Songe LaRon
Co-Founder and CEO
SQUIRE TechnologiesSonge LaRon is the Co-Founder and CEO of SQUIRE Technologies. Founded in 2015, SQUIRE created a new software category – barbershop business management – to reinvent the way daily operations are handled and give barbers and shop owners the tools they need for the business side of barbering. Today, SQUIRE delivers the only all-in-one barbershop management platform to over 3,000 barbershops – with 7.6 million clients having booked appointments through the platform. LaRon spent the early part of his career as a corporate lawyer. And, while he experienced success, he yearned to put his energy towards the thing that mattered most to him. He wanted to help build wealth in his community in a way that would create a lasting impact. His vision was to use his business experience to help elevate industry that they knew played a critical role in all communities: the barbershop. He saw the opportunity for barbershops to be more efficient and effective in running their businesses and so he set out to build the tools they’d need to do it.
In partnership with Co-Founder and President, Dave Salvant, he has led SQUIRE to remarkable growth: thecompany is now valued at $750m after completing a Series D fundraising round led by Tiger Global, increasing its valuation by 30x in two years. As CEO, he believes it’s his job to be an innovator and uses that mindset to set strategic direction for the company. He is proud of the incredible growth SQUIRE hasexperienced taking on innovation for one of the oldest professions in the world, but is most proud to have built a company that truly respects the value and impact of barbershops on their communities while doing so.
When asked what he wants to be remembered for, LaRon says, “As someone who made a positive impact and changed people’s lives. Who really tried to go big for something and succeeded. As someone who gaveit his all.” LaRon earned his J.D. from Yale Law School and graduated Cum Laude from UCLA with a degree in Philosophy.