Logistics Lessons—Unpacking 25 Years of Supply Chain Success

Designing Successful Startups

Summary

Giles Taylor, the founder of Trans Solutions, shares his journey from working in the maritime industry to starting his own logistics company. Trans Solutions specializes in optimizing transportation and offering engineering solutions for businesses. Giles discusses the evolution of the logistics industry and the unique challenges and opportunities in the parcel shipping sector. He emphasizes the importance of negotiation and optimization in saving companies money on shipping costs. Trans Solutions has been self-funded with occasional use of a line of credit. Giles Taylor discusses the evolution of data management in his company, the challenges of negotiating with shipping integrators, and the importance of having the right team. He also shares his experience of making mistakes and the lessons he learned from them. Giles talks about the process of being acquired and how he found the right buyer for his company. He reflects on the source of his grit and the mindset that has driven his success.

Takeaways

• Giles Taylor's background in engineering, operations management, and transportation led him to start Trans Solutions
• Trans Solutions specializes in optimizing transportation and offering engineering solutions for businesses
• The parcel shipping sector presents unique challenges and opportunities for cost savings
• Negotiation and optimization are key in saving companies money on shipping costs
• Trans Solutions has been self-funded with occasional use of a line of credit The evolution of data management in the company, from using Excel spreadsheets to using SQL and Python
• The challenges of negotiating with shipping integrators and the importance of understanding all the charges involved
• The importance of having the right team and the challenges of hiring and managing employees
• The experience of making mistakes and the lessons learned from them
• The process of being acquired and finding the right buyer for the company
• The source of Giles' grit and the mindset that has driven his success

Sound Bites

"Here's a tank that costs $200,000 to make. It's got a million dollars of product in it. And you need to know where it is at all times."

"What was the unsolved problem that you were going to aim TransSolutions at?"

"And some of these databases, are they all ones that you've developed yourselves or do you have to buy some of this data?"

"Then we got up to companies that spend like 150, 200 million dollars on just parcel. And those databases are huge."

"So if you don't know what to ask for it, you're going to miss it."

Links

https://trans-solutions.com/

Please leave us a review: https://podchaser.com/DesigningSuccessfulStartups

Tech Startup Toolkit (book): https://www.manning.com/books/tech-startup-toolkit

Jothy’s website: https://jothyrosenberg.com

Who Says I Can’t Foundation: https://whosaysicant.org

Jothy’s TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNtOawXAx5A

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

09:07 Giles Taylor's Music Collection

14:27 The Unsolved Problem and the Birth of Trans Solutions

19:54 Challenges and Opportunities in Parcel Shipping

23:06 Funding and Growth of Trans Solutions

25:14 Navigating the Challenges of Negotiation

31:40 Learning from Mistakes

40:08 The Source of Grit