... while also hitting $40m in revenue
Craig Fuller · FreightWaves
Published September 1, 2022Craig Fuller CEO and founder of FreightWaves shares:
- How we used “Media Moat” to drive SaaS Revenues
- How we enabled “Negative CAC”
- $20m in SaaS revenue
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Craig Fuller explains FreightWaves’ content-supported data model: build a community around an information need, use content to create awareness and demand, add subscription data products, and adapt distribution quickly when market conditions change.
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“entirely centered on is understanding what's happened around the global economy I'll walk through how we provide data and intelligence but the important thing that I think is really sort of uh different about our business is we go to market thinking about what the community needs to understand what's happening in the global supply chain the community being the community that we've built and using both content and data to get there”
“in Bloomberg a lot of that data material actually gets originally sourced through our data and through our content and it's as you anyone has known four years ago people had can you really build a media business on supply chain that sounds kind of boring if you've lived through the last two years you know that's actually not true uh straightways as I discussed has a Content supported business model and what that means to us is we go to market with really two primary products one is our sonar data”
“mentality of developing content that will drive your audience to buy and consume your products let's think about this for a second everybody in this room is here because of the content that's being produced on the platform you have come across and become aware of it not because you're buying something but because you're intellectually curious about the topic of SAS you came here today for the very same reasons that our com our customers buy our data products they become aware”
“not in workflow we don't match Freight we don't actually provide software that helps companies essentially operate Freight movement or track Freight we provide Market level data and intelligence that powers some of the largest and most most robust Supply chains in the same way that a lot of Market data businesses do one of the thing about data businesses if you can actually get scale and you can actually have Market success is these businesses”
“think this is really important if you look at our SAS trajectory it's very slow our our investors were incredibly patient a long time relative to the media business to build up enough momentum and we look at subscription data subscriptions as a percent of our Revenue back in 2018 it was five percent and to this year is the first year that our subscription data Revenue will have”
“65% Market-share of supply chain media content 3M Daily visitors across all channels 85k Unique visitors that watch FreightWavesTV content per day 40 Analysts and data scientists 200 Employees 50 Market reporters and commentators BEHIND THE SCENES”
“Market data business are highly valued across the commodity markets, but none (until now) exist across all aspects of the Global Supply Chain. DATA DRIVES VALUE”
“Our SaaS platform offers high-frequency market data covering global supply chains We sell annual subscriptions to our “SONAR” platform”
“Media generates 50% margins, but also creates “top of funnel” for our 85% margin SONAR SaaS business.”
“Enabling FreightWaves to enjoy “Negative CAC””
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Our content supported SaaS business hit $20m in SaaS ARR in 4 years - Slide Deck
Craig Fuller is the CEO and founder of FreightWaves, the leading provider of data and analytics for the global logistics industry. FreightWaves provides the fastest view of transportation and logistics market activity, across all modes. The company is also the No.1 source for media and market analytics in the global freight industry. Before founding FreightWaves, he was the founder and CEO of TransCard, a fleet payment processor that was sold to US Bank
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Our content supported SaaS business hit $20m in SaaS ARR in 4 years …while also hitting $40m in revenue Craig Fuller CEO, Founder of FreightWaves Founder500, Sept 2022
How FreightWaves became the leader in supply chain intelligence and data
Over the next 20 minutes, you’ll see how we used “Media Moat” to drive SaaS Revenues
65% Market-share of supply chain media content 3M Daily visitors across all channels 85k Unique visitors that watch FreightWavesTV content per day 40 Analysts and data scientists 200 Employees 50 Market reporters and commentators BEHIND THE SCENES
Market data business are highly valued across the commodity markets, but none (until now) exist across all aspects of the Global Supply Chain. DATA DRIVES VALUE
Our SaaS platform offers high-frequency market data covering global supply chains We sell annual subscriptions to our “SONAR” platform
Actionable Outcomes Benchmark, analyze, monitor, and forecast global supply chain market intelligence and information Insights into Supply and Demand SONAR offers time series data points across hundreds of billions worth of transactions every single day. High-Frequency Supply Chain Market Data Machine learning + data = actionable items & real-time management decisions Fuel GPS & Asset Tracking Weather OEM Pricing Safety & Compliance Rates Clearing & Payments Capacity Fundamental Data Electronic Tenders & Bookings Pricing Assets Investment Economic Risk
FreightWaves’ has a “Content Supported” business model.
We have two businesses: SaaS & Media
Our media business includes 50 full-time journalists and TV reporters, publishing 40+ original articles and 3 hours of live streaming television per day
Media generates 50% margins, but also creates “top of funnel” for our 85% margin SONAR SaaS business.
Enabling FreightWaves to enjoy “Negative CAC”
Media & events helped seed the initial FreightWaves community.
Data businesses have slow beginnings Growth accelerates over time Data businesses are super sticky
FreightWaves is a platform business with multi-faceted business lines, each with B+ TAMs Business Line Category Revenue Type Domestic U.S. Global SONAR SaaS Recurring $3.7B $8.6B Media Transactional Reoccurring $0.4B $1.7B Carbon Intelligence SaaS and Transactional Recurring and Reoccurring $1.8B $7B Total $5.8B $17.3B
Our data and analysis help clients answer many critical questions. Representative questions: Vertical Benchmark Analyze Monitoring Forecasting Carbon Intelligence Shippers How does my budget stack up to industry competitors? What are the domestic and global factors that impact capacity? What markets are being impacted by a geopolitical event? What will be the going contract rate on a lane over the next year? How can I mitigate my Scope 3 carbon emissions? 3PLs How competitive are my rates compared to my competitors? What drove my margin expansion this past quarter? What are the market fundamentals driving lower spot ates? How can I maintain gross margins through the freight cycle? What’s the carbon footprint on a specific load? Carriers I have a new RFP, what are the average rates for this new segment? How do I maximize my trucking utilization? What’s the short and medium-term outlook for diesel fuel prices? Should I adjust my contracted freight agreements? What is the cost of implementing an EV on a lane? International freight forwarders Which ports are being used by which shippers? How much weekly TEU capacity is available on a given lane? Are container lines blanking sailings or rolling shipments? How will freight rates rise or fall over the next year? What's the carbon footprint between different modes? Financial Institutions How is this industry performing versus peers? What are the leading indicators for imports, industrial production, and retail sales? How much inventory is being moved through a specific company’s supply chain? Which companies are likely to face supply chain disruptions? How carbon efficient is an industry’s supply-chain? Government agencies What carrier types have the least percent of accidents? Is transportation capacity available to relieve a natural disaster? What are the issues that are impacting capacity to respond to a disaster? Can current infrastructure support the free movement of freight? Where are commercial vehicles contributing the most to air pollution?
GLOBAL LOGISTICS COSTS (BY MODE OR FUNCTION) SOURCE: 2018 ARMSTRONG & ASSOCIATES, INC. GLOBAL 3PL MARKET ANALYSIS WATER & MISC. (7.4%) $714B LOGISTICS ADMIN. (8%) $772B TRUCKING (42.9%) FORWARDING (2.3%) $223B $4,132B INVENTORY CARRYING (22%) $2,116B WAREHOUSING (11%) $1,056B RAIL (3%) $297B AIR. (3.1%) $301B $9.6T TOTAL GLOBAL LOGISTICS SIZE:
