How young outsiders changed the shipping industry | Laura Behrens Wu (Shippo)

Laura Behrens Wu is the Founder & CEO at Shippo, a company that has raised $100m+ and was last valued at $1b in 2021. Shippo provides an API and dashboard that makes shipping easy for e-commerce businesses, marketplaces, and platforms. Prior to starting Shippo, Laura graduated from Harvard University, and was heavily influenced by a short internship at LendUp, which exposed her to Silicon Valley and startup culture. In today’s episode we discuss: • Shippo’s pivot-stricken origin story • Finding product-market-fit, again and again and again • Laura’s unique take on founder-market-fit • Advice on talking to users • The 3 Horizons Framework for prioritizing resources across a core business and longer-term bets • The email Laura sends every Sunday because of Frank Slootman’s advice Referenced: • Amp It Up by Frank Slootman: https://www.amazon.com/Amp-Unlocking-Hypergrowth-Expectations-Intensity/dp/1119836115 • Expedia: https://www.expedia.com/ • FedEx: https://www.fedex.com/ • Frank Slootman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankslootman/ • Jerry Colonna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-colonna-reboot/ • Josh Koppelman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkoppelman/ • Khalid Halim: https://review.firstround.com/the-science-of-speaking-is-the-art-of-being-heard • LendUp: https://www.lendup.com/ • Shippo: https://goshippo.com/ • Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/ • SMBs: https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/small-business/articles/smb-business/ • Stripe: https://stripe.com/ • UPS: https://www.ups.com/us/en/global.page • 70/20/10 rule from Google: https://www.itonics-innovation.com/blog/702010-rule-of-innovation Where to find Todd Jackson: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/tjack • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddj0 Where to find Laura Behrens Wu: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/LauraBehrensWu • LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurabehrenswu • Personal website: https://laurabehrenswu.com/ Where to find First Round Capital: • Website: https://firstround.com/ • First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ • Twitter: https://twitter.com/firstround • Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast Timestamps: [00:02:36] The Shippo origin story [00:06:57] Why they pivoted into Shippo [00:11:01] How they got their first customers [00:13:27] The role of timing in Shippo's early success [00:14:40] The value of being an outsider [00:17:49] When founder-market-fit is and isn't necessary [00:19:07] The path to product-market-fit [00:22:06] What kept the Shippo team persisting [00:24:41] Advice on talking to users [00:29:28] Shippo's fundraising journey [00:34:26] Finding product-market-fit again and again [00:37:54] The 3 Horizons Framework [00:45:04] Shippo's culture and early team [00:49:17] Hiring people you can learn from [00:50:40] Laura's most impactful hires [00:52:12] Frank Slootman's "Sunday Email” [00:55:43] Laura's #1 piece of advice for founders [00:57:34] The most memorable influences on Laura's career