Episode 1: Ross Fruin, Co-Founder of SearchLogic

"We live in a world where our education system has not evolved much from 100 years ago."
— Ross Fruin

To kick off The ADD Entrepreneur Podcast, Nick interviews Ross Fruin, Co-Founder of Portland, OR-based direct-response marketing agency SearchLogic. Ross built a 20-person agency serving mid-market brands with $100K–$500K/month in digital ad spend — all while navigating an ADHD diagnosis he didn't fully understand until adulthood.

This episode is a candid conversation about what it actually looks like to build a business when your brain works differently. Ross talks about the moment he realized his "performance problems" in school weren't about intelligence, the questionable diagnosis experience he had at 25, and why he believes the ADD brain's ability to not get overwhelmed is a genuine competitive advantage in entrepreneurship.

If you're unable to listen, the full podcast transcript can be read below.

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Nick: Hey. Welcome to the ADD Entrepreneur. This is our flagship podcast and I'm really excited to kick this off with an entrepreneur with ADD who happens to be a good friend of mine. Today we're joined by Ross Fruin, one of the co-founders and CEO of Portland, Oregon-based paid media marketing firm SearchLogic. How you doing, Ross?

Ross: Good, how are you doing? Thanks for having me.

Nick: My pleasure, man.

Ross: Glad to be the first.

Nick: Yeah, me too. Before we jump in — tell me a little bit about SearchLogic.

Ross: SearchLogic is a direct response marketing agency located in Portland, Oregon. We started about five years ago — this is our sixth year as of January. We primarily work with mid-market brands in the $100K to $500K per month in digital advertising spend range. One of our primary focuses recently is B2C and B2B companies that need to integrate sales cycles and sales teams into the process. We're a small team — about 20 of us.

Nick: That's not small at all.

Ross: Yeah, well, I guess it depends on what you're comparing it to. But it's certainly not been an easy experience — it's definitely been fun. I'm excited to talk about some of the hurdles I've had to overcome personally with my ADD.

Nick: It's more and more socially acceptable to have it and talk about it. But it's still... it's still called a disorder.

Ross: A disorder, yeah. And I think in 20 years — if you look at a 40-year gap — the number of people who'll struggle with some type of this is just going to be outrageous. People are growing up with everything instantly at their fingertips. I believe it's partially genetic, but I also think as a byproduct of how we engage with media, everybody's going to have it to some extent.

Nick: I could not agree more. Let's dive in.

How old were you when you started displaying signs of ADD?

Ross: I think I really started to realize it once formal education became more structured. In elementary school there was a lot more hands-on, kinesthetic, and visual learning. As I progressed into junior high and high school it became much more about reading and writing — and that's when I really started having performance problems.

Nick: That makes sense. Which brings us to question two:

Who was the person who noticed it?

Ross: I think it was me, though my parents probably noticed earlier through my grades. My dad has always had an entrepreneurial spirit — I think he got it and there was a lot of grace for it. My mom was a teacher and didn't quite understand what was happening. I think I knew I had some issue early on in grade school, but I didn't start to realize it was something other people struggled with until high school.

Nick: My first and second-grade teachers thought I had a learning disability.

Ross: And that's the piece I'm most passionate about — so many people leave high school feeling inadequate because they struggle with this. For me, that's something I fought for a decade after high school, trying to realize that it doesn't mean I'm not intelligent. I just learn differently. I focus differently.

Were you professionally tested and diagnosed?

Ross: I think my mom had our family go to a counselor around sixth or seventh grade. The first time I personally got myself tested was around age 25, a couple of years into my first career. The experience was... questionable. The doctor asked me if I had problems focusing, described some scenario about forgetting what I was doing while putting up Christmas lights, and then said, "Yeah, I think it's something you struggle with." It wasn't the conclusive, written-test diagnosis I was expecting. But I internally knew I had it — I didn't need validation from a doctor other than to attempt to solve the issue.

What strategies do you use to stay productive with ADD?

Ross: The biggest thing for me has been finding systems that work with how my brain actually operates rather than fighting against it. I'm a visual person — I need to see things to process them. Lists, whiteboards, anything that makes abstract tasks concrete.

I've also learned to use hyperfocus strategically. When I'm locked in on something, I can outperform almost anyone. The trick is engineering the conditions that trigger that state — removing distractions, setting clear constraints, working in blocks.

Nick: That's exactly the framework we teach in the ADD Hero Master Collection. The ADHD brain isn't broken — it just needs a different operating system.

What would you say are your most and least favorite aspects of ADD?

Ross: My most favorite is definitely the productivity side. I don't get overwhelmed easily. People see a huge hurdle and I just think through it — "Okay, this is how we're going to tackle it. It's really not that big of a deal." That doesn't stress me out, and that's a big thing in business.

The most annoying thing is not paying enough attention to people. I can be talking to someone but also listening to the conversation happening next to me. That's probably one of the reasons I don't retain as much as I'd like.

What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur with ADD?

Ross: Realize that the world doesn't run the way a lot of people try to convince you it does. You don't have to have that job and work 9 to 5. You can do more than other people. You can do better. The ADD brain — when you learn to work with it instead of against it — is one of the most powerful tools an entrepreneur can have.

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For more conversations like this, subscribe to The ADD Entrepreneur Podcast. And if you're ready to build a productivity system designed for your ADHD brain, explore the ADD Hero Master Collection.

Related reading: ADHD and the Workplace | Signs and Symptoms of Adult ADHD