The logistics industry faces unprecedented challenges as e-commerce continues to fragment consumer purchasing patterns across multiple companies. With each business establishing its own delivery pipeline to consumers’ doors, sustainability and efficiency concerns grow more pressing. Shekar Natarajan, a veteran logistics innovator with experience at PepsiCo, Walt Disney Company, and Walmart, is addressing these challenges by developing vertical AI solutions that could fundamentally transform how products move through supply chains.
Finding Inspiration in Family and Sustainability
Shekar’s vision for transforming logistics came into sharp focus during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I would gaze out of my window and we would have 7, 8, 10 people bringing packages to the door,” he recalls. “I kept thinking to myself, fast forward 10 years down the line, what would happen to this world if the proliferation and atomization of consumption just went to the bare minimum units?” This observation sparked a personal mission tied to his family’s future. When his son was born, Shekar’s commitment deepened. “I don’t want my son to go live on Mars. I would love to build a company which stands for effective use of resources,” he explains. “When I held him in my hand for the very first time, I had tears of joy. I had this feeling of responsibility to someone else besides me.”
Shekar believes the increasing competition for the same limited resources is creating societal division. “The more the world becomes competitive on the same commodity and same resources, the more bipolar we get as a society,” he notes. “The more inclusive we are and the more holistic our thinking is, the more sustainable the society becomes.”
Transforming Supply Chains Through Physical Internet Concepts
Shekar’s journey began in the early 2000s working with consumer packaged goods companies facing identity crises. “Companies like PepsiCo and Coke tried to diversify their portfolio to what was better for you versus carbonated beverages,” he explains. “But the infrastructure was very antiquated.” This experience led him to develop physical internet theories that apply digital networking principles to physical goods movement. Throughout his career at major companies, Shekar implemented these concepts in various forms – from consolidating deliveries at PepsiCo to creating digital mesh systems at Disney and developing on-demand resource discovery at Walmart.
By 2017, Shekar predicted a bifurcation in commerce between closed and open systems. “What Walmart does in a day, a company like American Eagle would do in a year volume-wise,” he notes. “No one will have the scale to compete, and supply chains density is the key.”
Building Vertical AI Solutions for Logistics
After creating his first company in 2018 and later establishing Quiet Platforms (acquired for $350 million), Shekar identified coordination as a critical challenge for open platforms. “You can solve the problem two ways to keep all participants aligned – you can throw a lot of bodies or you can use AI,” he explains. His current venture combines open platform concepts with AI agents to create what he calls “autonomous logistics.” While acknowledging the complexity of physical systems compared to digital ones, Shekar envisions progressive evolution: “We are building towards that crescendo – how do we take a company from harnessing knowledge and making smart decisions with existing assets to on-demand connectivity of the physical world to automated decisioning.”
Four Steps to Develop Vertical AI Solutions
For those looking to build vertical AI solutions in logistics or other industries, Shekar outlines a practical approach:
- Knowledge Gathering: “All vertical AI models start with knowledge gathering,” Shekar emphasizes. “How do you bring transparency to the knowledge? The quality of the knowledge and reliability of it is where all vertical AI journeys have to begin.”
- Create Design Studios: “The studio helps people primarily to design their work,” he explains. This allows professionals to elevate their thinking instead of constantly firefighting.
- Connect External Resources: Since supply chain activities frequently involve external partners, systems must “tap into the external world and have that provision automatically.”
- Progressive Automation: Start with human oversight while building trust in automated systems. “You’re still keeping hands on the wheel because you want to trust,” Shekar notes. “Slowly some of these decisions will be taken away.”
While Shekar acknowledges the challenges ahead, including misperceptions about AI and resistance to change, his optimism remains unwavering: “If your intentions are great and you work very diligently, success probably is delayed but is bound to come.”
Explore Shekar Natarajan’s insights on his personal website, discover his company’s AI-driven logistics solutions on company website, and connect with him on LinkedIn for the latest updates.
