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