Form Mobility’s Collaborative Approach: Why They’re Partnering with Competitors

When creating entirely new markets, sometimes your biggest competitors can become your most valuable allies. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Form Mobility founder Matt LeDucq revealed why his company is actively collaborating with competitors to build the zero-emission trucking category.

The Case for Collaboration

In regulated markets, companies often face shared challenges that are bigger than any single competitor. “We spend a lot more time figuring out how we can get things done together, whether it’s in DC or Sacramento or elsewhere, than we do working apart,” Matt explains, highlighting their pragmatic approach to industry relationships.

This collaboration isn’t just idealistic – it’s driven by market reality. As Matt notes, “In drayage alone, I mean just drayage alone in the next ten years, there’s $25 billion of capital that has to get spent in there as part of this energy transition.”

Building Trust Across Competitors

Form Mobility’s approach to competitor relationships is refreshingly straightforward. “I know the CEO’s of our competitors fairly well. They’re good people, they know what they’re doing,” Matt shares. “And so for me it’s like pick up the phone and I call them.”

This personal connection facilitates joint action on shared challenges. “In a policy driven world like we live in, it’s a lot easier to get together,” Matt explains. The collaboration often focuses on policy advocacy: “Can you sign on to this letter with me? And by the way, can you come to Sacramento? And we need to push this with the speaker or the head of ARB or whatever it is.”

Balancing Competition and Cooperation

While Form Mobility actively collaborates with competitors on industry-wide issues, they maintain a healthy competitive spirit. “Certainly there’s some competitive juices with anything, right? I mean, you can’t help but to have that,” Matt acknowledges.

The key is identifying where cooperation serves everyone’s interests. As Matt puts it, “Definitely competitive nature. I don’t ever want to lose. I don’t ever want to see anybody get in front of the port market first. But there’s a lot of blue sky out there for us to all get after.”

Framework for Industry Collaboration

Form Mobility’s experience offers several key insights for founders building new categories:

1. Focus on Shared Challenges: Policy and infrastructure issues often affect all players equally, making them natural areas for collaboration.
2. Build Personal Relationships: Knowing competitor CEOs personally facilitates easier collaboration when needed.
3. Maintain Clear Boundaries: They compete aggressively on business while cooperating on industry issues.

Their approach is particularly relevant in regulated markets where policy engagement is crucial. As Matt notes, “States like California do not backtrack on things like renewables and zero emission. They double down on them.” This creates opportunities for competitors to work together in shaping favorable policy environments.

For founders building new categories, Form Mobility’s collaborative approach offers a powerful lesson: sometimes the fastest way to grow your market isn’t by fighting competitors, but by working with them to solve shared challenges. As Matt puts it, there’s enough opportunity that companies can be “working together a lot more than we work against each other.”