The Manifold Freight team was excited to have Oliver Jones, our Founder and CEO, and Trey Griggs, our Chief Revenue Officer, sit down with Cameron Robertson and Michael Sternberg on the Built In Freight podcast. The conversation gave a real, no-fluff look at the daily headaches of spot freight quoting and how we're working to fix them for brokers and carriers.
Cameron kicked things off with news from 3PL Systems: they just dropped their biggest software update ever. It brings a ton of new workflows, deeper customization, and serious upgrades to accounting, especially commission handling. The release was so large the code push actually triggered email size warnings. It's great to see partners like 3PL Systems continuing to push the industry forward.
Oliver shared how Manifold got started. After running the automated bidding team at Convoy until the company shut down, he saw firsthand how broken the spot market really is: brokers flipping between a dozen portals, carriers missing loads, everyone burning hours every day. That frustration became the reason for Manifold.
We launched with basic load aggregation, added bidding tools, then sharpened the focus on carrier-facing "Match a Truck" features. That's where we found real traction. Oliver builds the tech side as founder, and Trey leads revenue and go-to-market, bringing years of sales, marketing, and freight relationships to help us grow.
The biggest pain point we talked about is how much time spot quoting steals. Brokers and carriers can easily spend 60 percent of their day logging into 10–20 different portals, sorting through emails, and hunting for loads worth quoting. It's exhausting and kills margins.
Manifold changes that by pulling every opportunity into one clean dashboard, like the Travelocity version of spot quoting. People can find, review, bid, and book freight much faster with far less back-and-forth.
We know freight is still built on relationships, so we give users both manual and automated quoting. Manual works best for lanes that need a personal touch and real judgment. Automation handles the high-volume, trusted lanes so teams can scale without getting buried.
On the tech side, we're committed to being API-first. We don't want to lock anyone into a closed system; we want customers to plug Manifold data right into whatever tools they already use.
Our product direction stays simple: we build what customers tell us they need, not what looks cool. Oliver pointed out how small, consistent improvements matter most, things like bumping shipment detail accuracy from 99% to 99.5% or shaving latency so the platform feels noticeably snappier.
Trey laid out who we're built for: brokers doing $35 million to $200 million in revenue, and carriers running 50 to 500 trucks.
We earn trust the old-fashioned way, with real customer stories and testimonials. One thing that helps us stand out at trade shows is showing up in Manifold jerseys. It starts conversations and makes us easy to spot.
Onboarding is straightforward. We promise customers will see value within 21 days from signing the contract to the kickoff call.
The episode wrapped with a clear point: freight companies shouldn't try to build every piece of tech themselves. Working with specialists like Manifold lets teams move quicker, stay focused on what they do best, and compete harder.
Huge thanks to Cameron and Michael for hosting and asking sharp questions that actually matter to people in the trenches. If spot market chaos or clunky quoting tools are slowing you down, the full episode is worth a listen.
Ready to see the Manifold platform in action for yourself? Fill out this short form and we'll get you in to see it. We're always up for talking shop and hearing what's working (or not) in your operation.
Looking forward to more conversations like this one.