Boring industry. No experience. A $500 million valuation

INC. THIS MORNING Boring industry. No experience. A $500 million valuation Good morning, If you've tried to order dumbbells, lawn furniture, or even a Chevy Silverado in the past 18 months, you know that the global supply chain has been bonkers. That has spelled opportunity for a number of companies--including Stord, a cloud-based distributed logistics platform founded in Atlanta by 20-somethings Sean Henry and Jacob Boudreau.  As the pandemic has unfolded, traditional retailers have been forced to accelerate their shift to e-commerce. That's easy to do on the order-taking side, but not on the fulfillment side. Firms often opt to use third-party logistics providers for order fulfillment--which makes it harder to track inventory. The lack of visibility was Stord's opportunity. But how do you tie all these third-party providers and their warehouses together when they are all using a jumble of software to track items? Despite having no experience in the logistics industry, Henry and Boudreau built a solution--and landed at No. 42 on this year’s Inc. 5000 list. Read our story to learn how Stord went from a student project to a fast-growing company valued at more than $500 million. JOIN US: So much of our personal data is bought and sold behind our backs, and almost none of that activity would strike most consumers as ethical. Three years ago, serial entrepreneur and investor Angela Benton launched data-science firm Streamlytics to bring transparency to the sale of personal data. Benton initially bootstrapped the Los Angeles-based company before raising seed and angel funding, including money from actor, writer, and producer Issa Rae. Join us for our next Real Talk discussion, featuring an hour-long conversation with Benton.  Wednesday, August 25, 2021, 12 p.m. ET Reserve your free spot HERE'S WHAT ELSE I'M READING TODAY: Taking a company public through a special purpose acquisition company might be faster and easier than a traditional IPO, but beware of the SPAC-lash. --Inc. A brand consultant who worked with Steve Jobs for a decade shared five lessons he’s learned about what makes a great founder. --Fast Company Should you require your vaccinated employees to wear masks in the office? Here’s what to consider. --Inc. Hackers stole the personal information of more than 40 million T-Mobile customers, the carrier said. --The Wall Street Journal Seventy percent of U.S. workers would consider leaving their current employers for other companies that offered better policies to reduce burnout, according to a new survey. --Inc. ONE MORE THING: Your employees aren’t the same as they were before the pandemic. Your office design shouldn’t be, either. --Inc. --Sophie Downes Assistant editor, Inc. How are we doing? Send me ideas and feedback at sdownes@inc.com, and on Twitter. Join the visionaries who choose Inc. as their trusted source for the most accurate reporting on business. Join Inc. Unlimited today. Click here to forward to a friend. This email was sent by: Mansueto Ventures 7 World Trade Center, 29th Floor New York, NY, 10007, Unsubscribe • Update Profile • View in Browser • Privacy Policy