Matt Hertz is helping e-commerce brands find fulfillment through Third Person Co.
Currently, there are over 1,000 brands that have connected to a 3PL on the platform, doubling every quarter this year, and over 300 3PLs across the country.
When Matt Hertz first devised his plans for Third Person, he envisioned something like a “dating app for warehouses.”
That metaphor stuck, and so did the idea.
Today, his warehouse matchmaking platform, Third Person, has more than a thousand engaged e-commerce brands leveraging the platform to discover more than 300 third-party fulfillment sites. And every month, it’s only growing.
Solving a logistical problem
The logistics industry is both complicated and frustrating, especially for small brands navigating the scene for the first time. Products might be manufactured in one state, stored in another, and shipped across all 50. Finding the right partners at each step is a time-consuming and often overwhelming task.
Hertz was born in Canada, but dealt with this issue twice during his time living in New York City. First, when he was hired as the fifth employee for Rent the Runway back in 2009. He helped establish and scale warehouse operations and the supply chain pipeline.
A year later, he became the first hire at BirchBox, which was also in its start-up infancy with just two months in operation. While different industries entirely, the supply chain, economics, and operations of the subscription-based models were relatively similar.
“After just four years, I was overseeing what became a global supply chain, with operations in five countries,” Hertz said.
By then, he had caught the contagious excitement that we call the “start-up bug.”
In 2014, he decided to move out of the Big Apple and toward the sunny California West Coast to work for a start-up logistics company called Shyp, which only further solidified his expertise in navigating logistics.
In 2017, Hertz got his green card to become a United States citizen. For the first time, he had full freedom to open a consulting business of his own. So, he did. And, he called it Second Marathon.
“I initially started the business as a way to help emerging and high-growth e-commerce brands solve a lot of the same challenges that I faced,” Hertz said. “My co-founder and I became a fractional operations consultancy.”
However, Hertz said scaling a consulting business was no easy feat. They were limited by their own capacity, time, and resources.
“There are only so many brands at a time that we can support. It’s not software. We can’t work with hundreds. We could only work with a dozen (+) a year, and maintain consistency in providing the attention and support they need,” he said. “So, in the fall of 2023, I started Third Person to answer our most commonly asked question: Who is the best fulfillment partner for my brand?”
How does Third Person work?
Hertz describes Third Person as a matchmaking platform for warehousing and third-party logistics (3PL) fulfillment.
“For the e-commerce brands, the experience is completely free for use. No strings attached. The 3PL fulfillment centers cover the matching fee if connected with a successful partner,” Hertz explained.
Currently, there are over 1,000 brands that have connected to a 3PL on the platform, doubling every quarter this year, and over 300 3PLs across the country.
Third Person uses an AI-powered algorithm to evaluate each brand’s needs and rank the top 10 fulfillment partners based on compatibility.
So far, Third Person has raised about half a million dollars. Much of it, Hertz said, came from friends and family. Notably, Launch Tennessee’s InvestTN is also a lead investor in the Nashville-based company.
“I really want this to be the ‘Nerd Wallet’ of logistics, offering a space for brands to connect with various third-party partners at every link on the supply chain,” he said.
Hertz said, despite the growth, he is committed to keeping Third Person free for brands.
“Giving away valuable resources for free ultimately leads to the long-term benefit of building a strong community and reputation,” Hertz said. “We genuinely believe this will make a big impact for small business owners, e-commerce startups, and brands everywhere.”
Learn more about Third Person.
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