'Farewell Flexport'

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Michael Baekboel, Flexport’s Head of CaaS, writes:

After an incredible decade building Flexport, the time has come for a new chapter. I’m profoundly grateful for the journey from our humble beginnings in a SOMA garage loft to becoming a top-tier multinational technology logistics provider with offices and warehouses around the world.

As I reflect back on this adventure, I marvel at the exciting challenges of a fast-growing startup; from the early days of launching  our services offerings, to managing and navigating hyper growth and the organizational changes to manage it all, including the recent rounds of layoffs.  Through it all, everyone has repeatedly rallied around our mission to revolutionize global trade and make more of it. I couldn’t be prouder of the teams and more honored to have been part of the journey.

I extend my heartfelt thanks to Ryan Petersen for his vision and passion that magnetized me to join in the first place, and to Sanne Manders for our friendship and inspired thinking from day one. A special shoutout to my compliance and legal comrades; your steadfast commitment to building top-tier programs and policies to keep Flexport safe and compliant is unparalleled. Thank you, Steve Lee, for your humble servant leadership – I’m thankful for the trust, support and the deep friendship you have extended me.

As the OG forwarder, it has been gratifying to put my experience in service of laying the foundation for our global forwarding operations, obtaining our various licenses to operate across ocean, air and trucking. I had the pleasure of establishing our initial network of partners around the world, many of which are still serving our clients today. Likewise it was a thrill to create and see our multi-million cargo insurance program successfully scale to protect our clients and their billion dollar investment in inventory traversing the perilous journey across the globe.

It’s been my honor to contribute to an incredibly bright and diverse team building elegant solutions to complex problems. It is amazing to look back and see how the platform empowers companies, regardless of size, to have instant visibility and tools to manage, analyze, optimize and finance their global supply chain with just a few clicks.

All of that was a lot of fun, but more so, I’ve been humbled daily by the amazing feats that can be achieved by a small group of dedicated and passionate people working towards a common goal.

I did not expect the continuous “upgrade” I have received from the bright minds across the company. I am grateful for you patiently sharing your knowledge and expertise with me – You all have expanded my world and experience more than you can imagine.

The full post is here.