Convoy co-founder Grant Goodale will step down from his role as chief experience officer this month, a move he confirmed to the Business Journal on Thursday.
Goodale will remain on the board of the Seattle-based freight network startup and serve as an adviser.
He said he plans to spend more time with his family.
"My oldest son is a junior in high school right now, and he'll be a senior in the fall. He is, I realized, about 15 months away from leaving our family and going off and starting his own exciting life someplace," Goodale said. "I've spent a fair amount of time prioritizing my third child, Convoy, over a good chunk of his life. I realized this was probably the last chance I'll get, this summer in particular, to really create some memories with him."
Goodale said he doesn't have specific plans for the summer beyond a July trip to Lake Tahoe, which the family takes every year.
Goodale co-founded Convoy with CEO Dan Lewis in 2015. The company connects shippers with trucking companies, or carriers, with the goal of reducing the number of empty miles truck drivers spend on the road. Carriers on Convoy's network can find and bid on loads through an app. Its clients include Unilever, The Home Depot and Anheuser-Busch.
Convoy hit a value of $3.8 billion in April 2022 when it raised $260 million between equity funding and venture debt. The company at the time also secured a $150 million line of credit from J.P. Morgan. Since then, however, the company has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs and closed its Atlanta office.
Goodale had been Convoy's chief technology officer until June 2021, when the company hired Dorothy Li, a former Amazon Web Services executive, to take over the role. Goodale said Li's hire wasn't made with the long-term plan of Goodale stepping aside. He said he wanted to take on different challenges and Convoy has benefited from Li's experience.
As for his professional future, Goodale said he hasn't made any firm decisions.
"I do have a passion for entrepreneurship," he said. "In some capacity, I hope to stay close to the early stage and startup scene. I have no idea what form that might takes as yet."
