Trackstar

What do they actually do

Trackstar collects shipment and carrier-tracking data from many different sources and normalizes it into a single, consistent format. Customers access this data through a developer API, webhooks for real‑time updates, and a simple dashboard for search and exception review.

Teams connect their carriers or supply tracking identifiers, and Trackstar continuously ingests events (e.g., pickup, in transit, exception, delivered). Customers use the unified feed to update order status, trigger customer communications and support workflows, and spot delays in one place instead of stitching together dozens of carrier feeds.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Mid-size and large e-commerce brands selling direct to consumers: They pull tracking from many carriers and marketplaces that report status differently, forcing teams to reconcile inconsistent updates and deal with inaccurate ETAs that drive complaints and refunds.
• Marketplaces and multi-seller platforms: They must present a single shipment status to buyers even though each seller uses different carriers, and building/maintaining dozens of integrations is slow and costly.
• Third-party logistics providers (3PLs) and freight forwarders: They manage shipments across many carriers and modes without a reliable, unified view, so ops teams spend hours chasing exceptions and manually notifying customers.
• Logistics software vendors and TMS/WMS makers: They want to offer tracking/visibility features but integrating and maintaining carrier feeds is a recurring engineering burden that slows product roadmaps.
• Customer support and operations teams at retailers: Agents can’t quickly confirm where an order is or why it’s late, which lengthens handling times and leads to avoidable investigations or refunds.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Run targeted pilots with mid-size e‑commerce brands, a couple of 3PLs, and one marketplace from the YC/founder network; provide white‑glove integration to show value within weeks and convert pilots into case studies and referrals.
• First 50: Combine developer-led inbound (good docs, SDKs, sandbox) with focused outbound to marketplaces, TMS vendors, and mid‑market merchants using prebuilt connectors; reduce switching friction with time‑limited migration assistance and use case studies to warm leads.
• First 100: Layer channel partnerships and reseller/integration deals with carriers, TMS/WMS providers, and 3PL networks; add self‑serve onboarding, tiered pricing, and hire AEs/CSMs to close and retain larger, more complex accounts.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Vendors that sell multi‑carrier tracking/visibility software directly to shippers, marketplaces, and logistics providers represent a near‑term SaaS TAM plausibly in the low‑to‑mid billions of dollars annually, with a realistic first‑order target around $0.5–$2B ARR.

Bottom-up calculation:

A segment-by-segment model (counts × ACV) sums to about $1.375B ARR using example inputs (e.g., 25k mid-size brands at $15k, 2.5k large brands at $100k, 1k marketplaces at $200k, 10k 3PLs at $30k, 3k TMS/WMS at $50k, 50k SMBs at $2k). Scenario range: ≈$300–400M (conservative), ≈$1.4B (base), ≈$5–6B (optimistic).

Assumptions:

• Global counts of each buyer segment are approximate and will vary by geography and vertical.
• ACVs reflect typical willingness to pay for multi‑carrier tracking/visibility and exclude heavy custom services.
• Usage‑based fees, data products, and embedded/partner revenue are excluded from the core SaaS TAM and would expand it.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• AfterShip: Tracking aggregation for e‑commerce sellers and marketplaces with a turnkey tracking page and notifications; strongest in parcel use cases rather than multimodal freight.
• EasyPost: Developer‑focused shipping API for labels, rates, and tracking across parcel carriers; optimized for parcel commerce rather than enterprise freight visibility.
• ShipEngine: Shipping API that normalizes carrier responses for developers and commerce platforms; competes on ease of parcel shipping/tracking integrations.
• project44: Enterprise supply chain visibility with deep carrier connectivity and predictive ETAs across modes; heavier implementation focused on large shippers and 3PLs.
• FourKites: Enterprise real‑time freight visibility and analytics with predictive ETAs; oriented to operations centers and large, multimodal networks.