Founders Everywhere: Sumeet Trehan
Sumeet Trehan is the co-founder and CEO of Starboard, the virtual infrastructure company for global trade.
Welcome to Founders Everywhere, where we highlight the incredible people behind the companies we’ve backed at Everywhere Ventures, a global pre-seed fund supported by a community of 500 founders and operators.
Freight forwarding is the process of organizing and managing the shipment of goods, and is an essential component of international trade. Each global trade transaction can involve 15-20 parties and a freight forwarder is the quarterback orchestrating this relay race between these players. It's difficult to envision global trade without freight forwarders.
Starboard plans to revolutionize global trade by building virtual infrastructure to make global trade faster and cheaper. Their approach combines traditional SaaS with pre-trained AI bots to connect SMB freight forwarders, importers, exporters, asset owners and financial institutions, creating a single platform where global trade transacts. Derived from the nautical term for the right side of a ship, "Starboard" symbolizes their commitment to steering the industry in the right direction.
Sumeet Trehan, CEO of Starboard, is a true globetrotter with a strong background in supply chain management. He was born and raised in India where he began his career with Vodafone before joining Maersk's prestigious Global Leadership Program, leading to a six-year stint across various countries overseeing the freight forwarding Business Unit in South Asia. He has also lived in Switzerland, Denmark, and currently resides in Canada. He worked as a consultant at BCG advising large logistics and freight companies. He also helped scale the successful supply chain and logistics startups Rivigo and Flexport. Inspired by his passion for business-building and identifying unique industry challenges, he partnered with Junyu Yang, Starboard’s CTO and a seasoned entrepreneur. Junyu, an ex-LinkedIn ML engineer, built 3 startups before joining Starboard full time. He exited his last startup to a social networking website. Together they’re building the next generation of virtual infrastructure for global trade.
What inspired the creation of Starboard?
I started Starboard because I enjoy building businesses and identified a unique problem that I was very passionate about. I saw firsthand how challenging it was for SMB forwarders and importers to compete with larger corporations due to limited access to technology, financing, and networking opportunities. By unlocking the power of AI and combining it with other key virtual infrastructure elements, I wanted to level the playing field and enable SMBs to operate more efficiently and effectively on a global scale.
What is Starboard’s mission?
Our mission is to grow SMB forwarders and importers share in global trade. By enabling small and midsize businesses to trade globally, we aim to create more local jobs and opportunities while promoting global stability through increased commercial ties. We believe trade is a key deterrent to war, and as global trade grows, it contributes to lasting peace. We will provide the necessary technology, financing, and networking to empower these SMB businesses to compete with the large corporations, fostering a more balanced global economy.
What sets Starboard apart?
In our industry, we see two main types of players: monopolized SaaS companies using outdated 90’s technology, and new-age digital freight forwarders aiming for market domination. At Starboard, we take a different approach. We believe in partnership over domination and enablement over disruption.
Having worked closely with SMB importers and forwarders, we understand the dedication these companies have to their customers and the high standards they maintain despite operating on razor-thin margins. Our philosophy is to empower small and midsize SMB forwarders and importers by lowering their operating costs with our AI-native OS and enabling growth through our financial and marketplace products. We aim to be enablers and infrastructure providers, always learning from our customers and adapting to their needs.
Tell us about some recent milestones that Starboard crushed.
In February we raised an oversubscribed pre-seed round with ~$2 million in total commitments and we took in $1 million. We then launched our beta version in late April. Our shipment count has been growing ~50% and order book value has been growing ~60% MoM. We aim to have 100 freight forwarders on the platform within the next 12 months.
How do you maintain work-life balance?
It's more about work-life integration at this stage. Both my co-founder and I are passionate about our work, making the long hours feel less burdensome. Personally, I run or work out daily to de-stress and I get some of my best ideas during these activities.
Any favorite books?
I recommend Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch, which emphasizes making quick decisions and being comfortable with not always being liked as a leader. It has been particularly inspiring when making tough business decisions.
Fun fact: My weekend de-stress activities are gardening and cooking; especially experimenting with baking cheesecakes on Saturdays.
Listen to Sumeet on the Venture Everywhere podcast: Freight Forward Thinking! Listen now on Apple & Spotify and check out to all our past episodes here!
