The global pandemic caused significant issues for global supply chains while at the same time, people stuck at home increased reliance on home deliveries. If you’re like me, you don’t think too much about the mechanics of receiving packages on your front porch. But as I recently learned, the challenges are monumental for shippers—and an opportunity for entrepreneurs like JP Wiggins. JP’s company, 1LogTech, was created to solve a major pain point for the shipping and logistics industry, an integration platform as a service (iPaaS) to streamline digital communications without programmers. Impressed, I invited him to present at VisionTech’s May 29th and 30th pitch events. Here’s a preview.
BP: This is not your first rodeo founding a company in the shipping industry. Tell me about previous companies and the exits.
JP: I’ve always been fascinated by transportation; it’s a huge industry with a million carriers in North America alone. This led me to earn a degree from Ohio State University’s Transportation and Logistics program. After college, I jumped in, joining a software development company for the logistics industry. Seeing the challenges the industry faces really fueled my passion. With my industry-specific software development background, I went on to co-found four logistics companies, all with successful exits: 3G, a transportation management system (TMS), sold to Sumeru Equity Partners; GLOG, sold to Oracle and now operating as Oracle TMS, the industry’s largest TMS; DX/DT, logistics integration tool, sold to Descartes; and Wesley Software, a TMS, sold to Red Prairie (now Blue Yonder). Two of these exits delivered 7x returns.
BP: That’s impressive! What market pain points inspired you to co-found 1LogTech?
JP: In a nutshell, shippers, manufacturers and distributors of products, need to be digitally connected to all of the partners handling their freight at all times. Not just for visibility so they know where their products are, but also operations to reduce manual interactions. Making connectivity happen is expensive and time consuming.
That said, if you’ve ordered anything delivered by UPS and FedEx recently, you get a link that lets you know where your package is, when it will arrive and confirmation of delivery. It’s amazing customer service. But higher up the supply chain—that’s where the real pain is. Shippers must be able to communicate electronically with their over-the-road carriers for rating, booking, tracking, and documentation in real time.
Today, this level of B2B communication is done with either by EDI, API, email or phone. Any form of digital connection requires developers who are costly and time consuming. Pick an example like Chewy.com. They use hundreds of carriers. Integrating Chewy’s systems with each carrier’s system is a huge challenge. To make matters worse, Chewy changes carriers all the time. It’s a never-ending battle with their IT team to create all these connections and the operational team that needs to get the freight delivered.
BP: Give me a brief explanation of your solution and how it works.
JP: 1Logtech is providing is the industry’s first transportation-focused integration platform as a service (iPaaS) that enables shippers to self-deployand maintain carrier integrations more quickly without the skills and expense of a programmer or developer. Operational users use the 1Logtech tool and without coding they are able to form a full integration with their carriers. We make the process simple for operations to get all the connectivity they need and do the work themselves versus outsourcing.
Without our tool and using classic development, a single API integration generally costs the creator about $10,000 and takes two months. Our costs are a fraction of that and setup is days if not hours. It’s a totally different way to make a connection. Pricing is subscription based on shipment volume at a shipment cost ranging from $0.30 to $1.00 depending on the type of shipment. This works out to be more than 70% less than other methods.
BP: So your competitive advantage is better, cheaper, faster.
JP: Absolutely.
BP: Why is this the “right time” for 1LogTech?
JP: Shippers and everyone else in the supply chain industry want to reduce the complexities and cost of establishing and maintaining visibility in their supply chains. The last few years have been hell. We can’t live without transportation and logistics, so everyone slogged through. Now is the right time for greater simplicity and operability and 1LogTech brings that to the table.
BP: Any direct competitors?
JP: Not really any direct competitors, yet there are other methods to establish connectivity such as EDI services that are expensive and lengthy to execute. Also large companies with large budgets buy enterprise class iPaaS tools and use banks of developers to create connectivity. 1Logtech does not replace an enterprise iPaaS but would augment it for carrier connections.
BP: How have you protected your technology?
JP: We have a patent in process addressing how we transform integration rules and data mapping into a fully functional integration. Additionally, we have years of intellectual property in designing transportation management systems.
BP: Explain iPaaS. Is it something customers understand and easily adopt?
JP: Gartner estimated the integration platform as a service market, iPaaS, to be $8 billion in 2023 and growing at 30% annually. So what is it? iPaaS is a self-service cloud-based solution that standardizes how multiple applications are integrated, simplifying integration to deliver a unified solution to customers. As business becomes more digitized, iPaaS is increasingly integral to nearly every business model. 1LogTech is the first transportation-focused, no code platform for shippers to integrate to carriers without developers or third-party integrators. We believe companies will embrace it because of the inherent benefits.
BP: What’s your go to market strategy?
JP: In the early stage, we’re relying on direct sales to mid- to large shippers/3PLs that either have been referred to us or met us through trade shows or partner conferences. For larger opportunities like enterprise shippers, we will focus on developing channels and leveraging our personal network. This sets up resellers or white label solutions with consulting firms and other logistics technology companies.
BP: How have you funded the company to date? Why are you raising money?
JP: So far, my co-founder and I have bootstrapped the company. We have no dept, no outside investment and a clean cap table. Initial development is done, and we’re ready to go to market.
BP: What is your planned use of funds?
JP: Initial development is done. Most funds will be used for go-to-market hires and support.
BP: Give three reasons why VisionTech investors should invest.
JP: First, 1LogTech has a disruptive technology that’s poised to change the transportation industry, which is valued at more than a trillion dollars globally. Second, we have a proven team who are experts in transportation and have successfully exited multiple companies. Finally, our product is live and in use with customers. We are very conservative in our projections, and believe we’ll be at $5 million in ARR in three years.
BP: Thanks for the insights, JP.
JP: We look forward to presenting.
We’re mixing things up this month. VisionTech Angels’ Virtual Pitch Event will be Wednesday, May 29 at 12 Noon . We will host a second live pitch event with dinner on Thursday, May 30 at 5:45 p.m. ET. Pitch events are open to our members and accredited investors interested in joining our group. To register, check your email for an invitation, go to our Events page where you’ll find the RSVP links. You can also email Ben Pidgeon at bpidgeon@visiontech-partners.com.
