The Convoy Mafia is growing in Seattle.
A vast alumni network from the trucking marketplace company is fueling entrepreneurial activity in Seattle, where at least 25 startups are now led by former employees of Convoy.
“Convoy Mafia,” as it’s referred to by its members, is a nod to the PayPal Mafia, a group of former employees at the payments company who went on to launch companies such as SpaceX (Elon Musk), LinkedIn (Reid Hoffman), and Palantir (Peter Thiel).
Other Seattle-area companies including RealNetworks and Juno Therapeutics have also been a stopping point and breeding ground for future founders.
GeekWire has profiled several Seattle companies started by Convoy alumni: Candidate, Cloud Paper, Common Room, Far Homes, Gable.ai, Glue, GoodShip, heyLibby, Magicall, Outgo, Rollzi, Seattle NFT Museum, Solo, and Wolfscale. Several others are still operating in stealth mode.
There are other former employees who started companies or lead companies based outside of Seattle including Range, Conduit, Origin, and others. Many former Convoy workers are in leadership positions elsewhere: Ziad Ismail, former chief product officer who is now chief operating officer at Seattle startup Xembly; John Hall, former head of product who is now COO and interim CFO at Seattle startup Mass Reforestation; Brian Kreiner, former Convoy CFO who is now CFO at Los Angeles company Boulevard; Greg Akselrod, former director and acting general manager for Convoy for brokers who is now CTO of Austin, Texas-based Semi-Stow, and many others.
Former Convoy employees point to several factors that made the company a hub for future entrepreneurs.
“I attribute the entrepreneurialism of so many alums to the culture and high hiring bar in the early days of the company,” said Ryan Soskin, the 15th employee at Convoy who is now CEO of trucking software platform GoodShip. “Early Convoy employees joined because they were excited about building the next world-changing company, and having a lot of autonomy to think outside the box and experiment and fail.”
Co-founded in 2015 by Amazon vets Dan Lewis and Grant Goodale, Convoy set out to increase efficiency in the $800 billion trucking industry by changing the way shippers matched with truck drivers.
The company, backed by the likes of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, grew rapidly in its first five years, hitting the 1,000-employee mark in 2020.
“Convoy was a great example of the interconnectedness of the Seattle startup scene and how companies that can effectively tap into that network can grow talented teams incredibly quickly,” said Ray Fortna, who worked as a principal software engineer before starting trucking financial technology startup Outgo.
Lewis, the company’s CEO, said Convoy vetted candidates through a challenging interview process with unconventional questions. The idea was to pick out individuals who leaned into a sort of problem-solving mindset, he said.
“I think it did filter out folks who maybe were just looking for a job versus those that were really excited to be part of a startup,” he said.
Lewis said Convoy intentionally fostered an entrepreneurial culture, encouraging teams and individuals to operate like startups within the company. He said this approach also involved acknowledging that some employees would eventually leave to launch their own ventures.
“I don’t want them to leave,” he said about employees leaving to start their own companies. “But if people decide they have a really good opportunity to go build and want to go start something — I’m just really supportive of that.”
Lewis is an investor in companies started by his former colleagues and advises them on customer acquisition and staff recruitment.
Andrew Mitrak, a former Convoy marketing leader who co-founded marketing company Wolfscale, said he has many clients that were founded by former Convoy employees.
Mitrak’s co-founder Sean Jones joined Wolfscale after he was let go from Convoy, which has cut its workforce several times over the past year amid the tech downturn and shaky trucking market.
“The Convoy alumni network has significantly boosted Wolfscale’s growth,” Mitrak said.
Viraj Mody, a former Convoy technical advisor who left to start Common Room, said the company and its former employees can help inspire future founders in Seattle.
“A front-row seat at companies like Convoy, or seeing everything great that the Convoy Mafia will hopefully do, are exactly the kinds of examples more people need to see so that they can leave the comfort of these large companies to attempt to take a big swing themselves,” he said.
Read more below about 14 startups founded by former Convoy employees.
Candidate
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: CEO and founder Ryan Agresta spent more than three years at Convoy, most recently as senior director of operations.
The company: Founded in 2020, the startup helps companies land employees through a referral system that awards bonuses to those that recommend qualified people from their professional and personal networks.
Read more: Rethinking referrals: Seattle startup Candidate raises more cash to help companies with hiring
Cloud Paper
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Co-founders Ryan Fritsch was head of shipper operations and strategy at Convoy, while Austin Watkins was director of growth. Vice president of operations Victoria Kiss was a demand program manager at Convoy.
The company: Founded in 2019, Cloud Paper makes toilet paper, paper towels, dishcloths, and tissues from bamboo. The startup’s goal is to put a dent in the number of trees that are cut down to make household paper products.
Read more: Flush with cash: Bezos and big-name celebs get behind tree-free toilet paper startup with $5M
Common Room
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Co-founder and CTO Viraj Mody was formerly technical advisor to the CEO at Convoy.
The company: Founded in 2020, the startup aims to help companies build a better conduit between their orgs and people in their communities. It integrates with communication apps such as Slack, Twitter, Discord, and more to help companies identify interest among buyers.
Read more: Fueled by $52M in funding, Common Room unveils ‘intelligent community growth platform’
Far Homes
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Co-founder Max Blumen was an early employee on Convoy’s growth team.
The company: Founded in 2022, Far Homes offers an online listings portal to buy and sell homes in Mexico. The properties are mostly in vacation zones, ranging from beach-front mansions to single-bedroom condos. Prices vary from about $100,000 to $3.6 million.
Read more: Redfin CEO, DoorDash co-founder invest in new startup building portal for Mexico real estate
Gable.ai
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Gable was co-founded by CEO Chad Sanderson, CTO Adrian Kreuziger, and founding engineer Daniel Dicker. The trio previously led the data department at Convoy, helping to build the trucking marketplace company’s suite of data products.
The company: Founded this year, Gable it aims to bridge the gap between software developers and data teams. The idea is to create smoother and more efficient collaboration, while safeguarding essential data workflows in existing infrastructure.
Read more: ‘GitHub for data:’ Convoy vets land $7M for data collaboration platform
Glue
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Glue co-founder Shane Kovalsky was an early employee at Convoy, holding various roles in sales, operations, marketing, product and growth.
The company: Founded in 2019, Glue sells an AI-powered connection platform that uses machine learning and network analysis to find the connection opportunities among employees and teams. The platform automatically examines workplace tools where employees digitally interact, such as Slack and calendars, and generates data to help HR leaders take action.
Read more: Employee engagement startup Mystery rebrands as Glue and uses software and AI to boost stickiness
GoodShip
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Co-founder and CEO Ryan Soskin was previously senior manager of growth and pricing at Convoy, while co-founder and CTO David Tsai was head of marketplace engineering.
The company: Founded in 2022, GoodShip sells analytics software to shippers, helping them aggregate siloed data from spreadsheets and emails related to contracts, trucking performance data, pricing info, and more.
Read more: Another logistics startup emerges in Seattle: Convoy vets land $2.4M to tackle trucking analytics
heyLibby
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Co-founder Tony Small was chief revenue officer at Convoy.
The company: Founded this year, the startup helps owners of small and medium-sized businesses automate initial conversations with prospective clients through an AI chatbot.
Read more: Ex-Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff joins former colleagues to launch personal assistant AI startup
Magicall
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: CEO and co-founder Samir Lakhani was a principal product manager at Convoy, while co-founder and CTO Joanne Zhu was an engineering manager.
The company: Founded in 2021, Magicall is a video calling app that allows children to play games and read books remotely with family and friends.
Read more: How this husband-wife duo launched a startup while battling cancer and homeschooling their kids
Outgo
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Co-founders Ray Fortna and Mike Bohlander were both principal software engineers at Convoy; founding engineer Heather Luisson was a software engineer.
The company: Founded in 2021, Outgo is a banking solution for freight carriers. Its finance software helps small trucking companies manage invoice processing and payment collection in one place.
Read more: Uber, Convoy vets raise $3.4M from Bezos and others for fintech startup that helps freight carriers
Rollzi
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: CEO and co-founder Damien Hutchins was director of brokerage operations at Convoy.
The company: Founded in 2020, the startup matches drivers and trucks to each load by modeling the most efficient relay with its technology, which uses data such as truck telematics, driver location, fuel prices, and traffic.
Read more: Former Convoy director leads new Seattle trucking startup that just raised $8M
Seattle NFT Museum
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Founder Jennifer Wong spent more than five years at Convoy in various roles including head of marketing and most recently as head of sustainability.
The company: Founded in 2021, the museum features more than 30 high quality screens for displaying digital art. The goal is to make NFTs more accessible, bring exposure to digital art and artists, and help people understand how to interpret the artform.
Read more: Tech entrepreneurs opening Seattle NFT Museum to showcase digital artform in a physical space
Solo
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Solo co-founder CEO Bryce Bennet previously worked as senior director of marketplace growth at Convoy, while co-founder and CTO Keith Ng was director of marketplace growth.
The company: Founded in 2020, Solo helps gig workers on platforms like Uber, Instacart, DoorDash, Rover and others optimize their finances and schedule. The startup provides hour-by-hour earnings predictions over the course of a week. The company said it has more than 150,000 users on the platform.
Read more: Uber and Convoy vets land $5.3M for new startup Solo that helps gig workers make more money
Wolfscale
Location: Seattle
Convoy connection: Co-founder and CEO Andrew Mitrak previously worked as head of business-to-business growth marketing at Convoy and was head of marketing at Glue. Co-founder Sean Jones was head of marketing operations.
The company: Founded in 2021, Wolfscale helps businesses cultivate connections and build outbound marketing strategies for booking meetings with job candidates, customers, or podcast guests. The company also assists clients boost their visibility on LinkedIn.
