Last2First Podcast

Most fans know Earl Bennett as one of the greatest receivers in SEC history. In just three seasons at Vanderbilt University, Earl became the SEC's all-time receptions leader before being drafted by the Chicago Bears and spending six years in the NFL. But this episode isn't just about football. It's about resilience, reinvention, and what happens when you refuse to let your circumstances define you...

At FMF360 during the CLDA 2024 Conference, Jason Burns sits down with four of the industry's most respected leaders for an unfiltered discussion on growth, technology, acquisitions, driver recruitment, customer pricing, profitability, and the future of logistics.  What does it take to build, scale, and lead a successful final mile delivery company in today's market? Is final-mile the same as TWO y...

What if the hardest part of building a logistics company was not the drivers or the routes, but getting a pharmacy to trust you with their patients' medications? Kunal Vyas figured that out, and then he built the infrastructure so nobody else has to. Kunal started as a pharmacy technician counting pills at 26. By 29, he had a logistics problem he could not outsource his way out of. So he built the...

Most final mile operators think their IC contracts protect them. They do not. Transportation lawyer Doug Grawe breaks down what actually keeps your business safe and what quietly puts it at risk. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro and Welcome 03:45 - Doug's Path Into Transportation Law 09:30 - No Single IC Definition 17:00 - How TPAs Actually Work 25:00 - Government Audits: What to Do 34:30 - Arbitration an...

Matt Silverberg walked into a failing $10M courier company with six months of runway, $100,000 in monthly losses, and zero logistics experience. He walked out years later as CCO of a $250M global healthcare logistics powerhouse. This episode is the full story. In this conversation, Matt takes us from his days as a clinical psychology student covering radiopharmaceutical routes at night to building...

What does it take to grow a family-run logistics business from just a handful of drivers to nearly 2,000 across the U.S. and Canada? In this episode of Last2First, Jason Burns sits down with Michael Frankel, President of Sir Lancelot Courier & Delivery and COO of PDX, for a conversation packed with real operator insights, lessons learned, and plenty of laughs. Michael shares his journey from w...

65 years. Three generations. One leader's turn to modernize or get left behind. In this episode of Last of First Podcast, Jason Burns sits down with David Hardy, President & CEO of Bonnie Speed Logistics, one of the longest-running courier companies in Ohio, founded in Cleveland in 1959. David's path was anything but straight. Hampton University. Purdue chicken processing lines. New Jersey foo...

33 years. One partner who went bankrupt. Millions left on the table. And zero regrets. In this episode of Last of First Podcast, Jason Burns sits down with Steve Howard — 2026 CLDA Hall of Fame inductee, former owner of Esquire Express in Miami, and current Director of eCommerce Solutions at WCA, the world's largest freight forwarder network with 13,500 members across 197 countries. Steve built hi...

Zero experience. Zero contacts. Zero clue how to run a courier business. He bought a $1M last mile logistics company anyway , and 14 years later walked away with a private equity exit. In this episode of Last of First Podcast, Jason Burns sits down with Walker Allen, founder of A3 Holdings and former owner of Specialty Freight & Courier — a logistics entrepreneur who built a medical courier ne...

What if you could build a profitable business from scratch—without experience, tech skills, or a huge investment? In this episode, Rebecca Massicotte, founder of Red Fox Medical Courier, shares how she went from Wall Street burnout to building a multi-city healthcare logistics company —serving critical patient care operations across the U.S. You’ll discover: How she started with just a website and...

What does it really take to take over a family business and scale a logistics company? In this episode of Last2First Podcast, we dive into last-mile logistics, delivery service businesses, and business growth with a second-generation owner who stepped into leadership and transformed operations. We talk about: •Taking over a family business the right way •Scaling a logistics company in a competitiv...

Amanda Factor is a third-generation logistics leader, sales expert, and now VP of Sales & Business Development at Hackbarth Delivery Systems. In this episode of the Last2First Podcast, she breaks down what it really takes to grow, price, and scale a last mile business in today’s market. From growing up in the Chicago Messenger legacy to helping scale a $50M operation, Amanda shares real-world...

In Part 2 of this Last2First Off-Season Mini Series, we go deeper with Chuck Moyer, President of Task4Pros, into a topic most operators overlook: 👉 Risk. Liability. And the true cost of labor. From workers’ comp exposure to OSHA compliance to misclassification risks, this episode breaks down what’s really at stake when you don’t have the right labor model in place. In this episode, we cover: Why...

In this special Last2First Off-Season Mini Series, we sit down with Chuck Moyer, President of Task4Pros and CLDA Hall of Famer, to break down one of the biggest challenges in logistics today: labor. This isn’t just about staffing. It’s about building real operational capacity in your warehouse and supply chain. In Episode 1, we cover: Why labor shortages are getting worse in logistics ✅The differ...

In this episode of the Last2First Podcast, Jason sits down with Lance Dearborn, founder & CEO of Take 2 Logistics (Central Florida), for a masterclass on people, numbers, and scaling the final mile the right way. Lance shares his origin story dropping out of high school, rebuilding his life with a plan, earning an accounting degree and Master’s in Taxation, then making the pivotal decision tha...

In this special, unplanned studio session, Jason sits down with Dr. Dominic Morais, a longtime friend from Vanderbilt and a leader in talent development and organizational culture (San Antonio Spurs). This episode goes beyond the “X’s and O’s” of business and gets into what most leaders avoid: the person behind the company trust, care, accountability, emotional intelligence, and the internal drive...

In this episode, Jason sits down with Jesse Perez , Founder & CEO of Classic Couriers , a Hollywood-based courier company founded in 1982 . With 40+ years in the business, Jesse shares a rare behind-the-scenes look at studio logistics, Teamsters, film-era deliveries, and how Classic Couriers pioneered efficiency long before “last mile” became a buzzword. From getting fired due to nepotism, to...

Chairman & CEO Michael Kraus joins Jason Burns on Last2First to break down how Expak Logistics rebuilt from the ground up, including the bold choice to walk away from Amazon, shift to an asset-light managed transportation model, and scale nationwide through an agent network, strong SOPs, and obsessive operational discipline. If you’re building in the final mile / middle mile / retail distribut...

In this episode of the Last2First Podcast, Jason sits down virtually with Steve Bonnici, founder of Urgent Couriers and co-founder of Deliver Different  joining from **Auckland. Steve breaks down the real origin story: how his family’s transportation roots shaped his path, how Urgent Couriers evolved from traditional messenger work into major medical + routed logistics, and why a decision in 1995...

 Air freight compliance is one of the most misunderstood parts of the courier world, and it can cost you big if you get it wrong. In Episode 5, I sit down with Ralph Perrothers, Founder & CEO of On-the-Go Cargo (NY/NJ), to break down the real-world shift from expedited air freight to local on-demand after 9/11, how AOG (aircraft on ground) freight works, and the TSA compliance stack every oper...

What does it take to build a final-mile delivery network that covers every ZIP code in Arizona and scales into Nevada/Utah without relying on independent contractors? In this clip, Jason Burns sits down with Ken Reynolds, Founder & CEO of Accurate Cargo Delivery, to break down how an air freight cartage company evolved into a diversified final mile operation with ~95 vehicles, including 26’ bo...

New Episode! Ryan Cunningham transitioned from the medical field to building a fast-growing last-mile operation, and within about 18 months, she scaled Snaps Logistics to 40 drivers. In this episode, Ryan breaks down how she started with gig apps in a sedan, upgraded into larger vehicle capacity, landed contracts, managed growth pains (including driver issues and missed deliveries), and what she’s...

In Episode 44 of the Last2First Podcast, we sit down with Chris Bartley, COO of Fifth Dimension Logistics (New Jersey), to break down what it really takes to run a customized logistics operation from air freight cartage and contract logistics to scaling with an independent contractor (IC) model, managing peak-season uncertainty, and building a weekly KPI dashboard that keeps the business accountab...

Last2First Family this episode is all about finding MORE volume… and more importantly, PROFITABLE volume. We are joined by Timur, Founder & CEO of Small Parcel (and host of Logistics Remix). Timur lives “in the middle” between shippers, 3PLs, and the carriers who actually execute the last mile. We break down what shippers care about, how small parcel pricing really works, why FedEx/UPS keep ad...

In this Off-Season Exclusive of the Last2First Podcast , Jason Burns sits down with Drew Kronick , former Founder & CEO of SDS Rx (now part of DHL Supply Chain ) to unpack how he built a national healthcare last-mile platform, partnered with private equity, and ultimately sold to the largest logistics provider in the world. Drew shares his journey from growing up in a family delivery business...