the right talent?
- [51:50] What are the most difficult hard skills to find for your team? How about soft skills?
- [54:24] What are your biggest struggles so far in your journey as an entrepreneur?
- [59:35] Looking back at the ShipBob story so far, what are the things that make you most proud of?
About the Host:
The host, Radu Palamariu is the co-author of “From Source to Sold – Stories of Leadership in Supply Chain”. He has been named one of the top 3 Global Supply Chain Influencers on LinkedIn and was featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, WEF, Bangkok Post, and MIT Supply Chain Talent magazine. Radu invites executives to share stories and perspectives around technology, logistics, e-commerce, supply chain, and manufacturing, and their views on how the future will look.
Alcott Global connects and upgrades the supply chain ecosystem by finding the right talent through executive search, developing talent through learning solutions, and meeting supply chain technology needs through a comprehensive crunch base marketplace.
The supply chain executive search has been our focus since the very beginning, offering recruitment services for top-tier supply chain roles at every level of the end-to-end supply chain: plan, source / procure, make, and deliver. Our consultants have years of experience in placing top talent, in North America, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and APAC, and besides speed, one of our biggest strengths is our network within the supply chain industry, and we capitalize on it to find the best solutions.
Through the years, we have grown as an organization and our offerings with it. One of our initiatives, the learning solutions- training and supply chain academy, is focused on transforming leadership- self-leadership, executive presence, influence capital, and business acumen. Through Supplify, we aim to match corporations with the top technology companies to solve their supply chain and logistics challenges with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.
We are in constant touch with the leaders in supply chain, inviting them to inspire the supply chain professionals in thought-provoking podcast episodes and events, and showcasing what is possible at the yearly Leaders in Supply Chain Awards.
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