About six years ago, project44 was a fledgling, Chicago-based tech startup that had partnered with FedEx. But the company’s youth didn’t prevent Mike Rude and Aly Hancock from seeing its potential. Employees of the delivery services giant, they supported project44 in any way they could.
“We went in and added some credibility through the relationship that they had with our former employer,” Rude said. “Because we believed in what they were doing and what they could do for our joint customers, it was a natural thing for us to lean in and really help them at the time.”
These days, the table has turned. Project44 is no longer a startup in its infancy; it offers a leading visibility platform and employs over 1,000 people. Early this month, the Chicago Business Journal, MBJ’s sister publication, reported that it was now valued at $2.7 billion.
Rude and Hancock, on the other hand, are no longer buttressed by FedEx, as the two left the company in August 2021 to launch the Memphis-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup S+V Technologies.
And now, they’re the ones at the startup, being helped by project44, the big business.
“It's a testament to one of the things that we tell people all the time who work with us, and people that come to us for advice about starting a company,” Rude said. “The relationships you maintain through your career have a big impact on your success.”
The partnership with project44
S+V Technologies has officially forged a partnership with project44, which works with over 1,200 companies to improve their global supply chains, and ensure on-time delivery of shipments, address supply chain disruptions, and move goods efficiently.
Project44, however, didn’t just agree to partner with S+V because of its prior history with the startup. Its founder and CEO, Jett McCandless, is one of S+V’s investors, but that didn't mean he was going to let his company work with the new business without question.
As Hancock said, project44 doesn’t “just give out favors.”
“Mike and I have been working really, really hard,” she explained. “And obviously, we had to prove ourselves to that team. They take their partnerships extremely seriously. … We went through the wringer.”
Ultimately, project44’s leaders were impressed enough by S+V’s value proposition and technology to strike a partnership. Given the startup’s focus on e-commerce, the pairing also made sense.
S+V’s primary product is Stock in Motion, a platform plug-in for online stores that’s now available on Shopify. In addition to the inventory classes “in-stock” and “out-of-stock,” it provides consumers and merchants with a third option, also called “stock-in-motion.”
Merchants based in the U.S., Canada, and United Kingdom are able to sell inbound products rather than wait for them to arrive at a fulfillment center, provided they’re in-route by air, road, or rail. Essentially, they can start to sell products that haven’t arrived yet, but are on their way. It also provides them with more visibility of their products, while they’re in route — and this visibility is extended to consumers. Because in addition to being able to buy products sooner, shoppers can track inventory that’s considered “stock-in-motion,” through a Google map.
S+V primarily works with small to medium-sized businesses, whereas project44 often works with larger companies, and the two have found that there’s not much overlap when you look at the merchants they target. So, they're looking to expand that overlap, through lead sharing and customer sharing on the software platform Crossbeam. S+V could gain more access to larger brands, while project44 could be provided with a wider entryway to small and medium-sized customers.
Let’s say S+V is looking at its prospects, and it notices that one of them is a project44 client. Project 44’s sales representative on the account can then connect the two, bolstering S+V’s chances of scoring their business.
“The name of the game in e-commerce … is relationships,” Rude said. “If we can go in and say, ‘Hey, we're going after customer X, they're your account, can you give us a warm introduction?’ your success percentage goes through the roof.”
Spicing it up with FlavorCloud
Though Rude and Hancock are thrilled about their work with project44, it isn’t the only partnership they’ve forged recently.
S+V has also partnered with FlavorCloud, a Seattle-based international shipping company that takes care of the entire global logistics process for merchants, from trade compliance to customs clearance processes.
Founded in 2018, FlavorCloud isn’t as large as project44, but it’s growing swiftly. This year, it was ranked fourth on the Puget Sound Business Journal’s list of Fastest Growing Companies, with its revenue ballooning from $640,000 in 2019 to $5.35 million in 2021.
In a way, S+V’s partnership with FlavorCloud is similar to its one with project44, as it will also involve lead and customer sharing. But it was initiated in a different way.
When Rude and Hancock started their company, Hancock was “laser-focused” on partnerships. She came across FlavorCloud, did her research, and reached out to some of its contacts on LinkedIn — a platform where she’s had significant networking success.
“I search for these companies, find contacts, and [send] a warm welcome message,” she said. “It works.”
It certainly did for FlavorCloud. The company invited Rude and Hancock to meet with them at the Global eCommerce Leaders Forum, which was held in Los Angeles in February; and the two groups hit it off.
“They took us in like family, and obviously Mike and I took them in like family as well,” Hancock said. “So ever since then, it's just been like two peas in a pod."
