How They Built a $500M Freight Brokerage

Ted Alling, Co-Founder of Access America and Partner at Dynamo Ventures, shares how he helped build a freight brokerage from a scrappy startup into a $500M business without outside capital, why Chattanooga became a logistics powerhouse, and how Dynamo is backing the next generation of freight founders. Ted also breaks down the early days of Access America, the culture and training that helped it scale, the logistics flywheel that transformed Chattanooga, why investors underestimated the size of logistics, and the long-term mindset behind building companies, communities, and talent. This week's episode is sponsored by Epay Manager, GoodShip, Bitfreighter, and TrackFlo. Interested in sponsoring our podcast? Send us an email at pbj@freightcaviar.com CHAPTERS: 0:00 Intro 0:42 Brickyard and Lamp Post Origins 3:03 Ted's Background and Move to Chattanooga 4:51 Starting Access America 7:54 Landing the First Customers 9:08 Scaling Access and Building Culture 11:07 The Chattanooga Logistics Flywheel 14:58 Making Freight Brokerage Cool 16:42 Selling Access and Reinvesting Locally 18:58 Creating More Wealth in Chattanooga 22:37 Why Ted Started Dynamo Ventures 25:00 Long-Term Games and Compound Interest 26:37 Building Chattanooga Prep 30:16 Why Founders Should Build in Chattanooga 32:17 Final Thoughts