Somil’s wife, Saureen Naik Desai, earned dual degrees in business finance and marketing management. She comes from a family corporation that included about 25 different companies under one parent organization, encompassing plastics engineering, manufacturing, recycling and exporting to overseas customers. She has more than 12 years of expertise in international trade and logistics,

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Both Somil and Saureen realized that a major weak spot for many organizations is logistics management. The process of managing shipments through domestic ground transportation, air freight and ocean freight containers can involve numerous calls and e-mails with brokers and carriers, redundant paperwork, and a constant need for tracking to make sure goods were on-time and 0n-route.

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“That is a cost that can ultimately be controlled if done the correct way and analyzed properly,” says Somil Desai. He jumped in to look at ways to reduce the logistics costs.

By 2014, Somil Desai and his team built a platform to manage the shipping process. The couple then decided to follow their dream to start a tech company and in 2016 they spun out the technology into a new commercialized platform, ShipLync.

The pitch

Somil Desai, co-founder and chief executive of Columbia, Md.-based ShipLync

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“ShipLync connects customers who need to move freight quickly at the most competitive rates with service providers – transportation carriers or brokers like UPS, CH Robinson, XPO Logistics, etc. We’re like the Expedia of logistics. We also have a Yelp-like review section where customers can rate service providers.

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“ShipLync gives service providers access to more deals, and companies that need to ship things get quick quotes and better rates because providers are bidding against each other for business. Service providers use our real-time platform to upload all the necessary paperwork, send real-time tracking updates, and manage invoices. This streamlines the need for numerous back-and-forth phone calls and emails. Anyone managing shipments domestically or internationally can use our platform to send out a request for quotes. Once the shipping request goes out, it’s quick and easy for providers in our network to receive the request and offer on-the-spot quotes from their desktop or mobile devices so they never miss opportunities for business. We charge service providers a small percentage of the business they book on our platform.

“Right now, we’re earning about $1,000 a day in revenue and we are working to double that by June. We want to expand our office, hire the right talent and grow from there.

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“As we grow, a lot of our challenges are with getting shippers on board with our technology. We have had good success rolling out to tech-savvy service provider startups – Uber, Transfix.io and Cargo Chief are all using our platform. But much of the logistics world is still very antiquated. Introducing technology is a big thing and many people are used to doing business the ‘old way.’ We also have to educate the shippers to make them see the value we bring and how we can maximize their cost savings and the service providers in our system have been vetted. How can we get more users onto our platform?”

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The advice

Elana Fine, executive director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business

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“Don’t worry yet about the tech hold-outs — you’re still so early in the business that you need to focus on your earliest adopters. At this stage, it will be very challenging to try to sell to shippers who currently rely only on paper and pen. Instead, focus on your current users and try to learn as much as you can about the daily transactions taking place on your platform now. Who are those customers and what can you learn from them? That can be a great indicator of where to find similar customers.

“The shippers currently using ShipLync could be your best marketing to get new customers. They could be very influential to other potential customers. Call on them to recommend you to others in their industry. Try to grow virally that way. You could even consider offering them some incentives for referrals.”

The reaction

Somil Desai