Need Help
close button

How can we help?

Select One:

Brokerage rivals Pyatt, Silver talk about the culture of competition

12 Nov 2019
Category: News
Author: David Vidri
Shape

In a conversation at FreightWaves LIVE about the future of freight brokerage, at least half of the time was spent talking about a somewhat unlikely topic – people. The chief executive officers of Arrive Logistics and MoLo Solutions, Matt Pyatt and Andrew Silver, joined FreightWaves president George Abernathy on stage to discuss the evolution of their industry.

Pyatt and Silver talked about the origins of the friendly rivalry between Arrive and MoLo, dished on digital freight brokerages, and doubled down on customer service, but the most surprising part of the interaction was how closely the two executives were aligned on the importance of people.

Silver defined ‘culture’ as ‘a way of life,’ and said that one of his challenges as a leader was to continue to get an ever-growing workforce – MoLo employs 210 people at its Chicago headquarters – to buy into the company’s core values, which center on respect.

“Our industry can be cutthroat and competitive, with people willing to screw each other over to make an extra buck,” Silver said. “I won’t stand for that. If you can’t respect people in our office and the people we partner with – our customers and drivers – then you don’t have a place here.”

Pyatt said that Arrive is trying to change the trajectory of freight brokers’ careers and end the cycle of burnout and churn.

“We had a four-hour executive meeting, and two-and-a-half hours were all about retention – what can we do better, how can we engage better,” Pyatt said. “The project was called EFM –  everybody fucking matters. We’re obsessed with it because we know our people differentiate us.”

Silver said that MoLo always strived to be the best in the industry, and early on, that meant emulating and beating Arrive Logistics, a company that he thought was the best. The first goal was to get to $100 million of revenue faster than Arrive did it, Silver said. Silver revealed that MoLo’s revenue goals are based on beating Arrive’s timeline, an initiative the MoLo team calls ‘Operation RRRUTA,’ or ‘Revenue Run Rate Up To Arrive.’

But the competition between the two brokerages is about more than just dollars; it’s also based on employee satisfaction. Arrive and MoLo had a friendly bet to see whose office would score higher in the Chicago Tribune’s Best Workplaces 2019. When MoLo ranked higher, an executive from Arrive came to MoLo’s office to congratulate the team and praise them for being the best.

Silver also fielded a question from Abernathy about whether he considered MoLo a digital freight brokerage. Yes, we use technology, he began, before saying that he thought ‘digital freight brokerage’ was a ridiculous term that described automated processes that had been in place at C.H. Robinson and Coyote Logistics for years.

“It’s not about how you service the freight as long as you service the freight – they have every opportunity to succeed, as long as they service the freight,” Silver said. “The challenge will be making money; at some point they will have to do that.”

The discussion of digital freight brokerages, cash-burning venture capital-backed logistics companies, bled into Pyatt and Silver’s comments on how bid season was going and the outlook for 2020. Silver said that hyper-aggressive brokers that had a lot of money and were willing to spend it may find themselves in a difficult position if the freight market inflects upward and they have to either raise rates or suffer heavy losses. Meanwhile, Pyatt emphasized building long-term relationships with customers.

“We aren’t giving away margins and we aren’t pricing to lose money,” Pyatt said. “We’re trying to find customers who want to get married, not just want to date, and we’re pricing reasonably and servicing the hell out of the freight.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in 2020; I don’t think anyone does,” Silver said. “Customers want rate reductions – I know that – and they’re going to get them.”

Pyatt said that the 30-cent deviation between average contract and spot rates meant that contract rates still had room to come down next year.

“I don’t see anything that will create volatility outside of a weather event or regulation,” Pyatt said. “The market is so mature and fluid, trucks come in and go out in terms of what rates are doing. In the last 10 to 12 years the only things causing disruption are significant events that remove capacity overnight.”

 

Photo Credit: FreightWaves, original article posted here: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/brokerage-rivals-pyatt-silver-talk-about-the-culture-of-competition


Request Arrive's SOC 2 Report

"*" indicates required fields

Scott Sandager,
Chief Administrative Officer 

Scott Sandager is the Chief Administrative Officer at Arrive Logistics. He joined Arrive in 2018, bringing over 14 years of logistics and brokerage experience, with expertise in project and change management, organizational design, talent development and customer satisfaction. Scott previously held many diverse roles of increasing responsibility with AFN, a Chicago-based freight brokerage.

Subscribe to receive freight market updates​​

"*" indicates required fields


Quick Apply

"*" indicates required fields

Max. file size: 50 MB.

Arrive Carrier Requirements

Please have the following info ready to complete registration

  • MC, MX, DOT, or state reg #
  • Tax ID & W9 info
  • Cert of Insurance: $100k cargo, $1M Auto, & $1M commercial general liability coverage
  • Active Common or Contract Authority (365+ days)
  • Safety Rating of at least Satisfactory (or None)

Fraud Prevention

Freight fraud continues to impact our industry. We encourage shippers and carriers to reach out to Arrive immediately if there is ever a shipment in question that may be subject to fraud. Arrive will not ask you to pay upfront for any dedicated lane or committed capacity program. If the offer you are receiving sounds too good to be true or unrealistic, it may be fraud. Arrive Logistics recommends verifying all communications come from our registered email domain is @arrivelogistics.com. Our 24/7 phone number is 888-861-0650 and our leadership team can also be reached at feedback@arrivelogistics.com.

Use of Cookies

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalized ads or content, and analyze site traffic. By continuing to use this website, you acknowledge and consent to our use of cookies as detailed in our privacy policy.

Get Access to the Shipper Portal

Current Customers

Already shipping with Arrive?

Connect with your representative to get access to your ARRIVEnow Shipper Portal. Can’t connect with your rep? Use this form to reach out.

New Customers

Not shipping with Arrive yet?

If you’re not an Arrive customer, please join our network to access the portal.

Carrier Scorecard Feedback

Contact Us

"*" indicates required fields

Matt Pyatt, Chief Executive Officer

Matt Pyatt is the Chief Executive Officer of Arrive Logistics. He co-founded Arrive with President Eric Dunigan in 2014 after building his career at Command Transportation. As CEO, he is responsible for overseeing the company’s financial health, strategic vision and culture, as well as building a scalable leadership team to support Arrive’s growth.

Tim Denoyer,
VP and Senior Analyst at ACT Research

As VP and Senior Analyst at ACT Research, Tim analyzes commercial vehicle demand and alternative powertrain development (i.e. electrification), and authors the ACT Freight Forecast, U.S. Rate and Volume Outlook. He previously spent fifteen years in equity research focused primarily on the transportation, machinery, and automotive industries, and co-founded leading equity research firm Wolfe Research.

Eric Dunigan,
President & Co-Founder

Eric Dunigan is the President of Arrive Logistics. He began his career at Command Transportation before co-founding Arrive with Matt Pyatt in 2014. As president, he is responsible for driving revenue and growth, as well as leading the Strategic Partnerships team — a veteran group of supply chain experts who work with Arrive’s customers to reimagine their shipping strategy.

Arrive Logistics VP of Market Intelligence David Spencer Headshot

David Spencer,
VP of Market Intelligence

David Spencer is the Vice President of Market Intelligence at Arrive Logistics. David joined Arrive in 2017 after spending six years at AFN focused on business intelligence. His department provides critical market data and expert analysis to internal teams and publishes monthly market updates for shippers and carriers under the Arrive Insights banner.

Andrew Clarke, Board Chair,
Arrive Logistics and Global Critical Logistics

Andrew Clarke is Board Chairman for Global Critical and DCLI, Inc., and a board member for Arrive Logistics and Element Fleet Management Corp. His 20 years of global transportation and logistics experience include time as CFO of C.H. Robinson, CEO of Panther Expedited Services, Inc. and SVP and CFO roles at Forward Air Corporation.

Dean Croke,
Principal Analyst
at DAT Freight and Analytics

Dean Croke is a Market Analyst at DAT Solutions, where he focuses on freight market intelligence and data analytics. His 35 years of experience with data analytics, transportation, supply chain management, mining and insurance risk management include time as co-founder of FleetRisk Advisors and in a number of other high-level roles with FreightWaves, Spireon, Lancer Insurance, Omnitracs Analytics (formerly Qualcomm) and more.

Asanka Jayasuriya,
CTO and Partner at 8VC

Asanka Jayasuriya is the CTO at 8VC. He is an accomplished engineering and product leader with 20+ years of experience in the cloud. He has a strong background in enterprise SaaS, PLG products, infrastructure, and security. Notably, he served as CTO and SVP of Engineering at SailPoint, leading their successful transition to the cloud and successful exit event. He also held senior leadership roles at InVision, Atlassian, and Amazon, driving growth, operational excellence, and innovation. At 8VC, Asanka works with the entrepreneurs and leaders in our portfolio as a virtual CTO supporting their growth.

Chad Eichelberger,
President at Reliance Partners

Chad Eichelberger is the President of Reliance Partners. Since 2015, he’s leveraged his extensive experience in risk management, compliance, best practices and contracts to lead the company’s logistics and truck insurance strategy and operations. Chad was previously the President of Access America Transport, where he led the company from $8M to over $600M in revenue.

Barry Conlon,
CEO & Founder at Overhaul

Barry Conlon is the CEO and founder of Overhaul, the global leader in active supply chain risk management and intelligence. With a remarkable career spanning over 30 years in supply chain security, he is widely regarded as a trailblazer in modern-day supply chain security standards and best practices.

Download this Report

"*" indicates required fields

Add me to the monthly distribution