One of the more difficult things to do as a media company is market a list of something and then defend how the list was chosen. In the case of CNBC, they have created a list of the Top 50 most disruptive companies. CNBC provides a summary of how the companies were chosen. You can read the criteria here.
On the surface, it appears that CNBC has created a sound methodology for evaluating and selecting the companies on the list. The reality, however, is far different. Some of the criteria utilized for selecting companies is biased whereas other criteria has been ignored. The result? Several companies on the list don’t belong and they should never have been selected in the first place. For example:
Flock Freight: Is this company the Theranos of the logistics industry? In my opinion, many things about the company from claiming to have proprietary software capable of creating a more sustainable supply chain by pooling freight at scale and offering a hubless transportation model, to CEO and Founder Oren Zaslansky continually brow-beating employees to “Sell more in order to save the planet,” Flock Freight gives me the impression of a troubled company. FreightWaves wrote a damning article about Flock Freight that raises serious questions about the company and the thoroughness of CNBCs selection process.
Note to the executive and legal team at Flock Freight: I mean no offense. I’m more than happy to appear on any network to discuss/debate your business model and technology.
Flexport: It is inconceivable to me that a company that generates little revenue and that recently made a questionable acquisition of Shopify’s logistics assets, should be on the list. Note to CNBC – follow the money. Dig into the relationship of Flexport and Shopify. There’s a story waiting to be told. Many people are curious about how much of Flexport is actually owned by Shopify.
I challenge anyone to prove to me that Flexport has disrupted anything at this stage of their journey. Frankly, the only thing I can applaud at Flexport is hiring Dave Clark as CEO, and Clark surrounding himself with highly qualified talent from Amazon and other companies. Flexport truly has potential but untapped potential isn’t disruptive.
Convoy Inc: The company was ranked number 6 on the Disrupter 50 list in 2022, and in 2023, it is ranked number 47. I struggle to understand what Convoy did in 2022 that other brokers weren’t also doing. The entire brokerage industry is digitizing. Convoy deserves to be respected but CNBC needs to revisit keeping a company on the list that experienced such a massive drop.
My comments are intended to help CNBC create an even better list by evaluating more companies. For example, I strongly encourage CNBC to evaluate 345 Global led by founder and CEO Mark Edwards. Assess Fulfillment IQ and other such companies.
