6 ms·

I don't know what Flexport is, all I know is that it was the only jobs ad in Hacker News for a long time

by msoad 4y ago

mattigames 4y ago
At some point I wondered if flexport had bought hacker news or something like that to be seeing their ads so frequently.
- dilyevsky 4y ago
  As yc company I believe you get certain number of these posts for free. I think they were just one of the very few who was still using them
- jacquesm 4y ago
  No, Pachyderm bought HN.
  - myth_drannon 4y ago
    Funny, it's one of these companies that screams "we are hiring!" everywhere but looking at their Linkedin employee growth it's basically flat for more than a year.
alismayilov 4y ago
Same here. When I saw the company name, I remember that I was seeing job ads from this company on HN for a long time.
amalgamated_inc 4y ago
I think it's that guy typesfast?
ProAm 4y ago
This is the guy that got famous during the pandemic for suggesting ports stack containers 3 or 4 levels high vs the standard of 2 [1] [2] Turns out 2 is just fine. [G] https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051773672/a-look-at-whats-causing-shipping-bottlenecks-from-the-entrenched-to-the-absurd https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051773672/a-look-at-whats-ca... [H] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28957379 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28957379
- nickff 4y ago
  Where did you get the impression that two is fine? I am somewhat familiar with the issue, and looked at both of your links, but still don't understand. Where I live, they stack containers six high.
  - ProAm 4y ago
    > Where did you get the impression that two is fine? That part was a joke because of Flexport's layoffs due to lack of volume. The stacking is probably a separate topic compared to the success of his business, but was just stating why his name and company are familiar on HN. I personally believe they should stack them vertically vs horizontal stacking to save space so they are always accessible vs 2-3-4 high. (also a joke)
    - bkor 4y ago
      I still don't get the bit where you say 2 high is standard. It's not. Though US port infrastructure is special, it's very outdated/inefficient compared to pretty much the rest of the world.
      - ProAm 4y ago
        It's from the article last time this came around [1] "For instance, Petersen says, local zoning rules prevented the owner of truck yards in Long Beach from storing containers more than two high" [1] https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051773672/a-look-at-whats-causing-shipping-bottlenecks-from-the-entrenched-to-the-absurd https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051773672/a-look-at-whats-ca...
baumy 4y ago
I have a message from them in my linkedin inbox from January 3rd (8 days ago) telling me about exciting opportunities there. > You’d be joining at an exciting time, Flexport is in a hyper-growth stage
- bityard 4y ago
  Can you imagine the backlash they would get from both inside and outside the company if they started pulling job recs before publicly announcing the downsizing? See also: insider trading
  - baumy 4y ago
    Fully agreed, it just shows what people should already know - the only folks who know a layoff is coming in advance are C suite and VPs, maybe a few others. And they will lie through their teeth about it right up until the moment it happens. I'm sure the recruiter who sent that message had no idea this was coming, and is just doing his job. The rest of us have to read the tea leaves. But for every company that lays people off, you'll find employees swearing up and down that the business is healthy, layoffs aren't happening, and they know this because execs assured them for the third time just yesterday that there's no plans for layoffs.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - stefan_ 4y ago
    Huh? Most companies in the world realize they can not afford permanently recruiting 10% of their headcount long before they need to layoff anyone.
akavi 4y ago
YC-funded freight forwarding company. Basic thesis is by using tech, you can dramatically lower the labor costs of forwarding, and since freight forwarding has huge returns to scale, the benefits compound. They raised 2 G$ from 2019-2022, and their CEO used that warchest to expand counter-cyclically through the pandemic. TBD if either of the two theses pan out. Freight forwarding itself is the industry of coordinating the logistics of freight shipment, ie subcontracting with physical movers of goods (ocean carriers/railroads/trucking companies) and dealing with customs/legal requirements involved in the movement of goods (Disclaimer: former FP employee and current shareholder)
- iab 4y ago
  They raised two gillion??
  - akavi 4y ago
    G => SI prefix for 10^9
    - trimbo 4y ago
      "2 Gs", in the US at least, means "two thousand" (G as in Grand)
      - ghaff 4y ago
        I wouldn't immediately parse that abbreviation in the US--but if I did I'd parse it as G being shorthand for grand. More commonly 2Gs would be used for 2x the normal force of gravity--i.e. you weigh twice as much.
        marcosdumay 4y ago
        > More commonly 2Gs would be used for 2x the normal force of gravity--i.e. you weigh twice as much. That's a lower case g.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Patrol8394 4y ago
Totally! I was literally spammed by FP recruiters .. hyper growth, hyper growth ... and now you see it ... give me a break!
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
  Why do so many startups use this stupid language? It sounds like a crypto scam. Quick! Don't think! Get in on the ground floor so you won't be left behind when we go to the moon and you can become a bazillionaire!
- abawany 4y ago
  I've come to the conclusion that such come-hithers in these times are to get easy fodder for the next 'layoff' to save the existing team members.
jasode 4y ago
>I don't know what Flexport is Don't know the exact origin of the name but maybe an easy way to remember it is "FLEXible transPORT". To massively oversimplify it for the sake of being short: - ship a small package within the same country --> UPS/FedEx - ship a large heavy package (e.g. forklift pallet) within the same country --> freight trucking company - send a shipping container from one country to another that requires a ton of complicated government paperwork for export & import, pass customs inspection, pay duty fees, and involves coordinating ocean carriers, railroads, air freight, docks, etc --> a freight forwarding logistics service like FlexPort. E.g. you invented a new electric scooter and had a factory in China manufacture a thousand of them. Now you have to ship those 1000 scooters from the factory to a warehouse in USA. That's the business FlexPort is in. FlexPort itself doesn't own any ships or railroads. It is a coordinator (acts as agent) for various transport companies.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

I don't know what Flexport is, all I know is that it was the only jobs ad in Hacker News for a long time

by msoad 4y ago

I don't know what Flexport is, all I know is that it was the only jobs ad in Hacker News for a long time

At some point I wondered if flexport had bought hacker news or something like that to be seeing their ads so frequently.

dilyevsky 4y ago
As yc company I believe you get certain number of these posts for free. I think they were just one of the very few who was still using them
jacquesm 4y ago
No, Pachyderm bought HN.
- myth_drannon 4y ago
  Funny, it's one of these companies that screams "we are hiring!" everywhere but looking at their Linkedin employee growth it's basically flat for more than a year.

alismayilov 4y ago

Same here. When I saw the company name, I remember that I was seeing job ads from this company on HN for a long time.

amalgamated_inc 4y ago

I think it's that guy typesfast?

ProAm 4y ago

This is the guy that got famous during the pandemic for suggesting ports stack containers 3 or 4 levels high vs the standard of 2 [1] [2] Turns out 2 is just fine. [G] https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051773672/a-look-at-whats-causing-shipping-bottlenecks-from-the-entrenched-to-the-absurd https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051773672/a-look-at-whats-ca... [H] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28957379 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28957379

nickff 4y ago
Where did you get the impression that two is fine? I am somewhat familiar with the issue, and looked at both of your links, but still don't understand. Where I live, they stack containers six high.
- ProAm 4y ago
  > Where did you get the impression that two is fine? That part was a joke because of Flexport's layoffs due to lack of volume. The stacking is probably a separate topic compared to the success of his business, but was just stating why his name and company are familiar on HN. I personally believe they should stack them vertically vs horizontal stacking to save space so they are always accessible vs 2-3-4 high. (also a joke)
  - bkor 4y ago
    I still don't get the bit where you say 2 high is standard. It's not. Though US port infrastructure is special, it's very outdated/inefficient compared to pretty much the rest of the world.
    - ProAm 4y ago
      It's from the article last time this came around [1] "For instance, Petersen says, local zoning rules prevented the owner of truck yards in Long Beach from storing containers more than two high" [1] https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051773672/a-look-at-whats-causing-shipping-bottlenecks-from-the-entrenched-to-the-absurd https://www.npr.org/2021/11/03/1051773672/a-look-at-whats-ca...

baumy 4y ago

I have a message from them in my linkedin inbox from January 3rd (8 days ago) telling me about exciting opportunities there. > You’d be joining at an exciting time, Flexport is in a hyper-growth stage

bityard 4y ago
Can you imagine the backlash they would get from both inside and outside the company if they started pulling job recs before publicly announcing the downsizing? See also: insider trading
- baumy 4y ago
  Fully agreed, it just shows what people should already know - the only folks who know a layoff is coming in advance are C suite and VPs, maybe a few others. And they will lie through their teeth about it right up until the moment it happens. I'm sure the recruiter who sent that message had no idea this was coming, and is just doing his job. The rest of us have to read the tea leaves. But for every company that lays people off, you'll find employees swearing up and down that the business is healthy, layoffs aren't happening, and they know this because execs assured them for the third time just yesterday that there's no plans for layoffs.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- stefan_ 4y ago
  Huh? Most companies in the world realize they can not afford permanently recruiting 10% of their headcount long before they need to layoff anyone.

akavi 4y ago

YC-funded freight forwarding company. Basic thesis is by using tech, you can dramatically lower the labor costs of forwarding, and since freight forwarding has huge returns to scale, the benefits compound. They raised 2 G$ from 2019-2022, and their CEO used that warchest to expand counter-cyclically through the pandemic. TBD if either of the two theses pan out. Freight forwarding itself is the industry of coordinating the logistics of freight shipment, ie subcontracting with physical movers of goods (ocean carriers/railroads/trucking companies) and dealing with customs/legal requirements involved in the movement of goods (Disclaimer: former FP employee and current shareholder)

iab 4y ago
They raised two gillion??
- akavi 4y ago
  G => SI prefix for 10^9
  - trimbo 4y ago
    "2 Gs", in the US at least, means "two thousand" (G as in Grand)
    - ghaff 4y ago
      I wouldn't immediately parse that abbreviation in the US--but if I did I'd parse it as G being shorthand for grand. More commonly 2Gs would be used for 2x the normal force of gravity--i.e. you weigh twice as much.
      - marcosdumay 4y ago
        > More commonly 2Gs would be used for 2x the normal force of gravity--i.e. you weigh twice as much. That's a lower case g.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Patrol8394 4y ago

Totally! I was literally spammed by FP recruiters .. hyper growth, hyper growth ... and now you see it ... give me a break!

2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
Why do so many startups use this stupid language? It sounds like a crypto scam. Quick! Don't think! Get in on the ground floor so you won't be left behind when we go to the moon and you can become a bazillionaire!
abawany 4y ago
I've come to the conclusion that such come-hithers in these times are to get easy fodder for the next 'layoff' to save the existing team members.

jasode 4y ago

>I don't know what Flexport is Don't know the exact origin of the name but maybe an easy way to remember it is "FLEXible transPORT". To massively oversimplify it for the sake of being short: - ship a small package within the same country --> UPS/FedEx - ship a large heavy package (e.g. forklift pallet) within the same country --> freight trucking company - send a shipping container from one country to another that requires a ton of complicated government paperwork for export & import, pass customs inspection, pay duty fees, and involves coordinating ocean carriers, railroads, air freight, docks, etc --> a freight forwarding logistics service like FlexPort. E.g. you invented a new electric scooter and had a factory in China manufacture a thousand of them. Now you have to ship those 1000 scooters from the factory to a warehouse in USA. That's the business FlexPort is in. FlexPort itself doesn't own any ships or railroads. It is a coordinator (acts as agent) for various transport companies.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]