Will LogTech Ever Hit the Big Time?
Welcome to the 54th edition of The LogTech Letter, a weekly look at the impact technology is having on the world of global and domestic logistics. Last week, I dissected how logistics tech companies weigh partnering against competing in this crazy landscape. This week, something a little light-hearted: who will eventually be LogTech’s frontman?
As a reminder, this is the place to turn on Fridays for quick reflection on a dynamic, software category, or specific company that’s on my mind. You’ll also find a collection of links to stories, videos and podcasts from me, my colleagues at the Journal of Commerce, and other analysis I find interesting.
For those that don’t know me, I’m Eric Johnson, senior technology editor at the Journal of Commerce and JOC.com. I can be reached at eric.johnson@ihsmarkit.com or on Twitter at @LogTechEric.
I was 8 years old when David Lee Roth left Van Halen. At that point, I knew them as the band that sang Jump and that they looked like they had a lot of fun. If a rock band is the platonic ideal of “work” being the most enjoyable thing you can think of, being in Van Halen seemed like the platonic ideal of a rock band.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Van Halen at 8. Michael Jackson and Wham were more my speed at that point, though it feels like Phil Collins, and more specifically the song Sussudio, was the soundtrack of that particular point in time. But I do have a recollection of DLR leaving Van Halen and thinking, but why? You guys get to jump around on stage in crazy outfits and play loud music. Why would you not want to do that together?
In middle school, I found my way into the entire VH catalog – spanning Dave and Sammy – and they are definitely my favorite rock band of all time. Once I heard them, there was no turning back. But VH mark I were the real years, and part of it is because of Dave himself. Dave overcame his mediocre singing range by having a unique voice, a pretty face, crazy athleticism, and more than anything, raw star power. Dave wasn’t the lead singer of Van Halen. He was the frontman of Van Halen, the focal point who could, at times, somehow overshadow the greatest guitarist ever.
I swear I’m going somewhere with this, so bear with me.
There are some parallels between the rock gods of the ‘70s and ‘80s and the technology companies of the ‘90s-2010s. When grunge took over, the “frontman” consciously slid back into the shadows in favor of the “angsty lead singer.” Yes Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain were and are huge, but they weren’t larger-than-life, galvanizing personalities in the way DLR was. But guess who started to be the new frontmen? Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and others. Now we have Elon Musk. But, to be clear, none of these guys are capable of this…
But they are name-brand heros (or villains, depending on your perspective) whose names roll off the tips of everyone’s tongues, whether they know tech or use their products (and most of us use all of their products).
So my question is, who will end up being LogTech’s frontman or frontwoman? Who will be the most memorable entrepreneur from this era? Whose business acumen will be lauded for decades? Who will have movies and documentaries made about them? If the answer to that question is “nobody,” then we have to ask ourselves why that is. Why should someone at the vanguard of logistics technology not be seen as redefining the entire way supply chains are managed? If logistics is so important, and if you’re reading this, I suspect you think it’s pretty important, why is that not translatable to a bigger world?
There are more questions to ask and answer. Is the problem that logistics is too fragmented to produce one or two frontpeople that capture the imagination of the entire industry, and even some of those outside it? Is the industry still just too behind the curtain to generate an entrepreneur famous enough to compete with those who sell consumer products? Or is it more purely a personality issue? Are the people who have, by default, become the face of this LogTech decade just not eccentric and captivating enough to draw in a wider audience? Are we waiting for LogTech’s David Lee Roth to walk through the door?
As with most things, I legitimately don’t know. If I did, I’d probably be a wildly successful early stage investor at this point, having an innate knack of being able to see that the tech entrepreneur with the mediocre voice has star power inside him or her. If I had to guess, I’d say that logistics remains too obscure an industry for one person to rise to the level of a David Lee Roth or Jeff Bezos (though I can hear you saying, “but Amazon is a logistics tech company…”).
A good comp might be Salesforce and CRM. Marc Benioff is a name brand frontman in the tech and enterprise business world, but if I polled 20 of my friends, I’d doubt more than three or four of them would recognize the name much less know which company he founded. But if a current LogTech founder could rise to the level of a Benioff, that would be a good benchmark for success. That would mean that LogTech will have occupied a bigger perch in the enterprise software galaxy, and it means someone will have captured the imagination of the press and the larger business community in a way no one has yet. Maybe not a David Lee Roth, but a Bret Michaels wouldn’t be so bad either.
TPMTech Update
We announced our keynote speaker yesterday: E2open CEO Michael Farlekas, who was supposed to keynote El Dorado in 2020 before…well you know. Since that time, E2open has gone public and acquired BluJay Solutions, so there’s lots for him to discuss in terms of his vision for technology in this industry. We’ll be announcing more speakers and sessions soon. Registration is open.
Here’s a roundup of pieces on JOC.com the past week from my colleagues and myself (note: there is a paywall):
Not a ton from me this week as I traveled back from India, but found this briefing Thursday from freight rate benchmarking platform Xeneta incredibly interesting. Lots of tidbits, including why their index varies from others on the market, but also explaining the extent of the delta between high and low rates in the ocean freight market, in both contract and spot. More on their thoughts on procurement in this market right now here.
And here are some recent discussions, reports, and analysis I found interesting:
I write often about freight procurement and so I obviously found this blog from Pieter Kinds at Freightender interesting.
A fascinating look at Shopify’s fulfillment network. Have to admit, I read this one carefully as I’ve been incredibly keen to understand when or if Shopify becomes a major logistics player, or if it’s happy to be a connector to other logistics platforms.
Had a great conversation a few weeks back with Kapil Kandelwal for his QuoteUnquote podcast on investing.
My favorite tweet in a while…
Some upcoming events I’ll be involved in:
The next episode of LogTech Live is next Friday, at 10 am EST Sept. 3. My guest is Joanne Lin, principal at Newark Venture Partners. I’ll get her thoughts on investing into supply chain and the crazy VC world right now. I’ll have my buzzword of the month and dadjokes aplenty as well. Don’t miss it. If you missed my first episode, catch it on demand here.
I’ll be speaking at the Container xChange Digital Container Summit, held virtually, at 8:30 am EST/14:30 CET Sept. 15. I have the honor (or challenge) of being wedged between Lars Jensen and Patrik Berglund on the agenda, so good luck to me! Use this code to get 30 percent off the registration fee.
I’m leading a session (in-person!) at CSCMP Edge at 2 pm EST Sept. 20 in Atlanta. The panel, How Leading Retailers use Technology to Effect Supply Chain Transformation, includes Sarah Galica, VP of transportation at The Home Depot, and Ben Pivar, CIO at Carter’s. Please stop by if you’re the event – I have 18 months of in-person catching up to do! Details on the session can be found on the agenda page.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is in no way affiliated with The Journal of Commerce or IHS Markit, and any opinions are mine only.