An Idaho Tech Leader

Hearing from the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of a tech company that recently received one of the state’s largest private equity investments ever, warrants some intimidation. But, as Paris Cole introduced himself to the room of accounting and business students at this year’s Accounting Career Vision Symposium, it was evident that Cole is a down-to-earth, fellow Bengal. “I first want to share my background with you,” said Cole, pointing to some basic facts on the screen. “I grew up in Caldwell, Idaho. I don’t have anything unique about my background, nothing extraordinary about my life,” he shrugged. “The reason I show you this first, is because I want you to see that it doesn’t matter where you grew up or where you came from, there’s a lot ahead of you and you make of it what you want.”

Cole graduated from the College of Business with his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting in 2000. Nearly 20 years later, Cole has worked his way up to being the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and, currently, the CEO of Truckstop.com. “We jokingly call ourselves the ‘E-Harmony’ of transportation.” According to Cole, Truckstop. com pioneered the concept of online freight matching. “Basically, we are a subscription based service that matches carriers with freight.” Truckstop.com was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in New Plymouth, Idaho, a small town of just over 1,500 people. “We employ 540 partners,” said Cole referring to his company’s employees as “partners” noting that they work ‘with’ him as opposed to working ‘for’ him.

Over the last 23 years, Truckstop.com has managed to be profitable and grow continuously. “This is something that really distinguishes us from other companies,” said Cole. “We survived the ‘.com bubble,’ we survived the Great Recession and despite this year being tough on transportation, we are still growing.” And, in April of 2019 the majority of the company’s shares were purchased by ICONIQ Capital. “I can’t name too many names, but ICONIQ is an investment firm composed of major figures in technology and other areas. Some of the firm’s board of directors includes Facebook Co-Founders: Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz; CEO of Twitter and Square, Jack Dorsey; co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman; and co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo!, Jerry Yang.”

“When I started at ISU, I had no idea I would be involved with individuals like this,” Cole laughed. “It would have scared me to death.” Cole, in spite of misgivings, has found that the most important thing in his professional growth has been to always remember who he is. “Who we are and what we are is more important than what we do.” Cole admitted that he is an introvert. As a student, the idea of walking up to a stranger at a career fair gave him anxiety. “But, being active and just being there is what got me noticed,” he said. “I didn’t have to be an extrovert.” Cole noted that three of the four companies he has worked for in his career have been positions gained through relationships he has built by simply being present.

Over his career, Cole said he has also found the value of patience. “Good things happen when you don’t push the issue,” he said. “I had a very humbling experience back in 2008. I was working for a commercial real estate company and due to the onset of the recession, the company went bankrupt.” Cole said for the first time in his professional life, he had found himself without a job. “I left the area and was able to find a position working in a role that I had already been promoted from.” But Cole said he realized there would be setbacks in life and he had to go with the flow and just five years later he was working as the CFO at Truckstop.