MR. CONGENIALITY

Frank Slootman is a bare-knuckled serial CEO who runs every company he helms like a one-man fief. (“I exercise executive prerogative,” he told Forbes for our February/March cover story. “I don’t have to justify it.”) The latest stop in his peripatetic career has paid off handsomely: Last September, Slootman guided cloud-tech firm Snowflake to a $3.9 billion IPO, the largest ever for a software maker, turning himself into a billionaire in the process. But while his aggressive nature has filled corporate coffers (Snowflake was his third IPO), readers were split on the merits of his brusque management style. “For every one Slootman,” tweeted @moseskagan, “there are 1,000 overconfident dipshits who don’t listen, don’t appreciate their employees/partners and make stupid decisions.” In others, though, Slootman’s no-nonsense mien sparked admiration—and a comparison to Harvey Keitel’s famed tuxedo-clad celluloid fixer. Tweeted @TrungTPhan: “[Slootman] is basically the corporate world’s version of Mr. Wolf from Pulp Fiction.”