Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

Ep 126: Will AI Spark A New Logistics Revolution? Harish Abbott Helped Pioneer Next-Day Shipping — And He’s Betting Yes.


Listen Later

Harish Abbott is a serial entrepreneur at the forefront of the logistics revolution. He sold his last company to Shopify in 2022 for over $2 billion, and now he's back in the arena again. What are the new possibilities with AI? How will it impact workers? And what's the business opportunity he sees that no one else does?

Harish is the co-founder and CEO of Augment, a new platform building AI teammates for logistics operations. Its first product, Augie, already boasts $25 billion in freight under management. Previously, Harish co-founded Deliverr, an e-commerce fulfilment platform (acquired by Shopify) that provided one and two-day shipping to smaller merchants. He started his career at Amazon Fulfillment, where he helped build industry-leading technologies and transform online shopping as we know it.

We begin with Harish's background, why he came to America to build, and what makes our innovation economy unique. We discuss his most important lessons learned at Amazon, from Jeff Bezos obsessing over customer satisfaction to the company's unique writing culture. Next, Harish explains the origins of Deliverr, how he built a delivery network for the non-Amazon and Walmart world, and lessons learned from selling to Shopify. Then, we dive into the inflection point that sparked Augment, and how advances in LLMs can now manage vast asynchronous workflows and transform how information is traded. Learn why Harish sees a trillion dollar global opportunity to reduce waste in logistics, how he plans to capitalize on it, and why he believes AI can elevate brokers and shippers to higher-order thinking — a win for humans and the economy.

00:00 Episode intro

01:38 Merit matters & why build in the U.S.

05:00 Lessons from Amazon & Jeff Bezos

10:29 Deliverr & bringing next-day shipping to non-Amazon world

17:15 AI & the next logistics revolution

23:58 Meet Augie - the AI teammate for logistics

28:35 The trillion dollar opportunity

32:05 The AI talent battle

38:56 Reasons for optimism



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Joe Lonsdale: American OptimistBy Joe Lonsdale

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

150 ratings


More shows like Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

View all
This Week in Startups by Jason Calacanis

This Week in Startups

1,278 Listeners

a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

a16z Podcast

1,081 Listeners

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch by Harry Stebbings

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

525 Listeners

Founders by David Senra

Founders

2,036 Listeners

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg by All-In Podcast, LLC

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

9,633 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

455 Listeners

Moonshots with Peter Diamandis by PHD Ventures

Moonshots with Peter Diamandis

527 Listeners

"Moment of Zen" by Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez

"Moment of Zen"

91 Listeners

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

130 Listeners

The Ben & Marc Show by Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz

The Ben & Marc Show

123 Listeners

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley by BG2Pod

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley

485 Listeners

AI + a16z by a16z

AI + a16z

31 Listeners

Training Data by Sequoia Capital

Training Data

40 Listeners

Uncapped with Jack Altman by Alt Capital

Uncapped with Jack Altman

40 Listeners

Cheeky Pint by Stripe

Cheeky Pint

17 Listeners