$1 Billion in Freight: Inside Parade's AI Automation Engine - Anthony Sutardja

Join us for a fascinating conversation with Anthony Sutardja, CEO and co-founder of Parade, one of the most widely adopted capacity management platforms in freight. Anthony shares Parade's evolution from attempting to build "Uber for trucking" to becoming a $7 billion platform automating carrier procurement at unprecedented scale.

In this episode of This Side Up, Anthony breaks down the real economics of freight brokerage, why AI alone isn't enough, and how the "Centaur model" of human-AI collaboration is driving 4x productivity gains. Whether you're a freight broker looking to scale, a logistics tech builder, or curious about practical AI implementation, this conversation is packed with hard data and battle-tested insights from nearly a decade in the trenches.

Key Topics Covered:
→ Why "Uber for trucking" didn't work and what they learned building a brokerage
→ The evolution from truck list emails to full-capacity management platform
→ Co-Driver: AI that handles 96% of unproductive carrier conversations
→ The Centaur model: Why AI + human negotiation beats either alone by $39 per load
→ 200 loads per week per rep (4x the old 50-load benchmark)
→ How 20% of carrier calls never reach the sales floor (and what that costs)
→ Automating $1 billion of $100 billion annual freight brokerage market
→ AI to AI conversations: Carriers and brokers using AI to talk to each other
→ The carrier procurement funnel: Only 4 of 100 conversations become bookings
→ Why carrier data "freshness" matters more than TMS capabilities
→ Building from 70% to 100% digital freight coverage
→ The economics: $44 cost per load and 35% of total load lifecycle costs
→ Configurability: Why flexible AI adoption drives faster implementation

Segments:
00:00 - Intro
01:33 - From "Uber for Trucking" to Building Tools
06:10 - Texting Every Carrier: Early AI Automation
07:16 - Industry Veterans: "There's Nothing Like This"
08:42 - What Makes Parade Different from TMS and Load Boards
10:28 - The Phone Line Problem: 20% of Calls Dropped
12:29 - Manual Workflows vs. Automated Capacity Management
14:36 - Solving the Network Problem Holistically
16:45 - How Co-Driver Works: The Complete Funnel
22:49 - Intermode - Sponsor Break
24:47 - Transactional to Relationship: AI Never Forgets
26:31 - The Centaur Model: Half Human, Half Machine
28:56 - Industry Adoption: Resistance or Acceptance?
31:36 - AI to AI: The Weird New World of Freight
34:39 - Macro Pressure: The New Normal of Low Rates
37:58 - The Road to 100% Digital Freight
44:41 - Where to Find Parade

About the Show
This Side Up is a Podcast by Intermode that digs deep into the minds of founders, builders, and operators reshaping the future of commerce, supply chain, and logistics. Subscribe for more conversations with industry leaders who are actually building the future.

This Side Up
https://www.thissideup.fm/

Intermode is a digital product agency and software consultancy for the logistics and supply chain industry. We help you design and develop custom logistics software, embed experts alongside your team, and modernize your legacy systems.

Intermode
https://www.intermode.is/

Connect with Podcast Host, Andrew Verboncouer
LinkedIn:   / andrewverboncouer  

Intermode
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