Luke Kupersmith, founder and CEO of Lojistic, has led the company to the top of the country’s logistics industry, where it was named by Inc. Magazine to its list of Top 500 & 5000 fastest growing companies. Through a sense of innovation, Luke has guided Lojistic in its purpose of helping companies reduce shipping costs and improve operational efficiency.
Working with forward-thinking businesses, Luke Kupersmith and Lojistic help companies reduce both the “complexity and cost of logistics.” The company continues to innovate, and employ a team of equally dedicated and smart people, to maximize freight cost savings for hundreds of companies across the United States.
At Lojistic, Luke Kupersmith employs a platform that “visualizes shipping and distribution activity,” which lets shippers compare trends from different periods. Afterward, the company provides “predictive analytics and insights” to help their clients complete their decision-making. With these insights, Lojistic assists their clients in getting the best shipping rates at lower costs. The company also helps clients “ensure carrier invoice accuracy, optimize distribution strategies and ultimately ship more efficiently.”
Prior to Lojistic, Luke Kupersmith had gained experience as a financial adviser to small businesses and wealthy individuals. He has also shown a passion for helping others, and has incorporated philanthropy in the company culture of Lojistic.
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Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Luke Kupersmith: Before starting Lojistic, I was working as a financial advisor. At the time, I decided to start a clothing company ‘on the side’ with a neighbor friend. After a bit, I quit my financial job to focus 100% on building and launching the clothing company. Our business model combined eCommerce dropship with a traditional brick-and-mortar retail presence. We weren’t making enough money from the clothing company, so we decided to start a second “temporary” business that was focused on logistics. The logistics company was really just a way to make ends meet so I could continue to put food in my belly as I built a billion-dollar clothing company. I juggled the clothing company and the logistics company, running both in parallel for about three years. Then, I just said “screw it” to the clothing company to focus on what was originally meant to be a side hustle. And here we are, nearly 16 years later.
Jerome Knyszewski: What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?
Luke Kupersmith: The original idea for founding Lojistic was definitely not an “aha” moment. It was simply a means for survival. There was, however, an “aha” moment about 11 years into our business — as it relates to the technology platform that we’ve built as an entirely different and distinctly unique way of supporting shippers. That, at the time, had not yet been done. The unique way of supporting shippers was to create a platform that is totally free that allows a shipper to connect their entire shipping history for the benefit of seeing what’s been going well, what’s not been going so well, and where there’s opportunity to improve and save money. We made that tool extremely powerful, totally free, and essentially zero barrier to entry because it doesn’t require any IT time or special skills and can function independently or alongside any technology that a company already has in place.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
Luke Kupersmith: Thinking about the hard times when we first started out just begs the question: what part of running a business isn’t hard? There are challenges whether you’re at the startup phase or a decade and a half in! In my experience, the challenges are consistent, although varying. As a startup, one of the biggest and most difficult things is truly making something from nothing. You’re growing from nowhere. You’re taking an empty bank account and a concept and trying to do something from a fragile foundation. That’s our origin story and that’s for sure a tough thing. Throughout everything, I never thought about or considered giving up. Not once. And that’s not coming from some wannabe inspirational place. I guess it’s just because I truly and fully believe in the goals and objectives we’re pursuing as a company. Those goals and objectives over the past 16 years have changed drastically as we continue to evolve and grow. As an entrepreneur, it’s exciting to see this powerful and free platform that we’ve built get put to its intended use by so many different businesses. We empower businesses to look at their past to improve their future. Our main goal is vast. I want to see every UPS and FedEx shipper in the country, or in the world even, to use our platform. The ideas that we’ve built something that can help every parcel shipper out there is exciting. That hasn’t always been our goal, though. Our vision, goals and objectives have been reinvented and reset many times. Each one of those resets keeps me excited for the future and that excitement get me through the hard times. Just because there are hard parts or pieces, or maybe even full “seasons” of hardships (some more so than others), staying true to your goals and objectives in making your vision come to life is the motivator. I’ve always anticipated that this journey would be difficult. I certainly never expected anything about it to be easy! But with that said, if anyone has any tips or tricks on how to make running a business easy, I’m all ears!
Jerome Knyszewski: So, how are things going today? How did your grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?
Luke Kupersmith: Things are going great, but like I said before, there’s an endless stream of problems and challenges to overcome. Right now, the number of clients we have is growing, the amount of revenue we derive from our clients is growing, the reach and rapport we have within our industry is growing. And as it relates to our platform, the features and functions are evolving and growing more robust. It’s been fulfilling on a personal and professional level for me, and for the rest of the Lojistic team. Having built something that is useful to others and that’s being adopted into the operations of many, many businesses is cool. It’s a trend we want to see continue and accelerated into the future. Just because things are great, that doesn’t mean it’s easy, or there aren’t complications to solve, though. We have an incredible team of people that we’ve been fortunate to put together that values the same resilience that I do. We have an amazing product, and we have a decade and a half of history and rapport with existing clients and in our general market. Right now, we’re pursuing the uncharted, massive goal to get everyone and anyone who ships parcel with UPS or FedEx to use our platform. So, in our current state, we’re a really solid, stable company that’s pursuing an exciting vision. And that’s a fun place to be.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
Luke Kupersmith: I think it’s pretty funny to have started an “accidental” business that I had no experience or knowledge of 16 years ago. When founding this logistics company, I had absolutely zero shipping or carrier, operations, or transportation experience. I laugh just thinking about how absurd it sounds to say aloud. I had no knowledge of logistics whatsoever. Yet, I was someone who was part of founding a logistics company. Now, I find myself as the CEO of said logistics company. Maybe that’s not the funniest thing, but there’s certainly some irony to it. My takeaway from my experience is to have a plan for your life but to also be willing and ready to embrace whatever opposition to that plan that comes along the way. When your life or career deviates from your previous plans or intentions, embrace it and go for it.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you share a few examples of tools or software that you think can dramatically empower emerging eCommerce brands to be more effective and more successful?
Luke Kupersmith: When it comes to logistics, lojistic.com! For getting anonymous, continuous and valuable feedback from your team, Officevibe is a fantastic tool. When it comes to project and task management, managing and delegating various workflows, Asana is great. We use a ton of different software and tools within our various teams, like sales, accounting, development and marketing. There’s a ton of cool stuff that we’re using for marketing intelligence and automation. Lastly, and most importantly, the tool that I attribute the most success to is Tillamook Double Nutty Peanut Butter ice cream. It’s a real game changer.
Jerome Knyszewski: As you know, “conversion” means to convert a visit into a sale. In your experience what are the best strategies an eCommerce business should use to increase conversion rates?
Luke Kupersmith: That’s a big question, but to generalize an answer, eCommerce businesses should figure out where the people who want or need what you’ve got to offer are. Then, figure out how to best capture their attention and keep their attention. You have to give the person who engages with your brand an unforgettable experience every step along the way. That begins with the first ad that they’re served to the final product, whatever that may be. Think about the experience that your customer has as they take that “journey” from introduction to purchase, and beyond. Make your decision weighted primarily toward the customer’s experience, not toward operations or how you’re going to get things done. Don’t sacrifice a cool or memorable or likable experience for your customer just to make your operations easier to manage. Focus on delivering a killer experience for your customer. That experience can be what you have on a webpage or their shopping cart on your site, or on a call with your customer support. Think about what it’s going to be like when the receive your product, and what the “unboxing” experience looks, feels, smells like. Obsess over every detail.
Jerome Knyszewski: Of course, the main way to increase conversion rates is to create a trusted and beloved brand. Can you share a few ways that an eCommerce business can earn a reputation as a trusted and beloved brand?
Luke Kupersmith: This is much easier said than done, but in general, do what you say you’re going to, when you said you were going to do it and how you said it would get done. Do everything with a smile on your face — a big smile! That approach goes for everyone on your team that’s involved in the “conversion” equation in some way.
Jerome Knyszewski: You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Luke Kupersmith: If I wasn’t already devoted to making that movement a reality, then shame on me! I’ll apologize in advance for taking liberties with this question. I’ll reframe it, and instead ask myself what I am doing with the time and resources I have today to affect the most good and the biggest number of people. And that’s to be super intentional and conscious on a daily basis and a grand basis in the way I treat people. I’m going to do the most with what I have, and that’s every interaction with my employees, friends, people I meet throughout my life, to be a positive and happy human. I try to spread that feeling. There’s a lot of individuals in this big old world that need that type of positivity.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Luke Kupersmith: Some of the excerpts of my life and of my 6-year-old son are captured on my Instagram: @lukekupersmith
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
