Flexport’s Third Act: Winning in a Broken Global Trade System

Flexport was a breakout success—reimagining global trade with tech at its core. But when the freight market cooled and efficiency overtook service, things started to unravel. Founder Ryan Petersen stepped aside, handing the CEO role to former Amazon exec Dave Clark. Months later, he was back at the helm. In this episode, Ryan explains what went wrong, how he’s rebuilding Flexport—cutting $300M in costs, restoring customer focus—and why promoting from within beats chasing outside stars. He also weighs in on Trump’s proposed tariffs and what they could mean for the future of global trade. Chapters: 00:00 Trailer 00:31 Introduction 02:07 Meeting smart people, seeing the world 03:40 Eroded margins 09:52 Charismatic and overconfident 15:32 Not an overnight decision 20:08 The founder has returned 23:10 Redoing the hiring 26:38 No substitute for passion 31:00 Working for and with my brother 37:28 Working with forwarders 42:14 Being a founder can be lonely 47:49 Life’s work 54:06 The right person for the job 1:00:55 19 countries 1:04:57 Blowing people up 1:07:24 Work and being a good dad 1:08:34 Not doing it for money and loving money 1:17:52 Import and export tariffs 1:22:57 De minimis 1:25:54 Panama and the Suez Canal 1:36:50 Going public 1:42:24 Who Flexport is Hiring 1:42:42 What "grit" means to Ryan 1:43:06 Outro Mentioned in this episode: Founders Fund, Amazon, Toyota Motor Corporation, Slack, Brex, Pedro Franceschi, Henrique Dubugras, United States Customs and Border Protection, ImportGenius, Michael Kanko, Y Combinator, Paul Graham, Intel Corporation, Shopify, Geely Holding (Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd.), The Volvo Group, Intuit TurboTax, David Petersen, BuildZoom, TechCrunch, Google, Figma, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Jimmy Carter, Panama Canal Authority, United States Navy, Coinbase, Uber, Airbnb Links: Connect with RyanXLinkedIn Connect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins