When Patrick Roberts began managing people, he said he initially thought that he could handle and control all components of his sales team’s operations. “I learned quickly that as one person, you cannot scale, rather you must find team members that have greater strengths than you in order to run a high functioning team,” he said. “The first six months of managing people, I fought this and tried so desperately to control all aspects of the day-to-day of my people. When I recognized this flawed way of thinking and decided to further empower my team, it changed everything.”
Roberts said this lesson was by far a catalyst for much of his further professional development and still serves as a reminder in his position as the chief revenue officer of MountainSeed.
MountainSeed is in the real estate technology and financial industries with a mission to help employees thrive using their God given abilities. The company is disrupting the real estate data sector with its SaaS business and currently serves over 10% of the U.S.-based financial institutions with its valuation technology platform.
Roberts said he has always had sales in his DNA. Although he wasn’t one of the founders of MountainSeed, he was brought in as the second employee to function as a lead real estate analyst. “The founders bootstrapped the business and within months, the CEO noticed that my skill set would enable me to succeed as a productive salesperson,” said Roberts.
His career took him away from MountainSeed briefly to take on a director role at one of the largest banks in the country, but by 2018, he returned to the firm to serve as the chief revenue officer with the goal to drastically grow the business and help diversify the company into other verticals.
Once he returned, Roberts restructured the department and has now built the team back to more than 65 individuals. The company has grown at over 40% YOY since 2019.
“I believe that giving individuals the confidence to make decisions has been one of the key components that has led to my success,” said Roberts. “As a leader, it is essential to pave the way for others and move out of the way.”
Roberts said his No. 1 goal is to continue to grow every week and cascade down his learnings to others. “Success in growing our business will only help my ability to influence others,” he said.
