Supply Chain Post Mortem: Convoy

Convoy was a digital freight brokerage founded by former Amazon executives to digitally revolutionize a high-transaction, low-profit space. Investors included Bill Gates, former Vice President Al Gore, Bono and The Edge from U2, the investment arm of Google parent Alphabet, and Jeff Bezos.

Convoy was launched in 2015, reached a $3.8 Billion valuation in early 2022, and was gone less than 18 months later. What was Convoy’s cause of death? As you might have guessed, there was more than one.

In this episode of Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner performs a supply chain post-mortem, led by a brief retelling of Convoy’s rise and fall:

• Tracing the company’s early successes, thanks in part to well-pedigreed executives and A-list investors
• Studying what Convoy was trying to achieve, and how difficult that task turned out to be
• Looking closely at the reasons this company failed, providing a real opportunity for the rest of us to learn by looking in the rearview mirror

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Dial P for Procurement on AOP
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