In the Now

Devon and Jonathan discuss the concept of the "sixth man" and how it relates to helping customers. The term is a reference to NBA basketball teams, where the sixth man is a reliable player who comes off the bench to provide support when needed. SteelNow aims to be a reliable support for customers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, by assisting with purchasing tasks, providing material quickly, and handling logistics efficiently. They emphasize saving customers time and being an extension of their team.

In this success story, Devon and Jonathan share how SteelNow supported a university student buying metal for the first time. It's a great model for how easy SteelNow is for first-time metal buyers. 

This is the story about the time a customer "took a flyer" on us when her typical supplier couldn't fulfill an order. Devon and Jonathan walk us through the experience and the outcome.

Tony, Alicia, and Garrian tell us what makes the new website so unique and powerful for the metal buyer.

Hi everyone, I'm Garrian with this month's Market Minute from SteelNow. Steel prices are riding a roller coaster. Last September they were $1,900/ton. This year? $790/ton. But some say we are nearing a bottom. And here's why:•             Many steel mills announced price increases in August to help stabilize the market•             The price gap between foreign and domestic steel is closing, making imports less appealing In the week ending on September 10, about 1.7 million tons of steel was produced. That's down from about 1.8 million tons at this last year. Part of that dip comes from utilization rates being under 80% for the first time in a year. According to the Dallas Fed, manufacturing, service, and retail activity all trending downward across the state in August.They point to supply chain issues, rising prices, and labor challenges. And expectations for future manufacturing activity are mixed.Here's something fun:More than 180 million barrels of beer were produced 2021. That's about 1 million trucks moving beer from production facilities to distributors. And the Texas DOT is planning $85 billion in roadway construction projects as part of the 2023 Unified Transportation Program.So that could mean smoother roads ahead! And perhaps some work coming your way! … and that's your September Market Minute! Check out steelnow.com for more. 

How have the past two years affected buying habits and what does that mean for 2022 and beyond? In the latest episode of the In the Now podcast, Tony and Jonathan are joined by special guests Jason and Mike for a discussion on the future of buying metal and more.  Drawing from insights in this report from McKinsey & Company, our expert roundtable considers consumer trends from brand loyalty and social media advertising to the importance of ecommerce platforms at a time when buyers increasingly value convenience. 

In this episode, the guys chat about the changing role of content in helping small-to-medium sized businesses earn and keep the trust of their customers. We also get an inside look at the various ways SteelNow is leveraging content (including this podcast) to keep customers informed, engaged, and excited.

Start-up and steel. Typically, those two words don't go together. But Bradlay Pryde isn't your typical entrepreneur. He sits down with the guys to talk about the early days when he founded SteelNow and what comes next. Brad is the founder of SteelNow, and current co-founder of OneThree Biotech. OneThree is redesigning drug discovery with biology driven AI. Onethree has created one of the only AI platforms with multiple clinically validated predictions and the most diverse, fully integrated database. Its technology has created higher clinical success rates for our partners and an internal oncology pipeline.https://onethree.bio/

The job-shortage situation may have a solution: the trades! In this episode, we discuss a Business Insider article that talks about job satisfaction, pay, and recruiting efforts in the trades. Trade work is among the most important work when it comes to creating our society. The guys talk about some of the "trade work" they've done in the past and why they appreciate these jobs more than ever. Check out the article here: https://www.businessinsider.com/labor-shortage-skilled-trades-carpenters-electricians-plumbers-angi-2021-9

Legitimacy and trust in e-commerce. Decades ago, this was a major concern for consumers when they were asked to trust sites like eBay, and eventually Amazon, that what they were selling was real. Today, that legitimacy is almost baked into the e-commerce experience for consumers. But how about for businesses? Are the questions of trust and legitimacy still very real when it comes to buying online for businesses?Take a trip back to circa 1998 with the guys as they reminisce about their initial experiences with purchasing online. Then fast-forward to today and listen how those experiences helped shape the ways they are building a new experience for helping traditional industries purchase online. 

Many countries are calling for the full use of electric vehicles by 2030. Is that doable? And what are the ramifications of putting that much additional demand on current electric grids, many of which continue to struggle to keep up with current demand? Could graphene be a material option to address mass production needs?

We are joined by Tim Yarbrough, a director and advisor for Frayt, a shipping start-up that takes a unique approach to connecting drivers and shippers. We talk about the shipping industry and what it takes to make a great company in the modern age. Check them out at frayt.com

In this episode, we explore the 'urban exodus' where Americans are leaving major metro areas and headed to more rural areas of the country. In addition, billionaire entrepreneurs are trekking into space from rural launch zones. Whereas traditional NASA-led missions to space would occur in Cape Canaveral, these personally led missions are instead launching from areas in rural Texas and New Mexico.  Naturally this all has a ripple effect on local economies, from residential to commercial. Tony and Jonathan ponder what it could mean for the future of supply chains given the fact that major manufacturing hubs are typically located near major cities.Check out the Bloomberg article that the guys cite in this episode here. 

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the steel industry hard as manufacturing demand slowed and capacity rates at steel mills ramped down tremendously. But as demand picked back up, the available steel wasn't there. Could this situation have been avoided with the use of Big Data? We talk to a data scientist working in the steel industry today to get his thoughts on this, as well as a predictive model for freight.

What does it mean to be introduce a disruptive model to a traditional industry? In our premiere episode, we explore what it means to be disruptive, how current industries are being disrupted, and make the case for SteelNow as a disrupter to the traditional industry of metal distribution.