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Building a B2B Marketplace: How REPOWR Turned Industry Pain Points into Growth Opportunities

When 92% of trucking companies operate with six or fewer trucks, but 97% of trailers are owned by just 3% of fleets, you have a serious market inefficiency. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, REPOWR co-founder Patrick Visintainer shared how his company is addressing this fragmentation while building a thriving B2B marketplace.

The market problem was clear: trailer utilization in the logistics industry was abysmal. As Patrick explains, “Great Dane, a trailer manufacturer in the space, says that 75% of a trailer’s lifespan is spent detached from a truck, meaning it’s not moving, it’s not making money.” This inefficiency created an opportunity for a marketplace solution, but building it required navigating several complex challenges.

Solving the Chicken-and-Egg Problem

Like many marketplace founders, REPOWR faced the classic chicken-and-egg dilemma. Their initial approach of focusing on supply didn’t work, leading to a strategic pivot. “We started off trying to find the supply, and then we realized that the supply needed to have demand, so we actually kind of reversed it,” Patrick recalls. They began approaching potential suppliers with a compelling value proposition: “We have these carriers, these renters that want to use your assets. Do you have any not being used? This is how much money you can make.”

This reversal proved effective, but the real breakthrough came from targeting large enterprise fleets. As Patrick explains, “Today we found that we can go after these large enterprise fleets who make up the majority of our supply, and they own that 3% of the trailers in the marketplace.” These enterprises provided not just supply, but also came with built-in demand through their existing carrier networks.

Timing and Market Conditions

REPOWR’s launch coincided with a unique market situation. “Coming out of Covid-19 everything was dead. And then in 2021, the economy went crazy,” Patrick shares. During this period, demand for trailers skyrocketed while manufacturing couldn’t keep pace. REPOWR capitalized on this opportunity by helping companies rebalance their trailer pools, turning what was typically an expense into revenue.

Customer-Centric Product Development

Rather than pushing technology solutions, REPOWR prioritized customer relationships. “We never started REPOWR to just say here’s our technology. Here’s how you can use it. But instead we spent early and every month time with our customers,” Patrick emphasizes. This approach helped them build a product that truly served their customers’ needs.

Their sales strategy reflects this customer-first mindset. Instead of traditional pitching, they focus on problem-solving: “We’re not selling just hey. Here’s what we’re doing at REPOWR. But we get the opportunity to ask questions to our customers and say what problem are you trying to solve today?”

Scaling Through Strategic Relationships

The company’s growth strategy extended beyond just securing customers. Patrick emphasizes the importance of maintaining relationships with investors, even when not actively fundraising: “Even the people that we’ve talked to that haven’t invested in REPOWR and they’re not a capital partner. They’ve been helpful introducing us to customers.”

This relationship-focused approach has yielded impressive results. The company achieved 200% year-over-year GMV growth while working with 18 of the top 25 largest asset-based fleets and over 10,000 carriers on their platform.

Looking Forward

REPOWR’s vision extends beyond just connecting trailer supply and demand. “At the end of the day, we’re a product and a technology, and we want to continue to build a product that’s easy to use. It’s an API first approach that’s built on collaboration and connecting people to feel like they’re in a community,” Patrick shares.

For founders building B2B marketplaces, REPOWR’s journey offers valuable lessons: focus on solving real industry problems, be willing to pivot your approach to marketplace building, and most importantly, stay close to your customers. As Patrick puts it, “I know that we’re on the cusp of something big and it could be tomorrow. It’s laying around somewhere close and you never know when that day is going to be.”