In this episode of Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast, host Brent Hutto is joined by Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of FreightWaves. 

Craig Fuller is the founder and CEO of FreightWaves, the leading FreightIntel provider, who offer current digital intelligence and context to the freight community on a central platform. FreightWaves.com, the company's news site, is the leading provider of news and commentary for the space, serving up over 2.5M pageviews a month and over 1.5B monthly impressions. Craig is also the Chief Executive Officer of Firecrown, the largest media platform in aviation, marine, and supply chain.

[21:36 - 24:20] Craig attributes his deep understanding of the trucking industry to his upbringing, where his father, though reserved, shared extensive industry knowledge during long road trips. Growing up in a family deeply connected to trucking across three generations, Craig highlights how much of the industry's knowledge is "tribal" and passed down through experience. He expresses sadness that this rich, experiential knowledge may not be transferred to the next generation in the same way, as his children might not inherit the same intimate connection with the industry.

[28:30 - 34:22] FreightWaves was born out of necessity when Craig realized traditional PR firms found it difficult to market the complex futures concept. After being advised to produce their own content, FreightWaves began writing industry-specific news that diverged from the traditional press-release-driven reporting. This move to provide real-time, authentic insights—coupled with Craig’s deep industry experience—helped differentiate FreightWaves as a media company and drove its growth. Their content catered to freight brokers and tech-focused audiences, an underserved market at the time.

[44:40 - 49:46] Craig’s vision was to create a platform that treats freight like a commodity, similar to oil or gold, and provides real-time data and insights, much like Bloomberg’s model. This led to the development of Sonar, FreightWaves' data platform, designed to offer executive-level analysis rather than daily trading tools. Although initially intended for price analysts and executives, Sonar's sophisticated features have found success on trading floors, complementing rather than replacing existing tools like Truck Stop. Sonar provides detailed market insights and data intelligence, while Truck Stop focuses on ease of use for daily operations. 

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