Every month we interview a promising startup or scale-up in the climate & energy tech ecosystem and ask them our 10 questions. With our platform (ZERO), we want to put these bold innovators on a pedestal and introduce them to our audience. Do you want to connect with this startup/scale-up, feel free to contact us at info@platformzero.co!
What do pizza delivery tracking and shipping containers have in common? Not so much in the past, but they do since the founding of the Belgian start-up Dockflow. Dockflow is building the world’s first Logistics Enablement Platform. This means we are building the tools to make logistics teams’ work more pleasant and efficient so they can focus on meaningful tasks and deliver better service to customers. And we had the opportunity to present our ten questions to them!
My name is Pauline Van Ostaeyen, and I am the co-founder of Dockflow. I love learning by doing, and that’s how I rolled into the startup world during my time at university. Academically, I was not the best student and preferred spending my time in AIESEC (a global youth-run NGO that organises exchanges for students and graduates) and doing a student job in maritime logistics. I have always worked with people from around the world, which I love so much about this industry: it’s super international, and the world is your playground.
I dream of building a fully-fledged toolkit that does the heavy lifting for forwarders and really makes people’s lives easier. I want our platform to become a real differentiator for companies. When a freight forwarder is looking to join a new company and says, “oh, they’re using Dockflow, I only want to join a company that uses Dockflow”.
I love talking about Dockflow and spreading that enthusiasm, so it would be amazing to see our team grow with offices across the globe – one on each continent, perhaps?
Dockflow is building the world’s first Logistics Enablement Platform. This means we are building the tools to make logistics teams’ work more pleasant and efficient so they can focus on meaningful tasks and deliver better service to customers. Right now, we’re trying to solve one specific problem really well: container visibility/tracking.
We’re super complementary. Combined with a strong level of trust, I really believe that’s the key to any winning team: working off each other’s strengths and trusting each other. I think we work hard but also enjoy having fun in the process. And having a good sense of humour and a healthy dose of naivety doesn’t hurt.
Maybe this is my “healthy dose of naivety” talking, but I’m optimistic when I see how much technology can impact climate change. Many advancements are being made, but most of them are incremental – which is not a bad thing. At Dockflow, we always seek to make incremental improvements instead of forcing a big win – and this gets us much further. I strongly believe that through better sharing of data in logistics and supply chain, we can seriously push down the environmental impact and make logistics much greener.
The technology honestly is there and available, but most companies are struggling to make use of it. This required a mindset change. The huge supply chain chaos caused by COVID has opened many eyes in the logistics and supply chain industry. To really be successful, this mindset change needs to continue. Secondly, and maybe less flashy, there is a real need for standards adoption to share data efficiently.
Dockflow was awarded the Veuve Clicquot Bold Future award. It was really uplifting to get this recognition, and I think the platform they bring forward to highlight female entrepreneurs is a fantastic initiative. This seemed to have kick-started a wave of new customers joining the platform and the logistics enablement movement. I think it’s safe to say we have finally reached a solid product-market fit, which can be a real struggle.
Growing the team and pivoting from a founder-does-it-all mentality to being a coach and leader. We are starting to get into funding round mode again and are already on the lookout for new hires. #LogTech has never been hotter, so there is a lot of interest from VCs and people looking for a career in this space alike.
We are looking for passionate and curious minds to join the team, so if you know anybody who wants to shape the future of logistics and supply chains, have them check us out!
ClimateCamp, mintBlue and HAKKA
Enthousiastic about Dockflow or do you want to connect with Pauline? Contact us at info@platformzero.co and we will bring you in touch!
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