Start with the carrier's lane

LaneFoundry begins with the carrier's equipment, home base, empty market, desired return market, available capacity, maximum pickup deadhead, freight preferences, operating constraints, and optional historical lane data. Carrier capacity describes what the carrier can cover; it is never treated as proof of shipper demand.

The evidence ladder

Each higher level requires stronger support. Most public research can establish fit and recurring-freight signals, but exact domestic lanes and frequency often remain unknown until the shipper confirms them.

  1. 0
    Company exists

    Identity or operating presence is established.

  2. 1
    Plausible shipper

    The company may generate relevant freight.

  3. 2
    Clearly generates truck freight

    Public evidence supports truck freight activity.

  4. 3
    Likely equipment match

    Commodity and handling evidence supports the trailer type.

  5. 4
    Geographic or distribution match

    Facilities or network evidence supports the market fit.

  6. 5
    Recurring freight evidence

    Evidence supports repeat activity, without inventing frequency.

  7. 6
    Exact lane and frequency confirmed

    Direct evidence confirms the specific movement and cadence.

Evidence grades

AConfirmed / direct
BStrong inference
CModerate / partial
DWeak / unknown

Five evidence states

  • Evidence found: a supplied source directly supports the statement.
  • Evidence not found: the research did not locate support; this is not proof of the opposite.
  • Negative evidence: a supplied source supports a reason for caution or rejection.
  • Inference: a conclusion drawn from supplied evidence and clearly labeled as such.
  • Unknown: the available evidence cannot responsibly resolve the question.

Deterministic scoring

The opportunity score is calculated from defined dimensions: freight activity, equipment fit, outside-carrier evidence, geographic fit, account winnability, timing trigger, and buyer accessibility. A score of zero means the dimension lacks supported positive points; it is not proof of the opposite.

The score ranks which accounts deserve attention. It does not prove a current load, exact volume, lane frequency, carrier opening, rate, or contract.

Model-assisted qualification

After scoring, a model may organize the supplied evidence into freight-fit, equipment-fit, geographic-fit, outside-carrier, winnability, buyer-path, risk, gap, unknown, next-action, routing-question, and outreach-angle fields. This interpretation may explain the score but may not invent or alter it.

Each company is evaluated independently from the evidence supplied for that company. Existing outreach copy is not evidence, and hidden chain-of-thought is not stored.

Buyer resolution is a ladder

  1. 0
    No usable contact path
  2. 1
    Generic corporate contact
  3. 2
    Correct facility or main number + routing question
  4. 3
    Transportation department confirmed
  5. 4
    Named likely router
  6. 5
    Named verified transportation buyer

A valid outcome may be the right facility, phone number, department, routing question, and likely buyer path. LaneFoundry does not pretend every shipper has a publicly identifiable transportation buyer.

What every opportunity still requires

Opportunity assessments reflect available evidence and inference. Freight availability and lane frequency must be confirmed directly with the shipper.

LaneFoundry is not a freight broker

LaneFoundry is software that provides research, lead-generation, and business-development tools for motor carriers. LaneFoundry does not act as a freight broker, motor carrier, freight forwarder, dispatch service, transportation intermediary, or shipper.

LaneFoundry does not arrange transportation, tender freight, assign or allocate loads among unrelated carriers, negotiate transportation rates or services on behalf of shippers or carriers, accept freight from shippers for redistribution, or collect freight payments on behalf of carriers.

Any transportation relationship resulting from use of LaneFoundry is entered into directly between the carrier and the relevant shipper, broker, customer, or other transportation party.