Patrick Comer* is the CEO of Cint, a global research technology platform. He founded Lucid in New Orleans in 2010, building it to over 550 employees and $80M+ in annual revenue before selling it to Cint in 2021 for $1.1 billion — the largest startup exit in Louisiana history and the deal that made Lucid the state's first unicorn. Patrick is also the founder of SampleCon, the leading industry conference for data collection and market research.*
Tell me about yourself.
I went to a liberal arts school in the mountains of Tennessee called Sewanee, where I double-majored in music and theatre — directing productions, building scenery, composing choral music. After graduating, I moved to New York to follow those dreams. I was there at the very beginning of the dot-com bubble, and within a year my brother had convinced me that a company like PayPal should exist, so we tried to build one. We were completely ill-prepared, but that's how I got into entrepreneurship. I bought a laptop, quit my carpentry job, and wrote a business plan. I still have it. Think about how much information exists today on how to start a company, how to raise money — none of that existed then. I can't believe how much we got done anyway.
How did you end up in New Orleans?
My wife and I moved there in 2008 because we were starting a family. This was three years after Katrina, and we wanted to be part of the rebuild. It had nothing to do with Lucid — everything to do with the place. I assumed I'd network my way into the local tech scene, and it was crickets. Very little happening from a startup standpoint. It quickly dawned on me that if I wanted to stay in technology and data, I was going to have to start something myself.
What's it like to build a company there?
It's the Big Easy — there are worse places. But what caught me off guard was the mission. Every time we hired someone, every time we grew, we were having a direct and measurable impact on the community around us. In most startups, the team gets passionate about the business. At Lucid, from the early days, there were two equal passions: building the business and supporting the city. That was an unexpected gift New Orleans gave us.
How does the success feel?
Weird. It wasn't the goal out of the gate. It was eye-opening when, during our latest fundraising round, we realized we'd done the largest raise in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama combined over the last decade. But if raising money is success — and I don't think it is — what matters more is that we get to set the standard for other founders around us to beat. Someone who had a marginal track record as an entrepreneur suddenly becomes the thing that's working. That's kind of strange. But success doesn't suck.
How did SampleCon come together?
It originated as a users' conference for Lucid in 2013. At the first one, it was clear we'd tapped into a conversation that wasn't being had but needed to be — where sample companies could talk openly about the real issues in the industry, rather than just being in sales mode. But because Lucid had started it, a lot of competitors felt they couldn't participate. So I decided the success of SampleCon was dependent on Lucid stepping away entirely. We built an independent board, brought in other corporate partners, and handed off operations to a third party. We used force of will to get it started, and then it took off on its own.
What advice do you have for someone trying to break into entrepreneurship?
Just do it — there's no special credential required. The key difference among entrepreneurs is that when they stare down the list of things they need to do, they jump in rather than step back. Success comes down to timing, luck, and skills, but if you don't actually try, you'll never get there.
As for operations: it means something different at every stage. In a startup, it's doing whatever it takes — all for one. As you scale, it becomes more function-specific. And after that, it becomes about scalability itself.
What challenges worry you most?
All of them. The biggest question right now is whether we can become a company of the future. We're at this toddler stage — we used to be a startup, and now we're trying to become a global, scalable technology company. Culture has to shift, processes have to improve. Our biggest competitor is ourselves. If we can improve our ability to execute, everything else takes care of itself.
Any productivity habits worth sharing?
I have anti-productivity hacks. Because I was starting a family at the same time as a company, I committed to leaving the office at 5:30 every day. It forces me to make the time I'm there count, and to delegate what I won't finish. I also spent years as a carpenter, and I noticed how much time gets wasted trying to save time. Our job right now is to think, not rush — rushing might actually be slowing us down.
Any quirks?
I have a sword in my office that we use to cut cakes for birthday parties. I also have lots of different colored shoelaces. There’s an Allen Edmonds’ downstairs, and they’re my favorites. They started mixing up the shoelaces for me when I bought a pair of shoes, and then I just went nuts and started putting crazy colors together, like red laces with blue shoes. When my team is mad at me, they make fun of me and call them my clown shoes.
Originally published in 2019