Best Practices for Building a Resilient Supply Chain

We talked to Jason Traff of Shipwell on how its supply chain was affected by COVID-19.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Jason Traff: Thankfully, we’re all really well. I have three young children, so it has been nice to be able to work from home and spend more time with them. 

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Shipwell.

Jason Traff: Prior to Shipwell, I co-founded and ran CopyCat Paintings, a global art reproduction company based in Shenzhen, China that employed over 1,000 artists and shipped to four continents. Leaky, an insurance technology startup backed by a Y-Combinator that provided over $300 million of insurance quotes. In CopyCat, our biggest challenge was shipping, and with Leaky, I saw how technology can be used to practically modernize traditional industries. Both of these lessons led to Shipwell.

How does Shipwell innovate? 

Jason Traff: Shipwell transforms supply chains by combining transportation management, visibility, and an integrated partner network in one simple and responsive platform that scales as you grow.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Jason Traff: Shipwell has helped many of our customers adapt their business during Coronavirus to keep things moving. Our platform is cloud-based, making it accessible anytime, from anywhere. 

Did you have to make difficult choices and what are the lessons learned?

Jason Traff: COVID-19 changed the way many companies do business, and Shipwell is no different. At the start of the pandemic, we had everyone shift to working remotely and were concerned about its impact on the business. We found that; 

1. Our product is incredibly well-suited for this kind of environment. 
2. People need technology to streamline operations, now more than ever. 
3. Our company is stronger and more resilient than ever as a remote-forward business. 

How do you deal with stress and anxiety? How do you project yourself and Shipwell in the future?

Jason Traff: In an incredibly unpredictable time, it’s difficult to feel like you have little control over the situation. I personally have been focusing on controlling the things in my life that I can and learning to channel my energy into those things rather than the things out of my control. At Shipwell, I believe we’ve done the same. We know we have leading-edge visibility technology, a great platform, and are building out stronger data analytics to empower our customers to take full control of their logistics operation. 

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Jason Traff: Our largest competitor has always been apathy or change management, but luckily we’ve seen Covid-19 shift attitudes regarding businesses investing in their supply chain. As a product, Shipwell is differentiated from the market because we combine a traditional TMS with integrated visibility and a carrier network. As a result, we have competitors in all three of those areas, but none of them offer our combination, which is why our customers are able to achieve such an amazing value from Shipwell.

Your final thoughts?

Jason Traff: Supply chains are modernizing for the first time in a generation due to the strains Covid is placing on them. As customers increasingly shift towards online purchases, now is the right time for businesses to start thinking about shipping impacts their operations, bottom-line, and customer experience. Thanks for taking the time to reach out to us at Shipwell.

Your website?

shipwell.com