Back in May, I started a new content initiative on CargoRex where I’m interviewing companies/leaders to get their collective take and there’s no bigger collective right now than the discussion around AI.
I shared all 8 of their voices on CargoRex’s AI Use Cases in Logistics Guide and I also shared my personal take in the AI that Ships episode right here on EiL. But this one features my good friend Grace Sharkey who is as tech savvy in logistics as they come. She brings the buyer perspective and where AI goes rouge.
We talked all about this plus her company Orderful’s recent raise and she somehow makes EDI sound pretty interesting.
Note: this is technically a segment from a recent Freight Friends episode so if you already listened to that convo, thank you. But if you’d like to listen for the first time or listen again, also thank you.
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In this episode:
▪ Why the AI worth buying is aimed at boring, high-frequency workflows
▪ The build-versus-buy calculation, and the technical debt hiding inside “we’ll build it ourselves”
▪ Why a week spent building an email agent produced nothing usable
▪ Billing on outcome instead of hours, and the parallel to what AI is doing to legal work
▪ What an EDI invoice really contains, and why the managed fee exists
▪ Why switching EDI providers stalls out, and how onboarding timelines became the moat
▪ Orderful’s $35 million Series C led by Koch Disruptive Technologies with NewRoad Capital
▪ The Anthropic and Figma situation, and why I am diversifying which models my business depends on
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Links and resources:
▪ Grace Sharkey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-sharkey-🚛🤖❤️-31940765
▪ Orderful: https://www.orderful.com
▪ CargoRex AI Use Cases in Logistics guide: https://cargorex.io
▪ Series C coverage: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/orderful-35m-series-c-edi
▪ Full episode page: https://everythingislogistics.com/freight-friends-edi-fees-ai-hype-vs-reality-and-totos-ceramics-that-secretly-power-chip-manufacturing/
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Sponsored by SPI Logistics, the premier freight agent program in the country. See how real agents made the jump to SPI in our interview series:
https://everythingislogistics.com/spi-logistics-freight-agent-program
CargoRex is your go-to directory for logistics tools, services, and industry voices. Research, compare, and find what you need to run a smarter operation:
https://cargorex.io
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Everything is Logistics is a freight podcast for people who actually want to understand how supply chains work. Hosted by Blythe (Brumleve) Milligan, founder of CargoRex and Digital Dispatch.
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