David Nothacker | Growth through acquisition

I don’t know about you, but there’s something special and even beautiful about trucking. About the seemingly simpler life on the highway, accompanied by demanding distances and fleeting views. It doesn’t immediately conjure up images of digital platforms and software, but that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be a good idea. Sennder is a Berlin-based digital freight logistics company that seeks to provide a platform that connects shippers with a unified fleet of trucks in Europe, and David Nothacker is their CEO and Co-Founder. In this episode, we discussed sennder’s growth through acquisitions and David’s acquisition checklist, customer acquisition, and the future of the freight industry. Expect to learn: If David thinks consulting is a good path to entrepreneurship How sennder approached customer acquisition of smaller and bigger customers Sennder’s growth through acquisition Some of David’s thoughts on the future of the trucking industry 00:30 Intro to David 01:30 Consultants and startup founders – similarities and differences 03:30 How David got started with sennder 05:05 David’s pivot experience 07:45 Why is the digitalization of freight forwarding happening now? 09:37 How did you identify the problem? 11:40 B2B platform companies’ march forward – what is the main difference to B2C companies? 14:45 How did you acquire your first customers? 16:40 Acquiring bigger players as customers 18:20 Sustainability in the industry as a whole and what sennder is doing about this 21:30 Next 7-10 years going to see the first autonomous trucks (on highways) last legs will be done by people. Long-distance trucking. 26:25 Growth through acquisitions 31:15 How do you determine which companies to acquire? 33:50 Expansion