Inside a YC Startup Disrupting a $900B Industry That Runs the US [wjs3vp8ooNX]
In this episode, I go behind the scenes with Jesse Buckingham, Mike Carter and the team at Vooma, a YC-backed startup building AI workers for the freight and logistics industry. Vooma has raised $16.6M from investors including Index Ventures and Craft Ventures to modernise an $900B industry that keeps the US economy moving. Freight and logistics sits behind almost every physical product we buy, yet much of it still relies on phone calls, emails, spreadsheets and decades-old operational workflows. Rather than replacing logistics professionals, Vooma is building AI workers that take on repetitive coordination work, allowing teams to focus on the decisions humans are best at making. Building software for logistics isn’t just an AI problem. Every company operates differently, every workflow is unique, and enterprise customers demand reliability long before they’re willing to trust automation. This episode explores what it actually takes to build technology for one of the most operationally complex industries in the world. Inside this episode: - Why freight and logistics has remained one of the hardest industries to automate - How Vooma is building AI coworkers for one of the world’s largest industries - Inside Vooma’s approach to product planning and customer feedback - Why modern AI is changing the way Vooma hires engineers, and what they now look for beyond traditional coding ability - Why flexibility matters more than standardisation in logistics software - Why 90% accuracy isn’t good enough for enterprise AI - A live demo of Vooma’s AI worker on a freight tracking call - Why Jesse Buckingham says founders should ignore most advice As AI capabilities continue to mature, some of the biggest startup opportunities may come from rebuilding the infrastructure behind the industries that already power the global economy. If that’s true, how does a startup this young actually win in an industry that’s resisted automation for decades? Check out Vooma, they're hiring: Join my founder newsletter: Let’s connect: X: Instagram: LinkedIn: