Dan Lewis, co-founder and former CEO of Convoy, is launching a stealth AI startup after leaving Microsoft. (GeekWire File Photo)
Dan Lewis, co-founder and former CEO of the online freight marketplace Convoy, has left Microsoft to start a new company focused on one of the most expensive problems in artificial intelligence: the cost of running AI models.
The stealth startup is building “the supply chain for intelligence,” a computing platform designed to run AI models more efficiently, according to a recent update to Lewis’ LinkedIn profile. He acknowledged the new venture this week in response to a message from GeekWire but said it was too early to share details.
It’s a new chapter for an entrepreneur who led Seattle-based Convoy from startup to nearly $4 billion in value before it shut down in 2023 amid a prolonged freight recession that battered the trucking industry. Flexport acquired Convoy’s technology, and Lewis joined as a technical advisor.
Lewis went to Microsoft in February 2025 as a chief product officer focused on enterprise AI, later rising to corporate vice president, according to his LinkedIn profile. He left this spring to launch the new venture, which his profile says he co-founded in May.
In his LinkedIn description, Lewis elaborated on the “supply chain for intelligence” concept, saying the startup is building a platform that spans data centers, networking, computer chips, and the software that routes AI requests in real time. The focus is inference — running AI models versus training them — to improve speed and response time for heavy workloads.
“Our mission is to be the best stewards of power to make AI efficient, abundant, and affordable for this next era,” the description concludes.
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It’s the latest chapter in a career that has blended AI, logistics, and efficiency. Lewis studied cognitive science at Yale, then was an executive at Wavii, a Seattle machine-learning startup that Google acquired in 2013, and later built AI-driven product personalization at Amazon.
At Convoy, he and his colleagues built a digital marketplace that used machine learning to match truckers with shippers, set pricing, and fill empty trucks that would otherwise drive back without a load. A big part of the goal, as the company saw it, was reducing the waste and carbon emissions of trucks running empty — “deadhead” miles, as they’re known.
At Microsoft, he worked on enterprise AI, helping companies build and run AI agents and workflows, and started an internal program called Camp AIR to accelerate AI-first teams.
For now, details such as the name of the new startup and funding haven’t been confirmed. Lewis lists himself as CEO and co-founder, indicating that he’s not leading the company alone. Stay tuned for more on this one in the months ahead.
