Simon Lara serves as Chief Information Officer at SPS Poolcare, one of the fastest growing service organizations in the United States. In just four years, SPS Poolcare has grown into the largest pool service provider in the country by applying enterprise grade technology, disciplined execution, and a strong focus on local customer relationships. Simon leads technology strategy across the organization, overseeing platform design, data, security, and operational systems that support rapid scale. His background is unconventional, blending deep technology leadership with formal training in sports coaching and sports psychology, a perspective that strongly shapes how he builds teams, culture, and performance inside the business.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• How SPS Poolcare scaled nationally in four years using technology as a competitive advantage
• Why enterprise systems matter in traditionally fragmented service industries
• How AI is being used to generate revenue instead of only cutting costs
• The role of data driven insights in operations, maintenance, and hiring
• Why customer relationships stay local even as the company grows
• How sports psychology directly influences IT leadership and team performance
• Why team chemistry matters more than traditional IT service metrics

In this episode…

Matthew Connor on LinkedIn
CyberLynx Website
Simon Lara on LinkedIn
SPS Poolcare Website

Sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by CyberLynx.com  

CyberL-Y-N-X.com.

CyberLynx is a complete technology solution provider to ensure your business has the most reliable and professional IT service.

The bottom line is we help protect you from cyber attacks, malware attacks, and the dreaded Dark Web.

Our professional support includes managed IT services, IT help desk services, cybersecurity services, data backup and recovery, and VoIP services. Our reputable and experienced team, quick response time, and hassle-free process ensures that clients are 100% satisfied. 

To learn more, visit cyberlynx.com, email us at help@cyberlynx.com, or give us a call at 202-996-6600.

Check out other related episodes:

Measuring and Managing Technical Debt with Dr. Ken Knapton
AI, Lead Automation, and the Future of Automotive Tech with Yuriy Demidko
How Window World Scales Technology and AI Adoption with Glenn Rumfellow

Transcript:

Cyber Business Podcast – Simon Lara, CIO at SPS Pool Care

Matthew: Matthew Connor here, host of the Cyber Business Podcast. Today we're joined by Simon Lara, CIO at SPS Pool Care. Simon, welcome to the show.

Simon: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Matthew: Thanks for joining us. Before we get too far in, a quick word from our sponsors.

[SPONSOR READ: This episode is brought to you by CyberLynx.com. Do you know if a hacker is in your system? Most people and most companies don't — until it's too late and the hacker has already done damage. A hacker's job is to bypass your security, so companies need a way of knowing when someone has gotten past their defenses. That's where CyberLynx comes in. We've partnered with the best cybersecurity companies in the world to provide our clients with the best solutions at the best prices — whether it's managed SIEM, SOC, EDR, MDR, or XDR. We'll help you find the right solution at the right price. Find out more at CyberLynx.com.]

And now back to our show. Simon, for those who aren't familiar, can you tell us about SPS Pool Care and your role there as CIO?

Simon: Sure. SPS Pool Care is a startup in the pool service industry. It's very simple — we clean swimming pools, with some repair and other services as well. I'm the CIO, responsible for all technology strategy, design, and build-out to meet our business and customer needs. We're four years old and already number one in the country — the largest pool service provider in the entire United States. We're very proud of that, and we're continuing to grow. Part of how we think about ourselves is that we are essentially a technology company that monetizes through pool service.

Matthew: Congratulations — that is no small feat, especially in such a short time. Service industries like that tend to stay small, and stories like yours are clearly powered by technology and operational efficiency — and I'm sure some smart capital as well. Can you walk us through how you accomplished that in four years?

Simon: Yes — we're a private equity-backed consolidator. The industry is highly fragmented — roughly 99% small businesses. A lot of pool service owners started cleaning pools between college semesters, looked up years later, and realized they'd built something. What we do is bring enterprise-level technology, supply chain, marketing, and HR services to those companies. We acquire them and then deliver the best-in-class business practices that come with our scale, which creates competitive advantages that these small operators simply couldn't afford to build on their own.

Technology is a major differentiator for us. We've invested heavily in it, and it positions us completely differently from competitors who don't have the resources to do the same.

Matthew: That's a fascinating model. And I think what makes it work so well in your industry specifically is that the customer relationship is relatively straightforward — your pool gets cleaned, and as long as it's done well, customers are happy. The personal relationship piece doesn't require the same kind of continuity that a small IT managed service provider has to maintain. Have you thought about eventually licensing the technology to small operators — or even using it as a feeder for acquisitions?

Simon: It's definitely been discussed. There are a few efficiencies we've built because of our size and scale that we're looking at potentially offering to other small businesses down the road. Nothing live yet — we're four years and a couple of months old and still putting core building blocks together. But that's on the horizon.

On the relationship piece — you're right, and we put a lot of effort into maintaining that local feel even at scale. We don't centralize customer-facing functions like call centers. There's a lot of local flavor. We train our team to be personable and professional, and we optimize routes so the same technician services the same customers. That continuity builds real relationships. I've heard stories where a customer makes breakfast for our pool tech. They know the dogs' names, know how the kids are doing in sports. People trust us to come into their backyard, and we take that seriously.

Matthew: That's really smart. I think about high-end restaurants that keep notes on their diners — you come back months later and the staff picks up the conversation right where you left off. Have you formalized any of that in your CRM?

Simon: Our CRM tracks the customer's lifetime relationship with us, but the bigger piece is route consistency. Keeping the same technician with the same customers is the real mechanism. The relationship gets built organically from there.

Matthew: Now, the topic du jour — AI. What are you doing with it, and how do you see it fitting into what you're building?

Simon: AI is a big part of what we're doing, particularly around reporting. We've built an internal reporting tool we call Clarity. On top of it, we've introduced AI so we can now ask questions of our data — we pull from all our various applications — and generate real insights. Which pools are going to turn green? Which trucks need new brake pads next month? What chlorine dosages are optimal for specific conditions? We've also used it to write job descriptions for technicians based on historical data about who performed well and had the longest tenure. The vision is that an employee wakes up at 3 AM with a great idea, goes and asks it a question, and gets a real answer. That's starting to happen.

On the strategic side, I'm focused on using AI for revenue generation rather than cost cutting. I see a lot of peers focused on automating internal processes — their help desk, accounts payable, and so on. That's attractive, but we're in a growth mindset. Costs are already bounded by your cost structure. Even if you could eliminate 100% of your help desk — which will never actually happen — the best you could save is exactly what that function already costs. There's a ceiling on that number. Revenue has no ceiling. So we went there first. We focused on AI-powered customer communications, pool health management, and things that directly accelerate revenue. We'll get to cost efficiency later, but that's not where we started.

Matthew: I love that. You can't cut your way into growth. That's 100% the right perspective. Now, I'm a big fan of AI in security specifically. I think the security side is where it gets really exciting. Companies like Darktrace — 13 years of purpose-built machine learning, not an LLM bolted onto an email gateway — that's exactly what you'd want. AI that understands the user, reads the email, catches a bad URL before it's even been flagged. Where are you on the security side?

Simon: We follow security best practices — that's a given. On the AI-in-security piece, there are a few tools in our stack that have AI infused into them, and a lot of the traditional security products are adding AI to their portfolio now. The balance we have to strike is similar to what we saw in the early cloud era. You've got AI-first companies that are nimble and purpose-built — potentially better at specific things. And then you have established players like Palo Alto or Cisco who have more history, more resilience, and deeper experience. Neither is always the right answer. So we pick and choose — in some areas we want the cutting-edge AI-first player, and in others we want the depth and experience of an established provider. As we bring them together, we're building what we feel is a solid, balanced security portfolio.

Matthew: That's exactly the right approach. And you're right to distinguish between LLMs and machine learning in a security context — LLMs in the wrong place open you up to prompt injection and other risks. It's a right tool for the right job situation. A hammer is great for nails. Not so great for screws.

Now — you mentioned you have a unique approach to best practices and leadership philosophy. Can you walk us through that? Because I think this is one of the most fascinating perspectives we've had on the show.

Simon: Sure. When it comes to security and everything else we do, I think the key insight is that you can give the same technology to five companies trying to solve the same problem and get five completely different results. Technology alone isn't the differentiator — it's how you deploy it, and who deploys it, and how that team is built.

My background: I have an undergraduate degree in sport coaching and sport psychology, and I've been coaching basketball for over 20 years. I've taken sports psychology and applied it to corporate leadership, and it's yielded what I think are significantly better results than what most companies are doing.

Here's the frame: if you look at all of your competitors and they're all reading the same books, hiring the same consultants, chasing the same best practices — by definition, that's not best anymore. That's average. I can read your playbook. If I know what you're doing, I also know the gaps and the opportunities for differentiation. So we're intentional about doing things differently.

There's a lot of corporate focus right now on things like XLAs, ITIL 4, organizational psychology — and those are useful. Organizational psychology helps people work together. Sports psychology helps people win together. That's a meaningful distinction.

And the foundation of winning together is team chemistry. Team chemistry is not the same as team spirit. It's not wearing the same shirts or being collegial. The teams that win championships aren't the ones with the most talent — they're the ones with the most team chemistry. You hear it in every sports broadcast. But you never hear that term in a boardroom. Instead you hear synergies, empathy, culture — and those things have value, but they don't fill the gap that team chemistry fills.

The core of team chemistry, as I define it, is: I care about your goals more than I care about my own. Here's how I put that into practice on my team. Everyone's individual goals are visible to the whole team. When someone achieves their goal, the entire team gets the reward — the bonus, the extra PTO, whatever it is. If there are 10 people on the team, that means 9 people are actively invested in helping you reach your goal, because when you get it, everyone gets their reward. That creates something real. I start to understand where you're strong, where you're vulnerable, how to help you and shield you from distractions. We know what we're each here to do, and we're connected to the mission.

I see tech teams who think their job is to close tickets, keep the network up, or keep the bad guys out. And it's like — no. What you're really doing is helping families enjoy their backyards. You're helping someone come home after a long week and jump in a clean pool without a single thought about maintenance. That's the mission. When my team understands that, everything changes.

We've also eliminated metrics that harm chemistry. We don't use SLAs. And we don't refer to our internal colleagues as customers — because the moment you create a customer relationship, you've made team chemistry impossible. We call them teammates. We're all doing different things, like an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. If the offensive line treated the quarterback like a customer — "we're blocking for you, you're our client" — they're not going to win any games.

Matthew: What does that look like in practice — say on a support call?

Simon: Here's a scenario that happens every day. Say you need to print a contract for a potential $10 million client who's catching a flight in 30 minutes. The printer isn't working. You call your IT help desk, and you're animated — maybe throwing some choice words around — because the stakes are real.

In a traditional IT environment, the analyst is trained to de-escalate. "It's okay, Matthew, we're going to get this sorted out." They fix the printer, confirm it's working, then send you a survey the next day. That sounds like great customer service. But what it actually does is put you and the tech on opposite sides of an invisible counter — a customer and a vendor relationship. And when the tech calmly says "let's take a deep breath," they're subconsciously telling you that you were wrong to feel what you're feeling. You weren't wrong.

We do it differently. When you call my team, they match your energy. "Oh yeah, that is a huge problem — I'm on it, let's go." Now instead of facing each other across a counter, you're shoulder to shoulder looking at the same problem. I don't even care about the printer. I care about the contract getting signed — because that's what you care about. When it's resolved, I don't ask "is the printer working?" I ask "did he sign the contract?" And then I congratulate you on closing the deal.

We don't call it empathy — we call it synergy. You're not de-escalating the emotion; you're matching and channeling it toward the goal. That builds real trust over time. The mental state of an employee calling my team is completely different from someone calling their ISP. It's the difference between calling your ISP when the internet is down versus calling your brother when you have a flat tire on the side of the road. Same high stakes, same expectation of help — but a completely different emotional experience. One feels like a support ticket. The other feels like "my guys have my back."

I learned this on the basketball court. I had a team that played well but kept losing close games. We were defaulting to hero ball at the end — get the ball to your best player and let them do something. It wasn't working. One day during a scrimmage I handed out index cards with individual goals: 3 assists, 4 rebounds, take a charge, 6 points — randomly distributed. I told them: if your teammate reaches his goal, nobody runs laps. If he doesn't, you all run laps. Immediately, everything shifted. Players started working for each other. The guy who wasn't great at scoring suddenly had 5 teammates studying his strengths, finding ways to get him his points. Team chemistry got built fast, and it happened because they genuinely cared about each other's goals.

That's the same thing I do in the corporate environment. And it trickles into everything — how we handle support, how we build solutions, how we do change management. It's done with intent to be different, and we believe it yields much better results.

Matthew: That is genuinely brilliant. And you're right that the de-escalation model is a false premise. It doesn't work with a spouse either — if someone you love is upset and you come in with "calm down, it's fine," you're invalidating them. What they need is for you to be right there with them. I think we've broadly bought into that failed premise in corporate America and it's worth seriously questioning. I could go on and on about this. And I really think you have a book in you.

Simon: We're actually pretty close — about 60 days out.

Matthew: You're kidding me. That's fantastic. I'd love to get a copy, and I'd love to have you back on the show for the launch to go deeper on all of this. I think these ideas are invaluable and people need to hear more of them.

Before we close out — can you walk us through your origin story? How did you get into tech and how did you get here?

Simon: I fell into it like almost everyone else. I was about 19 and in college when both of my parents got sick — heart attack and cancer — and I had to get a job fast. I didn't have a degree yet. I'd heard you could get a job in IT without one. I didn't know anything about computers beyond using them at school, and none of my family had been to college. But someone I knew took a chance on me and got me an interview. I studied as hard as I could and landed the job.

I came into an organization running Novell NetWare — coax cable, BNC terminators, IPX/SPX. Then they got a brand new Windows NT 4.0 server and everyone was fascinated by it but nobody really knew it yet. I realized the experienced admins and I were starting from the same place. So I went and bought the book, went through it over a weekend, got my MCSE, and within two months they promoted me to systems admin. They said: "You're teaching us how to do this. You're spending every weekend reading NT4 documentation. Why don't we just make you the admin?" That momentum just kept going.

Eventually I worked my way up to lead systems analyst at a data center for a college. Then I got bored, and in 2005 I started my own business in New Orleans — an automotive brokerage, negotiating car purchases for people who didn't want to deal with dealerships. The business was growing. Then Hurricane Katrina hit. I lost everything I owned and ended up in Hattiesburg, MS trying to figure out what came next.

There wasn't much IT work in Hattiesburg, but there was the University of Southern Mississippi. I went back to finish my degree, and discovered they had a sport coaching and sport psychology program. I loved basketball, had been coaching at the rec league and YMCA level for years, and I thought — why not? I graduated in 2007, then coached high school basketball for several years. I was living my dream, teaching and coaching. Then in 2011, my wife — my fiancée at the time — and I decided to move to Austin, TX. No friends, no family, no job, no place to live. We just showed up.

Austin at the time was incredibly IT-heavy. I got back into technology and worked my way into leadership roles, bringing everything I'd learned from coaching with me. Since about 2012, I've been applying sports psychology to corporate America. That's where all of this came from.

Matthew: And you are clearly making it work. This is the first time we've had someone with that background on the show, and I think it's the most distinctive leadership philosophy we've discussed. I'd encourage anyone listening to follow Simon and watch for that book. Simon, before we go — where can people find out more about you and about SPS Pool Care?

Simon: SPS Pool Care is at spspoolcare.com. And you can find me on LinkedIn — just search Simon Lara. I'm an open book, literally and figuratively. I'm not hoarding these ideas — I want to share them, because I genuinely believe the industry would be better if more people operated under this philosophy. I'll be happy to come back on when the book launches.

Matthew: We will absolutely hold you to that. Thanks so much, Simon. Until next time!

Simon: Thanks, guys. Bye!