Quick Start: Signup to Your First Load

FreightConnect is fully self-serve — no sales call, no demo booking, no waiting. This guide takes you from signup to your first load in about 10 minutes.

The Flow at a Glance

Sign up → verify → explore your dashboard → post a load or find loads. That's the whole onboarding. Everything below is detail.

1. Sign Up (2 minutes)

1. Go to freightconnect.ai/signup
2. Enter your company name, your name, email, and a password
3. Click Create Account — you're taken straight to your dashboard

It's free to start for every role:

• Carriers & carrier-brokers: free — the platform takes a 15% cut of brokered commissions (you keep 85%)
• Shippers: free — you fund escrow per load, no subscription ever
• Brokerages that want the full SaaS toolkit: subscriptions start at $79/month (see Plans & Pricing)

2. Verify (2 minutes)

Confirm your email, then complete verification for your role:

• Carriers: enter your DOT or MC number — FreightConnect pulls your FMCSA record, safety rating, and insurance status automatically and creates your timestamped vetting record
• Carrier-brokers: register your brokerage authority (MC number, surety bond ≥ $75,000, BOC-3) — approval is instant when FMCSA checks pass. See Carrier-Broker Program
• Shippers: complete your shipper profile — company details and payment method for escrow
• Brokers: fill in your brokerage profile (company name, MC number, insurance)

3. Explore Your Dashboard (2 minutes)

FreightConnect has four dashboards, and you land on the one that matches your role:

| Dashboard | Who | What you'll see | |-----------|-----|----------------| | Broker | Freight brokerages | Loads, carriers, margins, KYC status | | Carrier | Carriers & owner-ops | Load board, booked loads, payouts, fuel | | Shipper | Shippers | Your postings, escrow, tracking, documents | | Carrier-Broker | Carriers with brokerage authority | Brokered loads, bids, commissions, lanes |

Poke around — the sidebar also gives you Rates, Lanes, Insurance, Fuel, Commissions, and Analytics depending on your role.

4a. Post a Load (shippers & brokers)

1. Click Post Load (shippers) or + New Load (brokers)
2. Fill in origin, destination, pickup date, equipment type, weight, and your rate
3. Post it — the load goes live on the unified board with featured Direct placement
4. Review bids from FMCSA-verified carriers and accept the best one
5. Fund escrow — money is held, not charged, and releases when the POD clears

4b. Find Loads (carriers & carrier-brokers)

1. Open the Loadboard — one feed merging FreightConnect Direct, DAT, and Truckstop
2. Filter by lane, date, equipment, and rate
3. Bid on Direct loads (escrow-backed — payment is secured before you roll)
4. Get paid when the POD clears — no net-30, no factoring fees

What Happens Next

• Confirmation: carrier receives the rate confirmation; shipper gets a tracking link
• Tracking: milestone status updates through delivery on your dashboard
• Documents: BOL/POD uploads are AI-extracted and attached to the load
• Payment: escrow releases to the carrier on POD; commissions accrue automatically for carrier-brokers

Pro Tips

• Email-to-Load: forward shipper emails to your intake address — AI parses them into structured loads automatically
• Carrier vetting is automatic: every counterparty is FMCSA-verified with OFAC screening and a timestamped vetting record (your Montgomery v. Caribe compliance shield)
• Watch your lanes: run the same lane 3+ times and Lane Intelligence will flag it for a dedicated contract with better economics
• Fuel + wallet: carriers can apply for the fuel card and put escrow payouts straight toward diesel

Next, read Carrier Management to understand how the vetting system works, or jump to the Shipper Portal / Unified Load Board guides for your role.