I learned today why Qualcomm acquired Sylectus. Learned by interviewing the man at Qualcomm to whom the Sylectus president now reports.
I also learned today about an expedite carrier that runs 164 trucks, has no recruiter on staff, has a truck turnover rate under 20 percent, has no office and has no employees. Learned by interviewing the three people who run that company out of their homes.
I also learned today enough new (to me) information about the expediting industry to keep me writing full time for a month if I wanted to. Learned by mixing and mingling with attendees at the Sylectus Annual Conference 2012.
Diane woke up this morning in our Florida vacation house where we plan to stay until mid-February. I woke up in the hotel near Orlando where the conference is being held.
My day was peaceful until this evening’s reception started. The main event for conference attendees was a golf outing. Not being a golfer, I passed on that and stayed at the hotel. Even if I was a golfer, I might have passed. It was great to have that large block of time to review notes and tapes from last night’s conversations and do follow-up research online.
This evening’s reception was similar to last night’s but but with a number of new people there. The conference business meetings and keynote address will happen tomorrow. Most of the people I talked to tonight arrived today.
The keynote speaker is Bradley Jacobs of Jacobs Private Equity. He made transportation news last year when he acquired and became the CEO of Express-1 (XPO), making $150 million investment in the company and announcing his intention to build it into a multi-billion dollar business over the next several years. Tomorrow he will discuss mergers and acquisitions in transportation.
Full disclosure: Diane and I own shares of XPO.
