Your Next Move - Keeping up with the times

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

In this episode, Inc. staff reporter Ali Donaldson sits down with Abel Horvath, the founder of  Fulfillment Hub USA, which is ranked No. 2,880 on 2025 Inc. 5000 list. Fulfillment Hub USA is a fulfillment services provider offering warehousing solutions, transport services, and more. Abel discusses the biggest challenges facing the logistics industry and what he attributes the company’s growth to: truly meeting the client’s needs.

With the VentureX business card from Capital One, you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase. Plus, the VentureX business card has no preset spending limit, so your purchasing power can adapt to meet your business needs. Capital One, what's in your wallet? I'm Sarah Lynch, and you are listening to Your Next Move, audio edition, produced by Inc and Capital One Business. For this season, we gathered a group of conversations with entrepreneurs who made last year's Inc. 5,000 list. They joined us in our Your Next Move booth at the Inc. 5,000 to share lessons learned and anecdotes from building their businesses.

In this episode, Inc. staff reporter Ali Donaldson interviewed Abel Horvath. He is the founder of Fulfillment Hub USA, ranked No. 4,493 on the 2024 Inc. 5,000 list. They are a fulfillment services provider, offering warehousing solutions, transport services, and more. Abel tells Ali what he attributes the company's growth to, truly meeting the client's needs. I would say we, unlike other companies in our industry, we are really focusing on our clients. We are also adaptive, so we are very flexible when it comes to what our client needs are, which is quite tricky since every business is different. and we're supposed to create this tendersized logistic solution for all companies equally.

So we offer equally good support and assistant. And I think we managed that really well with technology, with our team. We got really good people, so it all helped us to grow. And, Abel, could you say a little bit more about that being adaptive? Are there any strange things you've had to do for specific products when it's like in your warehouse? Yes. So we work with anything from jewelry, but all the way to hot tubs, jacuzis. things like that. So that was definitely quite a tricky one. It filled up the warehouse a lot faster

than we have anticipated it, especially after COVID. Everyone was ordering hot tubs and jacuzis for the house. So we got tons of container after container filled with hot tubs, and we didn't know where to put it. So we definitely had to do some tricky moving around, opening up new warehouses on last minute. It's developing. It's changing. So it really, during COVID, especially really, this B2C became a big deal. Amazon was one of the pioneers in the industry, and as other marketplaces adopted it, there's more solution needed.

One of the growing factors for us, our system is linked with all these different marketplaces, so you can come with us, and we work with Amazon, with Walmart, with Whole Foods, with 47 different marketplaces, and we have multiple shipping methods, so we're trying to offer a lot of options for customers

to choose from. And how do you let customers know about all that technology, all those options? What are some of your best marketing tips? We really try to focus on the problem and then providing a solution for it. So we market what are the common issues potential customers would be facing, which is usually the same thing as transparency is a big deal. Customers are concerned that, for example, billing is unclear. Logistics is a complex business, So no one really knows up front how much they're going to get built. So if you try to make that as simple as possible. And, Abel, when you look over the past three years of growth,

were there any inflection points, like a certain point where you're like, okay, that strategy, that thing we did really helped us get on this growth trajectory? Yes. So I would say partnerships was a big one. We managed to generate or create really, really good partnerships through networks like in 5,000. We met great people who are in the marketing industry. They referred us customers, we referred them customers, also folks here, I think, 5,000 who are in the finance world, they're doing finance for e-commerce brands, and they told them,

hey, you could save on your shipping, on your fulfillment. So they send it our way. So that was definitely one way where we realize, okay, this is a really good growth opportunity for us. Well, I love that to hear that. You all are working together and making sure that you can find those opportunities to partner and really make it a win for everyone. What has been the most surprising lesson that you've learned? Okay, that's a tough one. I mean, once we start scaling and open up multiple locations, I realize it's a lot harder to maintain the same level of quality at every location, because we are dealing with different cultures, different mindsets. We started out in Miami, then we opened up a facility in L.A. That was already quite a difference of culture,

so we had to learn how to deliver the same level of service. And then once we went to Europe, It was a whole different game. And India, you know, that's just something completely different. So it took us a while to learn how to manage that and make sure, like, if you go with us, you use all of our facilities, you get the same level of service everywhere. And was there a moment that you were completely unprepared for? Yes. We had several of those moments from cash flow that we realize that the importance of cash flow, because I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs, they look for the future and they're like, all right, this is a great thing. idea. Let's push it. It's going to work out. But you also need money to make it work. We spread

ourselves a little too thin at certain times. And because we were expanding, we opened up new facilities. And unlike in the software company, we cannot have suddenly a thousand more customers. We need to invest into real estate. So we need to get warehouses, equipment. So it's a lot harder to grow than some of the other industries. So some of those were a bit of a moment that, hey, let's take a step back, realize, let's do this better. So more thought out and long term. And do you have any keys to staying productive? Yes.

I mean, I think focus is a very important one, prioritizing correctly as the company grew. I mean, day one, I was literally moving boxes sitting on a forklift. I was six years ago. Then I took a step back. I was focusing more on the overall operation and then took another step back, more in the sales. And now we are thankful. at a point where I'm really focusing on acquisitions and buying other fulfillment centers.

So that's my main focus. So I feel like my time is invested the best in that way. When you're thinking about making those priority of your time, are there any like apps you use? Are you a calendar person, list person? I like calendars. So I put all the tasks I need to do on the calendar and I'm trying to do it. Although every other day I'm moving them to the next day and just keep gathering. Staying flexible.

Yeah, exactly. And well, how many employees do you all have now? We have around 100 employees globally. We also have a lot of software developers as well. We're helping us provide the services for our customers. We also outsource quite a bit. We are also in Columbia. We opened up an office.

So we have another 25 people there. And what is your secret sauce for hiring the right person for the right job? Maybe how has that changed now that you're hiring Columbia as well? We are trying to create a profile of the employees we currently have. have and look at what's missing, what kind of personality is missing in our group. Because, for example, in accounting, obviously, detail orientation is very important. But also, we do need people who are creative who can think ways, how to optimize operations, financially speaking.

And Colombia is being fantastic for us. They've been a really good assistance in everything we do. We normally have an HR person in the U.S. sales for every position. We have someone in the U.S., and then they are kind of assisting them to be able to grow. Because once we did an acquisition in February in San Francisco, and while the operation was running smooth, we realized on the administrative side, we were falling behind. So on the billing side, on customer service, so we needed to create a solution where we can scale quicker when we need to. So we are always a little bit over staff right now, thanks to Colombia.

So when we do the next acquisition, it's going to go smoother. When we come back, Ali asks Abel what he thinks is, the biggest challenge facing the logistics industry. But first, a quick break. Here's a tip for growing your business. Get the VentureX business card from Capital One and start earning unlimited double miles on every purchase. That's right. With unlimited double miles, the more your business spends, the more miles you earn. Plus, the VentureX business card has no preset spending limit, so your purchasing power can adapt to meet your business needs. The VentureX business card also includes access to over a thousand airport lounges. Just imagine where the VentureX

business card from Capital One can take your business. Capital One, what's in your wallet? Terms and conditions apply. Find out more at Capital One.com slash VentureX business. What do you think is the biggest challenge facing your industry facing logistics right now? I would say labor and efficiency. So companies were very old school. They use Excel sheets to keep track of things. It's very hard for them to compete. I think keeping up with the times is very important. I mean, Tesla just introduced the humanoid robots a few days ago.

I think that's going to be quite a game changer in our industry. We already have robotics in general, but the cost of it is tens of millions. So we are really hoping that once robotics becomes more of a mainstream, then it's going to make it more accessible for others as well. And what has been the most important thing that you've learned as a leader of your company? I would say giving employees the space to explore and learn on their own because in many cases when you micromanage, you're going to have to keep micromanaging and employees just accept it and they actually enjoy it because if there's a mistake, it's your mistake. They just execute for you.

So once they learn to have more responsibility, take ownership of the tasks, So sometimes just throwing them in the deep water and learn to swim, I learn that's a really good way for them to learn quickly and really understand. And for their own good, they are trying to learn more than what's the absolute minimum. And it sounds like too, it's just much more satisfying to as like an employee. I mean, I certainly feel that way as like an employee that's like, okay, you don't want your boss of your head over your shoulder. Exactly. It's more fun and, you know, you feel personal growth as well in accomplishment. And what's the best advice that you've ever been given?

Best advice. I would say probably try to control the things you can and just accept whether you cannot control the way it is. Because I feel like a lot of people get really stressed out about certain things that they have no control over it. Like in our industry, our revenue is based on our customer's success. So if they sell a lot of products in that month, we make more money. if they sell less, we make less.

So there's no way for us to control that. I used to stress out about it, but really there's nothing we can do about it. So I learned to deal with that and accept it the way it is, and then focus on the things we can actually improve in terms of efficiency and profitability and focus all of our attention on that, and that's the only thing we can do. And like you said that you had to focus on other things, like how did you really implement that knowing that, okay, we cannot control that revenue that's coming in, but like we still need that cash flow coming.

Yeah, that was tough at times, especially when we were growing. We spread ourselves quite thin, so then it became a big topic. How are we going to manage this? Because during the summer months, we made a lot less. And then Black Friday came, and we doubled Christmas. We did double. So we had to have higher savings during the lower months. Like, in January, February, no one buys anything.

Everyone spent their money in December, Christmas, and then it goes down, and so did our business. And it's still the case. but we just know how to deal with it and we prepare for it. And what's that like, you know, because it's like retail, like you said, it's such a seasonal business that's like, you know, Black Friday, like fourth quarter holiday spending is huge. You're going to have slower summer months. How do you plan for that?

We are trying to get a balanced customer base. So we have customers selling bikinis, which is great in the summer. We have customers selling skis, which is great in the winter. So we are trying to balance it out in each location, so everyone is busy at all times. It's sometimes a little bit tricky, but it definitely works. And was there a moment where you thought, okay, this might not work for the company? In some cases, let's say the jacuzzi customer, because in, let's say, a bikini, we can always put the bikini aside. It doesn't take a lot of space.

But once you have hot tubs and jacuzis, they take up 20,000 square foot and you're not moving. So we did realize that we have to spread it around in general between all of our locations, and some of the slow-moving customers, because otherwise it's just sitting there. And we don't make money on storage, so it's only when it moves. In terms of the company, yeah, we did have ups and downs, especially at the beginning.

We took off really quickly very well, but how I got the first customer, which was a very risky take, they ended up going with us. I didn't have a warehouse at the time. I sold my previous company. I had no warehouse. I had no team.

I had no employees. I had nothing. You had customers, but nothing else. Nothing else. So it was a massive company. They told me on Friday that they want to go with us, and their previous fulfillment center was sold. So they're like, on Monday we are sending the containers.

And we were talking about like 81 containers. And I'm like, I don't know where to put it. It's going to be in your driveway. Yeah. I was calling real estate brokers in Miami. I'm like, I need a warehouse where I can move in on Monday. Everyone's like, nope, that's impossible. That's not a thing.

So I ended up finding a sub-lease on Sunday. Monday, I was sitting there with a forklift moving or at the containers in. I hired everyone that walked through the door. Whoever, whatever, I said, I don't need to know your name. Just get on and start moving the pellets inside the warehouse. So it was a risky time, but we made it. Had you ever driven a forklift before? Were you, like, on YouTube, like, how to do this?

So I do that a lot. I don't have a logistics background. I used to work in car manufacturing. So the whole logistics was brand new for me. So I did definitely use a lot of YouTube. Have you thought about, like, an exit strategy at all? Yes, we fantasized about doing an IPO maybe in a few years. Obviously, we had a lot of talks with venture capital firms, private equity firms.

I do not want to sell as of today, probably not for a while. I enjoy what I'm doing, so I would like to keep it that way for a little bit. And then, but again, if the right offer comes along, who knows? You had mentioned that you all have done some acquisitions. So how do you all approach that? Our approach is a little different than most. We are looking for fulfillment companies who are not profitable, so ideally losing quite a bit. We analyze it because in most cases, because of our volume, we can cut the shipping cost.

So because we already have the back office, we eliminate some of the administrative staff they have, so we can really quickly turn a company profitable. So that's kind of our focus that they're losing about $100, $150,000 a month due to all these administrative expenses. we come in, and then literally in a month we make it profitable. That's really interesting. It's almost sort of private equity approach. Yes, kind of, yeah. We are leveraging the network we built up for ourselves, and it's been working so far. Well, thank you so much. This has been great.

That's all for this episode of Your Next Move. Our producers are Blake Odom and Avery Miles, editing and sound design by Nick Torres. Executive producer is Josh Christensen. If you haven't already, subscribe. to Your Next Move on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Your Next Move is a production of Inc and Capital One business.