Meet Thoropass’s new VP of Engineering: An interview with Scott Schlegel

Thoropass welcomes Scott Schlegel to the team as our new VP of Engineering! With over a decade of experience in the tech industry, Scott has worked with various companies, from early-stage startups to established giants like LinkedIn (fun fact: he joined LinkedIn when it was only 30 people strong, and it had grown to over 1200 by the time he left).

Scott brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Thoropass executive team and recently shared his past experiences that helped shape the leader he is today.  

A career built on the foundation of relationships

According to Scott, one of his proudest accomplishments is the quality of relationships he’s built throughout his career. He speaks fondly of past employees and bosses who continue to hire and recommend each other, creating a network that has become larger than he ever expected. 

While he’s had more successful exits and financial gains than he can count on one hand, he values these relationships above all else.

Sometimes, lessons are learned the hard way

Sometimes the hard lessons are the ones we learn the most from. Scott has experienced a variety of work environments. The most challenging had co-founders with vastly different leadership styles who weren’t aligned on the direction they wanted the company to go.

Looking back, Scott wouldn’t have stayed as long as he did. The experience taught him the valuable lesson of being honest about the problems you can (and can’t) solve. 

He has taken this lesson to heart, and it’s embedded in how he approaches the interviewer and interviewee roles. Whether bringing people into a team or joining a new one, the ability of a team to work together and the stability of a leadership team is always top of mind and of the utmost importance.

Scott’s advice for current and aspiring tech leaders 

Scott’s best piece of advice for other leaders in the tech space is to always focus on the people. He believes surrounding yourself with smart, hardworking, and good people is the key to success. 

Instead of focusing solely on productivity for productivity’s sake, he emphasizes the importance of understanding the root causes of problems within an engineering team, as it’s usually a people problem, not a code problem.

Why Thoropass?

When choosing to join Thoropass, Scott was drawn to the compliance space as a whole and the company’s solid financials. He feels strongly that he can connect with the pain and understand the problem Thoropass is solving, having dealt with compliance in previous roles.

He also saw an opportunity to help with scale, which he considers his sweet spot. During the interview, he found that the product, engineering, and leadership teams had specific scale challenges he’s excited to tackle head-on.

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Looking ahead

What excites Scott most about the future of the PDE organization at Thoropass is helping people function at their highest potential. He believes that getting his team to the point where they are happiest with what they’re doing leads to the most success and translates to more significant outcomes for investors. He’s excited to be part of a company where the flywheel is starting to move, and great things are ahead!

Scott’s experience in the tech industry has taught him valuable lessons about the importance of relationships, the dangers of toxic leadership, and the need to focus on the people behind the code. His decision to join Thoropass was motivated by his passion for the compliance space, his excitement about the company’s scale opportunities, and his belief in the potential of the PDE organization to create a positive and successful work environment. 

Welcome Scott; the Thoropass team couldn’t be happier to have you helping guide this rocket ship!

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