← Matt Lane · NYSHEX
VP Product Management · 2020–2022
NYSHEX · Enterprise FreightTech

I helped turn ocean freight from information into action.

I joined NYSHEX to build the product function and turn a complex freight workflow into enterprise software. My focus was simple: make the state of a shipment legible enough that people could decide what to do next.

My role: VP, Product ManagementSeptember 2020 – January 2022 · New York
Current NYSHEX Rate Intelligence market benchmark interface
I use NYSHEX’s current Rate Intelligence interface as visual context for the category.
What I found

The problem wasn’t missing data. It was missing decision state.

Freight teams were reconciling contracts, rates, schedules, capacity, and execution across documents and systems. I framed the opportunity around the moments where that fragmentation forced someone to stop, interpret, and chase the next answer.

InterpretI needed the product to turn fragmented freight information into a state people could trust.
DecideI treated price, routing, capacity, and execution as one decision problem rather than separate tools.
ActI wanted the interface to tell someone what required attention, not merely show them more data.
How I thought about it

The decision came first.

The current Rate Intelligence interface is a later expression of the same category problem. I use it here to make my product logic concrete: first make the state trustworthy, then make the choice legible, then test whether the product changes what someone can do.

01 · Make the state trustworthy

First, remove the interpretation work.

My bias was to turn freight information into a product state someone could trust, rather than leave the user to reconcile documents and spreadsheets before every decision.

Fit check
x · situation
The user has information, but still has to interpret it before acting.
f(x) · move
Represent the freight state directly in the product.
y · effect
The user can begin from a trusted state instead of rebuilding one manually.
Conformance: Did we represent the underlying terms and state correctly? Effect: Did we remove interpretation work from the user?
NYSHEX Rate Document Manager
02 · Put the decision in one place

The variables belonged in one decision surface.

A cheap rate is not useful if the route, schedule, or execution state makes it unusable. I pushed toward decision surfaces that brought the variables that mattered into the same view.

Fit check
x · situation
The user has to mentally join price, route, timing, and execution before choosing.
f(x) · move
Compose the variables around the decision instead of around the data source.
y · effect
The user compares viable choices rather than isolated facts.
Conformance: Are the important variables correctly represented together? Effect: Can the user make the decision without stitching the answer together elsewhere?
NYSHEX carrier rate comparison
NYSHEX available vessel rate view
03 · Make exceptions visible

Design for attention, not coverage.

For the port-to-port tracking product I shipped, the point was not to reproduce every piece of shipment data. It was to make movement and exceptions visible enough that a member could see what required attention across the journey.

Fit check
x · situation
Freight is moving, but the important change can disappear inside the full journey.
f(x) · move
Expose the port-to-port state and the moments that need attention.
y · effect
Members can manage the journey from visible state instead of chasing it manually.
Conformance: Does the product reflect the shipment state accurately? Effect: Does that visibility change what the user can notice or act on?
NYSHEX Freight Indices benchmark view
NYSHEX freight rate spread view
What I did · 2020–2022

Building the product—and the product function.

I joined as VP of Product Management, grew the product team from zero to ten, and led the build and launch of enterprise freight products. The work was equal parts product strategy, shaping, team building, and turning customer complexity into something reusable.

What I shipped

I shipped a port-to-port tracking product that gave members a clearer view of freight movement across the journey. More broadly, I helped turn enterprise freight workflows into products that could be sold repeatedly rather than solved as one-off operations.

RoleVice President, Product Management
TeamGrew product from 0 → 10
Customers30+ enterprise clients in under 6 months
~$1MARR generated in 10 months by enterprise freight products
30+enterprise clients won in under 6 months
+20%membership lift associated with the port-to-port tracking product
$600K → $1Mrevenue growth over 9 months associated with the tracking launch
What I learned

Enterprise software gets better when you design the decision, not the database.

The durable lesson for me was that visibility alone is not the product. The product is the judgment it makes easier: what state am I in, what changed, and what should I do next?

See NYSHEX today ↗