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StreetFight Podcast Highlights: 13 Things You Didn't Know About Simpli.fi CEO Frost Prioleau

If you’ve been on our site and blog, I’m sure you know a few things about Simpli.fi and what we do. But how much do you know about our CEO, Frost Prioleau? Frost revealed some little-known facts about himself ‚Äì and about Simpli.fi — during a recent interview with Mike Boland of StreetFight’s Heard on the Street podcast series. We thought we’d highlight some of the more interesting tidbits that came out of his chat with Mike.

  1. Engineering degree: Frost Prioleau went to Princeton, where he received his degree in Engineering Management Systems. According to Frost, this was really industrial engineering, involving a lot of math statistics and technical thinking, which fuels logical and data-driving decision-making. Sounds like a pretty solid background for the work he does today, right?
  2. Executive cross-training: In addition to his studies in engineering, Frost has worked in sales. The combination of training in both engineering and customer interaction worked well for him as an entrepreneur. As he puts it, as an entrepreneur, you’re constantly selling: to investors, potential employees and prospective customers. (His stint in a comedic theatre group at Princeton probably came in handy here as well!)
  3. Advice to entrepreneurs/startups: Frost believes an entrepreneur’s task is much less challenging if the company is in an industry with which you’re already familiar. He and co-founder Paul Harrison had a much easier path since they both worked in digital before starting Simpli.fi. It’s amazing to think that the founders of Airbnb had no background in hospitality, or that Jeff Bezos knew nothing about book sales. “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
  4. More advice to entrepreneurs: The most important question entrepreneurs need to answer is how do you find repeat customers? When you first start a technology company, you may attract some early adopters. It’s important to figure out the problem you’re solving for them and use that information to determine how you can attract repeat customers. From there, figure out how to shorten the time to win those customers and get them as quickly as possible.
  5. Two pieces of advice on funding: 1) Get great advice from a lawyer who knows about funding, and 2) Know your investors and their reputation. You should know who is going to be on your board; you’ll have to work with them, and they can either improve the outcome of your company or screw it up. Simpli.fi has had wonderful investors that have been a pleasure to work with and work for.
  6. Some thoughts on culture: We had some strong early hires who helped shape our culture. What it comes down to for us is that we have to have a good place to work, where people like to come to work, and where they don’t feel like they’ll have to relive mistakes for months. We need to focus on solutions, not blame. Our motto is work hard and be nice.
  7. On being a startup in Dallas/Fort Worth: While it’s not Silicon Valley, our city is not only friendly, but also business friendly with a more relaxed pace. It’s more balanced, without the go-go-go — and without the competition for talent — of the bigger tech hubs.
  8. If Frost Prioleau wasn’t a CEO, he would be: …a high school principal. Frost believes education is “super important” and that it would be personally rewarding.
  9. Tech Toys: His favorite tech product right now is his Garmin Fenix® 5X, which includes GPS and tracks every activity from running to skiing. “I’m having fun with it.” It’s a big step for a guy who wore Casio watches.
  10. If Frost could have a drink and a chat with anyone: It would be John Wanamaker. He’d be interested in knowing if Wanamaker would update that quote about how “half the money” he spent on advertising was wasted — given that we now have data and analytics!
  11. Super Powers: If our CEO could choose a super power, it would be… Flying! “Birds can cross borders and get from Point A to Point B pretty fast.”
  12. Hobbies: He enjoys the very un-Texan hobbies of surfing and skiing.
  13. Personal goals for this year: Frost says he reads a lot, but not enough books. This year, he’d like to change that and read more books. While he’s often told he doesn’t watch enough TV, that’s not a benchmark he’s trying to beat in 2018. He’d also like to be more strategic with his time off, using it in a “more satisfying way.”

 
Interested in listing to the full podcast? Check it out here!

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