10 Things You Didn’t Know about Roger Dudler
The CEO/CTO of Frontify, Roger Dudler, has been in the industry as a designer and developer throughout the majority of his professional career. Frequently, he has been tweeting through his Twitter account about certain projects of interest, business, and investment to a following of more than 3,000 followers from his St. Gallen, Switzerland location. Here’s everything you need to know about the CEO of this company.
1. Five Wishes of Roger Dudler
Before becoming a world-famous investor that has made far more than a few simple dollars since starting on his own in 2013 as a builder of investments, Dudler admits there were five key elements he wishes he applied when he first got started. Those five are as follows:
- Reinvent yourself every six months – as this is key to personal and professional growth
- Don’t be a people-pleaser as you can’t always please everybody all the time. In the end, you have to learn to please yourself.
- Once successful, don’t become a victim of your own success. Keep growing and keep moving forward.
- Sooner or later you will become a manager. There are ways to not end up that way, but there are expectations.
- When you need to raise money in the beginning, don’t stop.
2. System Engineer
Before Fortify fame, a much younger Roger Dudler took advantage of his native Switzerland’s apprenticeship program, originally enrolling for classes that would lead him into the career path as a systems engineer. It was his original intent to simply build products that solved complex issues but realized after a few job trials that his passion fell more on the intersecting world of computers and creativity.
3. Rough Start
When Roger Dudler first started Frontify in 2013, the ability to recruit needed customers proved to be more difficult than he had anticipated. With no academic experience at a university level, he felt he lacked the necessary skills to become a successful business owner. While on his own, there was nobody he felt he could turn to for needed feedback, making micro-decisions, and other basic startup concerns. Dudler admits it felt like a rollercoaster ride of uncertainty.
4. Brand Software Breakthrough
With his team at the time, the development of their first brand software was the big shift that would make Dudler’s perseverance and resourcefulness pay off. While his company already had high-value clients, Dudler knew he and his team could do more. When the development of their first brand software put them in a prime position to take full advantage of new opportunities they hadn’t considered before, it was only a matter of time (and planning) at this point to take the next big step. This would ultimately lead Dudley into a position to officially put Frontify on the worldwide map with its brand management platform that has helped thousands of businesses achieve their own goals.
5. Lessons About Promotions
Through trial and error, Dudler admitted putting the “best horses” to manage a team is not recommended. Instead, allow such caliber to grow in fields of expertise they do best. This makes for better teamwork overall, which results in better productivity. What also worked was placing certain ads that stuck out to recruit new talent that possess the unique quality to read between the lines. The ad Dudler’s company placed was suggesting they provide the lowest salaries in their industry.
6. Doodle
Myke Naef, the founder of the company known as Doodle, took Roger Dudler under his wing, as well as served as an angel towards Frontify. Naef’s brand of mentoring Dudler came with asking pressing questions that would force Dudler to shape a better identity of who he is and where his priorities are, plus where they need to be. Dudler also credits Naef teaching him more about SaaS. Since then, Dudler has made a point to pay it forward by now serving as a mentor for those who also share his passion for personal and professional growth.
7. Teaching History
For a year, Roger Dudler taught promising developers while in a school format. However, Dudler admits the technique currently used in schools today is outdated. He comments there’s strong entrepreneurial energy within his Swiss Nation that needs more attention to develop than they’re receiving. While no longer officially teaching in classrooms, Dudler has taken his drive to help wannabe entrepreneurs achieve the same heights of success for themselves as he has so far done for himself.
8. Eclipse Foundation
While with Eclipse Foundation, Roger Dudler designed templates and other software programs. While no longer officially with this company as an employee, the influence of Dudler can still be felt there with the various templates and other programs he has designed while there, as well as a continued partnership through his own company, Frontify.
9. Merkle DACH
From 2011 until 2013, Roger Dudler worked as a software engineer for the company known as Merkle DACH out of Zurich, Switzerland. After two years, he leaves the company to start his own, taking the knowledge and experience with him in hopes to do more than just build software programs.
10. Frontify
Managing to shape it up from its shaky start in 2013, Roger Dudler has assumed several roles with the company, one of which he is partly credited for being a founder. From nothing to millions, Frontify managed to become the premier branding software platform among a growing number of businesses that turn to Dudler and his team to solve even the most complex of their company’s needs. This includes covering concerns such as brand guidelines, brand platform examples, creative collaboration, digital and print templates, development programming, digital asset management, and integrations and ecosystems. Between branding teams, developer teams, and marketing teams, there is far more to Frontify than meets the eye. Such companies they’ve assisted to achieve their own brand of greatness include; BAC Credomatic, Belgian Movile, Big Duck, Bionic, BVB, e-on, Lufthansa, MAN, Nationwide Building Society, Ocha, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), Sennheiser, Seven-One Entertainment Group, Takeaway, Telia, Ticino, Trainline, Vodafone, Works Progress Design, and Zumbtobel Group. Their testimonials can be found on Frontify’s own Brand Stories web page.