{"id":31060,"date":"2018-11-13T01:19:51","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T06:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T11:10:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T16:10:41","slug":"canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada: Flexport\u2019s next AI-first office?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Flexport (https:\/\/www.flexport.com\/<\/a>) is a freight forwarding company that uses software to help businesses optimize its supply chain and ship cargo around the world. Based in San Francisco, Flexport has raised over $300M in financing from Google Ventures (GV), First Round Capital, and other prominent investors.<\/p>\n

Logistics is 12% of global GDP, and companies spend $1.1 trillion dollars on freight forwarding each year. The massive scale and complex network of people involved in transporting goods \u2013 from freight forwarders to retailers \u2013 make supply chain visibility a challenge for all stakeholders involved [1]<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Machine Learning\u2019s importance to Flexport\u2019s product development<\/strong><\/p>\n

Machine Learning (ML) is a component of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that uses an algorithm to learn from prior data in order to produce a behavior or predict an outcome. As a software company that processes shipping data across air, ocean, rail, and truck for over 15,000 global businesses every day, Flexport is uniquely positioned to leverage that data to create new products that help businesses optimize their supply chains.<\/p>\n

Given the complexity of the supply chain, the biggest data problem facing Flexport is that forwarders in Flexport\u2019s networks provide unstructured data that are not labelled adequately for machine learning. Oftentimes, Flexport employees would need to call the forwarder, ask detailed questions on the data provided, and then manually update Flexport\u2019s platform [2]<\/strong>. Without clean and accurate data to train machine learning algorithms, predictions for shipping events, shipment times, and shipping demands become practically impossible.<\/p>\n

At the same time, legacy technology companies are starting to enter into the freight-forwarding space. Most notably, IBM launched Watson Supply Chain last year to create supply chain visibility in shipping [3]<\/strong>. IBM\u2019s focus with this new platform is to leverage data from external sources (e.g., weather forecasts) and the forwarder\u2019s internal data sources to predict supply chain disruptions. Given IBM Watson\u2019s strong foothold in the machine learning space and its parent company\u2019s financial resources, this new supply chain platform creates pressure for Flexport.<\/p>\n

How Flexport plans to address the data challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the next two years, Flexport\u2019s goal is to provide better end-to-end services for companies, while including more inland services [4]<\/strong>. More importantly, Flexport will create easy-to-use interfaces for the forwarder to input unstructured data into a format that is accurate and labelled into the Flexport platform. The main focus here is to collect clean data throughout the entire system in order to train a machine learning algorithm.<\/p>\n

The company is doubling down on efforts that will help factories coordinate bookings, logistics teams collaborating on imports, and supply chain managers relaying pickup details to truckers [5]<\/strong>. In order to succeed in the next two years, Flexport will continue to focus on operations and deliver a better customer experience at a relatively low cost.<\/p>\n

Over the next ten years, the CEO plans to open offices in the top 20 exporting countries in the world and continue to build out its network of warehouses so that more data is being captured and fed into the company\u2019s algorithm [6]<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The case for building Flexport\u2019s next AI-first office in Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n

My recommendation is for Flexport to build an AI-first (instead of an operations-first) office in Toronto, Canada.<\/p>\n

Currently, Flexport has offices in the US (San Francisco, New York), Asia (Hong Kong, Shenzhen), and Europe (Amsterdam, Hamburg) that\u2019s focused strictly on operations. All of these offices are strictly focused on operations and not on the research & development of machine learning expertise. Without world-class machine learning capabilities, Flexport will not be able to build the operating system for global trade.<\/p>\n

Canada is the best place to build a world-class machine learning company. In addition to having two pioneers of machine learning in Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio [7]<\/strong>, Toronto is home of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence \u2013 a $120 million initiative that exists to further generate and retain world-class AI talent.<\/p>\n

The political landscape in the US reinforces Canada\u2019s AI sector\u2019s strength [8]<\/strong>. More than 50% of Toronto companies are seeing more US applicants in 2017 than in 2016, signalling that there is a potential \u201creverse brain drain\u201d of top talent flowing from the US to Canada.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Flexport building an office in Toronto will provide immediate access to top machine learning experts at a fraction of the cost. Not many Silicon Valley startups have adopted this strategy yet, which provides Flexport a first-mover advantage in nurturing machine learning talent.<\/p>\n

Open-ended questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Does machine learning expertise need to be developed in-house in order to build a competitive advantage for product development?<\/li>\n
  2. Is it better to solicit help from \u201cAI-as-a-Service\u201d vendors to help Flexport apply machine learning using data that Flexport collects so that Flexport can focus only on operations?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [Word count: 780]<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    [1] \u201cRetail\u2019s Adapt-Or-Die Moment: How Artificial Intelligence Is Reshaping Commerce\u201d. CB Insights, https:\/\/app-cbinsights-com.prd2.ezproxy-prod.hbs.edu\/research\/artificial-intelligence-reshaping-commerce\/#supply<\/a><\/p>\n

    [2] \u201cRyan Petersen on Building Flexport, a Modern Freight Forwarder\u201d. Y Combinator Blog, https:\/\/blog.ycombinator.com\/ryan-petersen-on-building-flexport-a-modern-freight-forwarder\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    [3] Vyas, Nick. \u201cFour compass points for global supply chain management….revisited\u201d. Supply Chain Management Review 22, ProQuest, http:\/\/search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu\/docview\/2111104217?accountid=11311<\/a><\/p>\n

    [4] Bauml, Manuel. \u201cAir-freight forwarders move forward into a digital future\u201d. McKinsey & Company, https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/industries\/travel-transport-and-logistics\/our-insights\/air-freight-forwarders-move-forward-into-a-digital-future<\/a><\/p>\n

    [5] Petersen, Ryan. \u201cAnnouncing Flexport\u2019s $110M Series C\u201d. Flexport News, https:\/\/www.flexport.com\/blog\/announcing-flexports-110m-series-c\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    [6] Nicholas Shields. \u201cTop 5 startups to watch: Digital freight\u201d. Business Insider Intelligence, https:\/\/intelligence.businessinsider.com\/post\/top-5-startups-to-watch-digital-freight-2018-7<\/a><\/p>\n

    [7] Irvine, Steve. \u201cCanada can be an AI leader. I left Silicon Valley to prove it\u201d. The Globe and Mail, https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/report-on-business\/rob-commentary\/canada-can-be-an-ai-leader-i-left-facebook-to-prove-it\/article33727882\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    [8] Briggs, Paul. \u201cArtificial Intelligence Incubators: Why Canada\u2019s Hubs for AI Research Are Attracting Global Tech\u201d. eMarketer PRO, https:\/\/content-na1.emarketer.com\/artificial-intelligence-incubators<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Flexport, a software-powered freight forwarding company, needs to build an AI-first office in Canada in order to improve its product development and global operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11436,"featured_media":31117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[1909,21,346,344,44],"class_list":["post-31060","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","category-logistics","category-machine-learning","category-product-development","category-supply-chain-management","hck-taxonomy-organization-flexport","hck-taxonomy-industry-transportation","hck-taxonomy-country-united-states"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/rc-tom-challenge-2018\/","yoast_head":"\nCanada: Flexport\u2019s next AI-first office?\u00a0 - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canada: Flexport\u2019s next AI-first office?\u00a0 - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Flexport, a software-powered freight forwarding company, needs to build an AI-first office in Canada in order to improve its product development and global operations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-02T16:10:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/global-supply-chain.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\\\/\",\"name\":\"Canada: Flexport\u2019s next AI-first office?\u00a0 - Technology and Operations Management\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/global-supply-chain.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-13T06:19:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-02T16:10:41+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/global-supply-chain.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/global-supply-chain.jpg\",\"width\":1366,\"height\":768},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Canada: Flexport\u2019s next AI-first office?\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Technology and Operations Management\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Canada: Flexport\u2019s next AI-first office?\u00a0 - Technology and Operations Management","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Canada: Flexport\u2019s next AI-first office?\u00a0 - Technology and Operations Management","og_description":"Flexport, a software-powered freight forwarding company, needs to build an AI-first office in Canada in order to improve its product development and global operations.","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/","og_site_name":"Technology and Operations Management","article_modified_time":"2026-02-02T16:10:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1366,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/global-supply-chain.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/","name":"Canada: Flexport\u2019s next AI-first office?\u00a0 - Technology and Operations Management","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/global-supply-chain.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-13T06:19:51+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-02T16:10:41+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/global-supply-chain.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/global-supply-chain.jpg","width":1366,"height":768},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/canada-flexports-next-ai-first-office\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Canada: Flexport\u2019s next AI-first office?\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/","name":"Technology and Operations Management","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/31060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11436"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/31060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37237,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/31060\/revisions\/37237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}