Why Dave Clark and Ryan Petersen Butted Heads at Flexport

Dave Clark, a veteran Amazon executive who helped transform the company into a logistics juggernaut, made a huge splash last summer when he announced he was joining Flexport, a startup looking to shake up the old school freight business that had ballooned to an $8 billion valuation with backing from SoftBank and Andreessen Horowitz.

But Clark, who had earned a reputation as a big spender and bold risk taker at Amazon, joined Flexport just as revenue in the freight forwarder’s main business collapsed from the peak of the pandemic and investors were increasingly demanding profitability over growth at all costs. Ultimately, Flexport's outspoken founder, Ryan Petersen, and Flexport’s board decided Clark’s initiatives were too risky and took issue with his spending during his time as CEO, according to a person close to Flexport. The company is also moving swiftly to remove many of Clark’s handpicked hires from Amazon after his departure, firing at least five top Flexport executives Clark had helped to bring in on Thursday, according to several people familiar with the matter.