What happens when your former company becomes your biggest competitor?
On this episode of Electrifying Growth, Ryan Ziegler sits down with Barry Conlon, CEO of Overhaul, for a conversation about building one of the most advanced logistics risk management platforms in the world.
Barry shares his journey from founding FreightWatch to acquiring it a decade later, all while navigating the challenges of product-market fit, scaling a capital-efficient team, and earning the trust of the world's most demanding enterprise customers. From bootstrapping and board-building to executing two significant acquisitions, Barry shares the decisions that helped Overhaul move from a startup to a category leader.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why control and not visibility is the true challenge in supply chain risk
How to build a board that pushes you to make better decisions
The role of managed services in turning tech into real customer outcomes
What it takes to integrate acquisitions without breaking what works
Why acting like a startup still matters at scale
Jump into the conversation:
(00:00) Introduction from Chris Sugden and handoff to Ryan Ziegler
(04:25) Lessons from building and selling FreightWatch
(07:10) Why Overhaul took a data-agnostic approach
(10:45) Building trust with enterprise customers through managed services
(13:50) Why high-value, high-risk industries were the beachhead
(20:30) The power of knowledge-sharing during a crisis
(23:00) Inviting investors into customer conversations
(25:45) The role of debt in acquiring Barry's former company
(28:20) Global expansion, tech integration, and defensive strategy
(31:15) Managing headcount and customer trust post-acquisition
(34:00) Using M&A to expand into new adjacencies like auto
(43:20) Why vulnerability is a strength for founders
(48:15) Sustainable growth, healthy urgency, and blocking distractions
(51:30) Final reflections on what made Overhaul's journey work
