The Midwest Startup Taking on Billion-Dollar FMCs with Donuts and AI

On this episode of the Iowa Tech podcast, host Kaylee Williams welcomes Proaction CEO and co-founder Drake Bauer to unpack the startup’s rebrand (formerly Flete) and its mission to modernize fleet management. Drake shares how Proaction streamlines asset operations - inspections, maintenance, compliance, and reporting - into a single pane of glass, replacing a tangle of spreadsheets, sticky notes, and legacy tools. He credits early traction to obsessive customer service and “doing things that don’t scale,” from overnight fixes to mapping clients’ workflows on-site. The team’s Midwestern roots and hands-on approach underpin an October roadshow in a black Sprinter van across Middle America to shake hands, share donuts, and turn relationships into long-term partnerships.

Drake also zooms out on industry dynamics: companies are increasingly bringing fleet management in-house, opening space for platforms like Proaction to compete with traditional FMCs by delivering modern, integrated, AI-powered software at a fraction of the cost. He spotlights AI use cases already live - auto-processing any fleet paperwork via a document center and instant answers to KPI queries - and explains why Proaction hired a Director of Innovation early to keep them on the cutting edge. The conversation wraps with rapid-fire personal notes, from a newfound olive-oil-and-espresso morning ritual to a love of timeless books and Christopher Nolan films.

Find this show on your favorite app: https://iowapodcast.com/drake-bauer