For Silicon Valley vets such as Finnegan Faldi, Denver must feel a bit like the Wild West; a pioneer town, poised for growth. Coming to Denver has its own unique brand of culture shock that can only be truly observed by an outsider looking in. This is a town in transition, and people like Faldi and companies like Trueffect are the ones driving the change.
Faldi first escaped out west after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in finance. After working at a small firm in LA for some time, he never again yearned for the East Coast lifestyle he left behind. In a house blocks away from the beach, he had not a shade of envy for his peers in New York.
After his stint in LA, Faldi moved up to San Francisco for what was originally supposed to be a six-month stay. Everything changed when he was asked to write up a business plan for a tech startup. Since then he has found major success in the tech industry, working at Yahoo! and as the COO of Datalogix before bringing his talents to be the CEO of Trueffect.
The Denver startup world has its own unique challenges that the Bay area does not necessarily face, such as the need to increase the number of engineers graduating from local universities while also attracting talent from other markets to help Colorado grow in diversity.
But change is happening quickly, Faldi said. The prominence of shared workspaces such as Galvanize provide the kindling for the future tech community: “These are all first steps,” Faldi said. “When you create density, you create interaction.”
With this interaction comes opportunity. Faldi found opportunity out here in the form of Trueffect, a company he joined 15 months ago and his transformation in the culture of that company has been nothing short of profound.
Trueffect has experienced tremendous growth over the past year, adding more employees than in all previous years combined. Trueffect is a geeked-out first-party targeting and performance media measurement platform. Essentially, they help clients advertise more effectively online with a variety of tools to help companies to activate their own data and privatize its use to target potential customers while increasing ROI.
The company has built a platform to provide marketers the next generation of targeted and personalized marketing without being dependent on third party data and third party cookies.
The recent list of clients on Trueffect’s invoicing is a “who’s who” of the most forward-thinking digital marketers out there as a result of it.
“I challenge any company in the data, analytics and measurements space that says they’re growing faster than us; I don’t think there is,” Faldi said.
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Trueffect team pitches in for Adopt-a-Street Program
Building this kind of success doesn’t happen overnight, and comes only with careful and deliberate moves to hire in talent who can contribute to the successful culture of the company. To do this, Faldi sought out people he knew personally, Type A personalities with a winning track record to fill out his management team - a simple, yet proven, formula for success: “We put really smart, competitive people in the right positions.”
At the same time, Faldi works hard to make ensure that everybody is appreciated as a part of the culture of the leadership team. Trueffect boasts a very open atmosphere, as a “peer-to-peer organization.”
As Faldi looks towards the future with Trueffect, he said he is reminded about the most interesting aspect of working in technology: “Nobody gets it right. Because there’s always disruption.”
The most important part for Faldi, as it pertains to Trueffect? “You have to believe in the disruption you’re doing. I truly believe the bet we’re making is the right one and we’ve got incredible growth to show for it.”
Faldi may very be a part of the change he wishes to see in Colorado. In taking Trueffect to new heights, he is contributing to the Colorado tech community by giving the engineering talent that has proven somewhat elusive thus far a reason to move out to the Rockies or migrate to a market leader
At the end of the day, Faldi sums it up nicely: “Everything has to do with output. Find your own culture.”
