More Than Technology: The Stories Behind 10 Years of GLCS
When people ask about the last 10 years of GLCS, they usually expect us to talk about technology.
The integrations.
The implementations.
The software upgrades.
The projects.
And yes, there have been plenty of those.
But when we asked members of the GLCS team to share their favorite memories and lessons from the last decade, something interesting happened.
Very few of the stories were actually about technology.
They were about people.
They were about relationships, showing up when customers needed help, and the moments that helped define who we are as a company today.
It Started With a Commitment
GLCS founder Nate Johnson often describes the beginning of the company in simple terms:
"When I started GLCS ten years ago, I had one customer, one commitment, and no real certainty about where any of it was headed."
There was no elaborate business plan or guarantee of success.
Just a belief that if you treated people the right way, cared about their businesses as much as they did, and consistently delivered value, good things would happen.
That philosophy still guides GLCS today.
As we reviewed the stories shared by team members across the company, it became clear that while the projects and technology have changed over the years, the values behind the work have not.
The Work Matters. The Relationships Matter More.
Over and over again, our team came back to the same idea: the projects may bring us together, but the relationships are what last.
When Carl Williams thinks about his favorite GLCS memories, he doesn't immediately think about project plans or deliverables.
He remembers traveling across multiple states with Ed Streeter, navigating airports, highways, hotels, and customer locations while somehow laughing enough along the way that those stories are still being told years later. He also remembers turning a family vacation into a working road trip to finish customer assessments because the customer needed the work completed.
Susan Mayo shared a story that perfectly reflects who we are as a company.
While helping a prospective customer evaluate technology options, she encouraged them to review a competing solution.
Why?
Because finding the right answer for the customer mattered more than making a sale.
The customer ultimately chose GLCS, but what Susan remembers most is that the relationship started with honesty and trust.
As Nate Johnson put it:
"Our growth has never been driven primarily by a clever marketing campaign or a polished sales pitch. It has come from knowing people, taking care of them, doing what we said we would do, and earning the right to be invited into the next opportunity."
Showing Up When It Matters
If there's one phrase that describes many of the stories our team shared, it's this:
Show up.
Kristi Habovstak remembers responding to a ransomware attack over Fourth of July weekend. A small team spent the holiday rebuilding an entire customer environment from the ground up so the customer could be operational again by Monday morning.
Zach Barnhouse talked about the moments when systems are down, operations are stalled, and people can't do their jobs.
"Everyone just locks in, works out the problem, and finds a way through it."
Nate shared stories of customers facing major outages, acquisitions, and business-critical technology challenges.
The details vary, but the response is always the same.
Find the right people.
Solve the problem.
Help the customer move forward.
Whether it was a holiday weekend, a late-night call, or a project with seemingly impossible deadlines, the response was remarkably consistent.
Building Something Special
Not every memory involved a crisis.
Some of the most frequently mentioned stories were about the team itself.
Mike Solarz talked about joining GLCS and immediately feeling like the team was more family than coworkers. He has watched the Channel product grow from roughly a dozen customers to more than 100 while building lasting relationships along the way.
David Gudat joined GLCS in 2019 to help build the software development and integration side of the business. What stood out to him wasn't just the vision for growth—it was the team's willingness to embrace challenges, support one another, and genuinely care about customer success. Those qualities, he noted, have remained constant through years of growth, industry change, and new opportunities.
Ed Streeter remembered one of the company's early Minnesota gatherings when the team was still small, everyone wore multiple hats, and the excitement about what GLCS could become was starting to build.
"There was a lot of food, boating, laughs, and yes… probably a little too much drinking mixed in there as well."
Nate's favorite story might be the most telling of all.
A customer outing at an escape room somehow resulted in the team solving the room completely out of order and still setting a record time.
"It should not have worked."
Yet somehow it did.
Looking back, that story feels a lot like GLCS itself—a group of people with different backgrounds, experiences, and strengths working together, figuring things out, and finding a way forward.
Why We Do What We Do
Perhaps the most meaningful story came from a customer project Eric Crouse worked on earlier this year.
After helping customize a system for a customer, one of the most skeptical users looked at the result and said:
"I had no idea it could do this. This is amazing."
It's a simple moment.
But it reflects something that many of us feel.
Technology isn't the goal.
Helping people do their jobs better is.
As Zach Barnhouse put it:
"When things are going sideways for a customer, we're the ones helping get them back on track. It's not just fixing tech—it actually matters to their businesses and their livelihoods."
What 10 Years Have Taught Us
If the last 10 years have taught us anything, it's this:
Relationships matter more than transactions.
Technology works best when people and processes support it.
Small details can have a big impact.
The right answer isn't always the easiest answer.
Great teams solve difficult problems together.
Showing up matters.
Most importantly, we've learned that technology is never really about technology.
It's about helping trucking and logistics companies keep their businesses moving.
Looking Ahead
Ten years ago, GLCS started with one customer and a commitment.
Today, we're fortunate to work alongside hundreds of transportation and logistics professionals across North America, supported by a team of talented people who genuinely care about one another and the customers they serve.
The technology will continue to change.
The industry will continue to evolve.
But the values that built GLCS remain the same.
The stories may be different, but they all point to the same thing:
GLCS has never been built solely on technology. It's been built on people.
Thank you to our customers, partners, families, and team members who have been part of the first 10 years.
We're excited to see where the next 10 take us.