Killing Spreadsheets & WhatsApp: The New Era of Freight with Matt Silver of Cargado

In this episode, Cargado founder Matt Silver joins Madelyn O’Farrell to unpack the future of cross-border freight between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. He shares his journey from Coyote Logistics and Forager to launching Corgado, a marketplace and pricing tool built specifically for freight brokers. They dive into why WhatsApp and spreadsheets break down collaboration across the 8–12 parties in a typical cross-border shipment, how better-structured data and workflow tools can replace today’s manual copy-paste work, and where AI fits in as more than just a band-aid on legacy TMS systems. Matt also explains why Mexico has become strategically critical for U.S. supply chains, the impact of NAFTA/USMCA, trade tensions with China, and pandemic-driven nearshoring, as well as remaining challenges in Mexican infrastructure and politics. Key takeaways: brokers should focus on relationships and problem-solving, not data entry; modern tools will blur the line between system of action and system of record; and long term, supply chain collaboration will happen on shared, AI-augmented platforms that connect brokers, carriers, and shippers across North America.

Highlights from their conversation include:

• Matt’s Background in Freight and the Origin of Corgado (0:46)
• Building a Cross-Border Marketplace and Pricing Tool for Brokers (3:52)
• Why WhatsApp and Spreadsheets Break Cross-Border Collaboration (6:46)
• Brokers Should Manage Relationships, Not Copy and Paste Data (11:15)
• Balancing Automation and Human Relationships in Brokerage (17:29)
• Why Mexico Has Become Strategically Critical to U.S. Supply Chains (20:12)
• Political and Infrastructure Challenges for Mexico as a Logistics Hub (24:58)
• The Future of Supply Chain Collaboration Across North America (28:55)
• Closing Thoughts and Episode Wrap-Up (30:33)

Dynamo Ventures is a venture firm backing founders upgrading the physical economy. As intelligence moves into critical infrastructure and technology collides with physics, industry is entering a new era of transformation - the industrial renaissance.

Born from the dirt and grit of supply chains and shaped by operations, not spreadsheets, Dynamo focuses on the complex realities of building in the real world. We invest in companies transforming infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and the systems that power global commerce.

Dynamo works closely with founders who combine ambition with a bias to action, bringing a builder mindset to venture capital through deep operational insight, systematic pressure-testing and hands-on partnership.

Our purpose is simple: to back the relentless shaping the industrial renaissance. Learn more at www.dynamo.vc

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