Episode 44: How to Build an Iconic Employer Brand
Featuring: STACY GRIGGS, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF EL TORO
Co-hosted by Endeavor Louisville
This week we’re excited to be sharing an amazing interview with our Endeavor Louisville office — Managing Director, Jackson Andrews sits down with Stacy Griggs, President and CEO of El Toro to discuss how he has scaled his team through strategic employee development and training programs, ultimately building an iconic employer brand for the region.
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EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
(03.06) Jackson asks, “How do you manage to develop such a robust tech team as you scale?”
(03.13) Stacy says, “It is easier to boost up a company in a place like Louisville, Kentucky than in a place like San Francisco or New York, where real estate costs you twice as much.” “There are advantages of being in Louisville for our employees and us to scale a business. Places like Louisville have long been exporters of talents.”
(04.58) Jackson asks, “One of the interesting things that you did in terms of retaining the talent in the market is the partnership with the University of Louisville, which did not have a particular subject matter being taught, so how did you resolve that?”
(05.15) Stacy says, “Louisville is a great partner for us. As they launched master of science in business and analytics, we were really excited. We started hiring some graduates out of there.” “ We talked with the department to develop the program by teaching Power BI. However, they didn’t have anyone in the staff that knew Power BI that felt comfortable teaching it. So, we have 2 of our people become adjunct faculties.”
(10.40) Jackson asks, “El Toro is one of the coolest places to work in the region. How did you intentionally and unintentionally build that culture?”
(12.00) Stacy answers, “We literally don't have offices, including me. We really want to have a scenario where everybody is approachable and open. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others. We want people to go far.”
(14.50) Jackson asks, “ You are not just building a company culture. You are also building a regional and city wide culture. Talk to us about that development.”
(15.00) Stacy says, “One of the things missing in Louisville and a lot of places outside of cost is density. How often do you run into a software developer or an executive of a software company? The more of those collisions you have, the more opportunities you have to collaborate and work together. Therefore, we got a much bigger building that we needed. We share the building with other companies.”
(26.34) Jackson asks, “What’s some of the best business advice you’ve ever received?”
(26.38) Stacy says, “Don't give up! It is so easy to quit. If you know you are right, you will have lots of opportunities to fail, give up and you should. If you know you are right, stick with it and be right!”
ABOUT STACY GRIGGS
Prior to joining El Toro, Stacy was President and CEO for Align Cloud, a cloud consulting company. Previously, Mr. Griggs was an executive for Cbeyond, a publicly traded cloud communications company. He joined Cbeyond in 2010 as part of the acquisition of MaximumASP where he was Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Prior to MaximumASP, Stacy held a series of positions at Hosting.com, including Chief Sales Officer, Chief Service Officer and General Manager for their flagship Delaware data center.