The C-suite regimen: Daily habits of highly productive Austin CEOs

by Colin Morris
May 16, 2016

When you meet someone running a company — especially a profitable one — you’re bound to find a person routed in consistency and drive. The routines that make a successful CEO vary by person, but their uncanny ability to “do it all” is fueled by certain habits that shape strong leaders.

If you’re looking to channel the productivity and efficiency of successful CEOs, we’ve got you covered. We caught up with five of Austin tech’s CEOs to find out the daily habits that got them there. Here’s what we found.

 

Adam Lyons, CEO at

Lyons was just named a finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Central Texas, the youngest among more than 20 honorees. Additionally, The Zebra is hot off winning a spot on the Austin Chamber’s A-list of hottest startups.

The company’s product allows users to compare car insurance policies side-by-side in a straightforward interface that aggregates data from more than 200 insurance companies.

As for all the accolades, there’s a lot that goes into it. But Lyons’ daily productivity is no small ingredient. Here’s how his days generally break down.

BI: What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

AL: I start the day early, usually around 5:45 a.m., when I get push-ups, sit-ups, and some other exercise in. Gotta stay active — no excuses! Then I check email and my schedule, plan out the day and catch up on the day’s news, both global and industry.

BI: What’s the last thing you do before you go to sleep?

AL: What’s sleep?

BI: What do you have for breakfast?

AL: I try to start my day with something healthy and energizing — it sets the tone for the day and keeps my energy up if I’m running around and don’t have time for more substantial meals. I’m a big fan of smoothies…and lots of coffee.

BI: During work hours, what part of your routine do you never sacrifice?

AL: I always make sure to meet with my team, particularly my direct reports on schedule every day. It can be so easy to get caught up on calls or emails or running around town and say “let’s push this back,” but I think it’s critical to keep those meetings so we keep the communication flowing and nothing falls through the cracks.

BI: Slack, Trello or Gchat? Which is your favorite, and why? Any other tools you and your team love and rely on?

AL: We use Hipchat. We’re also big fans of Giphy and we’ve got Hipchat rooms for everything from “Hacking” to “Marketing” to “Foodies” … plus one called “Gilmore Girls,” which I know nothing about. :)

 

Alfredo Ramirez, CEO at

We are located off South 360, on the beautiful Barton Creek Greenbelt in south Austin.

Vyopta just came off a couple big wins of its own. After announcing a $5 million Series A round earlier this year, lead investor AVX Partners added another $1 million last week to accelerate the product roadmap — a suite of analytics and troubleshooting tools for large enterprises with complex video conferencing needs and systems form multiple vendors.

That means CEO Alfredo Ramirez has been especially busy the last few months. We asked him for the routine that keeps him on track.

BI: What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

AR: Three days a week, I jog with the Vyopta run club first thing in the morning. The remaining balance of the week, I walk the dog first thing in the morning.

BI: What’s the last thing you do before you go to sleep?

AR: While in bed, I play a game on my iPhone to relax.

BI: What do you have for breakfast?

AR: Coffee, banana and a scone.

BI: During work hours, what part of your routine do you never sacrifice?

AR: Complete my top three goals for the day.

BI: Slack, Trello or Gchat? Which is your favorite, and why? Any other tools you and your team love and rely on?

AR: Hubspot + Salesforce.com for lead and sales pipeline management, instant chat for short quick communication internally, and live video communication as a replacement for in-person meetings with Vyopta team, partners and customers.

 

T.J. Clark, co-Founder and CEO at

Prior to co-founding TurnKey, Clark was the President & CEO of Limos.com, which became the largest online marketplace for limo and car services by the time he left in 2012 to start Turnkey with former HomeAway exec John Banczak.

By that point, Clark already knew a lot about finding accommodations online. Before Limos.com, he had been VP of Operations at IAC/InterActiveCorp, whose 85 Internet brands included Expedia and Hotels.com, among other household names.

These days, he’s more pressed for time than space. Here’s how he manages.

BI: What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

TC: Quick check of emails that came in overnight, scan news feeds for updates on our industry and major current events, and review my schedule for the day. Then I get on my mountain bike to go to work, jam Dave Matthews, and think through some of our challenging business issues.

BI: What’s the last thing you do before you go to sleep?

TC: One last check of email and Twitter while I listen to the Roots and Jimmy Fallon.

BI: What do you have for breakfast?

TC: Cup of coffee while I review our business data — the breakfast of champions.

BI: During work hours, what part of your routine do you never sacrifice?

TC: One-on-one meetings with our managers. Honorable mention — our monthly all hands meeting where we honor an employee who was nominated by their co-workers as exemplifying our core values (and celebrate with beer and pizza).

BI: Slack, Trello or Gchat? Which is your favorite, and why? Any other tools you and your team love and rely on?

TC: I’m a traditionalist so we stick to the array of Google apps which are mobile responsive and work great with all of our team members across all departments.

 

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