Pick your next sales role like a VC | Frank Pastirchak (Sales Director, Reggora)

Carter (00:01.41)
Hey Frank, give the people a quick intro. Who are you and what do do now?

Frank Pastirchak (00:06.542)
Hey guys, my name is Frank Pastirchak. I'm an accounting executive at Reggora. I've been in the fintech slash prop tech space for about seven years. Got my start at BDR actually at Reggora. So happy to be going back there. But yeah, that's the quick high level vision on me. Pretty much working, been working with startups the entire time. So yeah, appreciate you having me on today, Carter.

Carter (00:31.704)
Yeah, yeah, of course. I appreciate you being on. For people who've never sold in a mortgage or real estate, what does the sales cycle look like? Who are you calling? How long do deals take? And what makes these buyers different from other industries?

Frank Pastirchak (00:47.246)
For sure. So generally in the mortgage technology in real estate space, I'm dealing with lot of banks, credit unions, IMBs, generally targeting CLOs, COOs, VPs of mortgage, VPs of technology. And the sales cycle is pretty interesting. It's honestly pretty volatile, as you know, with the market in the past few years. But what I've been doing, a lot of it's staying in front of people.

Carter (01:09.423)
Right.

Frank Pastirchak (01:13.934)
finding the right times when they have to buy. Some of these larger banks do have roadmaps that they're going to adhere to, not just, you know, 12 to 24 month plan, but on a longer term scale, you know, four to five years. You know, they've had these plans in place and the budgeting allocated for a while, but it's super fun. What I like about it is no two deals are the same. So every day is definitely, you know, different and it can be bit of a challenge, but that makes it fun to me.

Generally once you're engaged, sale cycles can take anywhere from six months to 18 months at the right time. And due diligence and that part of it is pretty big and long as well at the tail end of it, even once you get that, yes. So it's challenging, but it's been a fun time.

Carter (01:59.512)
Yeah, that makes sense. That is pretty long. How many people are involved in those deals usually?

Frank Pastirchak (02:04.43)
It should be anywhere from 10 to 40 to 50, depending on the size of the organization. So really staying organized, adhering to stakeholders and having a good champion is the number one thing I'd say.

Carter (02:18.597)
You've worked at five prop tech companies, at least according to LinkedIn. What do you look for when you're evaluating a company and trying to choose the right AE role?

Frank Pastirchak (02:29.644)
No, great question. I kind of look at it from the same way, like a VC or private equity firm, we're like an investing in it at first at the 90 foot level. It's like, are they doing something special in the space? Obviously having a knowledge of seven, eight years in the space at this point, I can kind of see, you know, is this going to be a good fit or is this another company that's doing the same thing as someone else? And maybe their tech's a little bit newer than the incumbent. So I kind of look for that. I look for, you who's invested in them.

and what their long-term goals are going to be as well as short-term goals. So is this something where the founder has an unrealistic exit strategy? They think they're going to build this thing up quickly and get rid of it. And I also look at the C-suite leadership as well as who I'll be reporting to and maybe the success that people that are there have. They have a bunch of other AEs who are just kind of sitting there and not innovating maybe.

From the sales perspective and crushing it, you know, is that somewhere you're to want to go? Um, or do you want to go somewhere where you can challenge yourself and, know, really do well and succeed.

Carter (03:33.487)
Okay, so you can tell and if AEs are crushing it, generally that is going to be a good company to work for if the people are closing deals basically.

Frank Pastirchak (03:42.882)
Definitely like good revenue growth year over year. AEs that are out there, not just like I call them lame duck AEs. They're guys that are happy with their base and you know, maybe they hit quota or come a little below or a little bit over it, but you you want to be working with other people that are going to challenge you every day, right? Sales is like a sport. So you're to want to work with have teammates that are going to better you and you know, challenge you and compete with you.

Carter (04:06.469)
And what type of question, because I know I was going to say, how do you know which companies have product market fit, but I feel like you kind of, know, versus the ones that don't, but I know you sort of answered that. Like, are you asking certain questions in interviews to also bring out some of this stuff and figure that type of stuff out?

Frank Pastirchak (04:13.963)
Yeah. Yeah.

Frank Pastirchak (04:21.665)
Great question. So I'm asking those questions and interviews. I'm asking who their clients are, who their clients that are currently live are. A lot of places are small. So it does take time to get a full product up and running from start to finish, which, you know, it's a challenge with startups, but it's what you have to do. So getting customer feedback as well, not just from, or excuse me, customer or prospect. So maybe they'll give me a few references that are customers that I'll speak to, but I'll also have, I also have a few banks and credit union design B's.

Carter (04:47.617)
Okay

Frank Pastirchak (04:51.309)
Well, I'm relatively close to people. I've sold them a few products and they're more than happy to get on a call with me and them and give me their honest feedback on a demo of the product. So before I even make a decision on that, you know, I'll bring someone like that in. They'll call me after obviously not in front of the company and, you know, tell me if it's smoke and mirrors or, you know, if it's going to actually succeed and, know, they can see it being adding value to their everyday.

Carter (05:15.161)
That's actually crazy useful. So they'll tell you if it's like a trash product or not. Pretty much.

Frank Pastirchak (05:17.174)
Yeah. Yeah, I've, I've, people I've sold to that, you know, we text regularly about different things and they will get you, like I said, they'll get on the call with me and give me their honest feedback on it. so, which is, it's nice to have, but you know, in banking and, you know, credit union, IB sales, it's just, it's all relationship driven. So that's the biggest thing. So, you know, if I help them out, something, a good product, they're going to help me out. and they want to see me be successful as well. So.

Carter (05:44.569)
What's the biggest red flag you missed early in your career that you'd tell other AEs to watch out for?

Frank Pastirchak (05:50.35)
I wouldn't say there's been a red flag because it's always a learning experience. I'd say don't make emotional decisions. So I think I've done that a few times, which happens. like, yes, so making decisions with emotion facts, maybe like definitely bring other people in when you're making the decision to go somewhere. Have whether it's mentors, just other people you're friends with from the industry and take your time.

Carter (05:54.627)
Okay.

Frank Pastirchak (06:16.269)
making the decision. definitely made a few quick decisions, which I don't regret. think everything's a learning experience, but yeah, maybe I could have, my career could be somewhere else at this point. But you you can't go back in time, right? So yeah. Yeah.

Carter (06:26.999)
Yeah, okay. That makes a lot of sense. You've sold, I mean, like you had mentioned, real estate market has been crazy lately. You've sold, through your career, have been awesome. Rates have been super low, rates have been super high. The last few years, things have been brutal. Did you have to change your approach when the market started to get worse? Like what, for example, what sales strategies work when your buyer's industry is in a downturn and budgets are starting to get frozen?

Frank Pastirchak (06:56.013)
Yeah, I could, could preface that. So like 2019, 2020, 2021, when I first got into a fintech sales, it was, you you couldn't, you couldn't even handle your meetings, right? You couldn't get contracts out fast enough. was awesome crushing it. And then, yeah, end of 2021, early 2022 rates started to tick up. So we really had to switch our approach from, this is something you need now to, you know, help with the, you know, to help with bandwidth and, you know, get revenue in the door for that, for those companies.

to really having to show them the ROI because there are going to be tighter budgets. They're going to want to see every dollar they're spending and where it's going to go and how many dollars they're going to get back out of that. But also the biggest pitch during that time, and it's the truth, is that's the time to replace your technology when there is a downturn so that when it upticks again, they're ready. You don't want to be implementing something that your number one competitor already has down the street.

during the uptick because they can be doing, especially in mortgage, right? They can be doing five or 10 more loans a month than you and taking that market share because their reach is greater, because their bandwidth is greater. And you've got two project managers trying to get this new product up and running. And it's just taking time and resources from where your salespeople should be succeeding or where it could be helping in the back end of a process, whether it's underwriting, processing, things like that.

Carter (07:56.965)
Yeah.

Carter (08:18.501)
You know, that makes a lot of sense because that reminded me at Rocket Mortgage, they would tell us these stories during any big downturn. Rocket Mortgage would up their marketing and like some of the, like the 08, some of those time periods, they grew market share like crazy because everyone was spending less money and they were really upping their budget. So yeah, that totally, that totally makes sense.

Frank Pastirchak (08:34.039)
Thank you.

Yeah. No, it's a real thing. mean, that's the time, right? That's especially like a place like Rocket, obviously that's an extreme. But you know, even if you're a smaller, more regional line B, right? If you're going to be able to go in and, you know, be the acquirer instead of getting acquired during that time too, you know, it's big thing.

Carter (08:57.249)
You're, and you're, like you had said, you're going back to Reggora. You don't need to get too crazy specific, but what made you go back to a place that you had left in the past?

Frank Pastirchak (09:00.821)
Yeah. Yeah.

Frank Pastirchak (09:06.285)
Um, one thing I'm very close to the founders as well as, you know, my boss, uh, over there who will be my new boss. Um, I kind of want to finish what I started, um, over there. Um, and I think, you know, going out and going to a few companies, it's great. It kind of feels like coming home. Um, but at the same time, I think from like an organizational perspective, Reggora really found their, their market fit. Um, and where they are, they, they have some really cool products coming out, which I could maybe share on LinkedIn in the next few weeks. I don't think can talk about them now. Um,

But I just think, like I said, they found their identity. They're in a really good position to take more market share right now. So I just thought it was a good time.

Carter (09:44.356)
In your entire career has been in PropTech, you mentioned this a little bit before just with talking to companies, being able to talk to different banks and see, is this product a real product? But how has compounding affected your career when it comes to building relationships and that sort of thing? And would you recommend AEs to build their career in one vertical or would you say, maybe do a little jumping around at different industries? How important is that?

Frank Pastirchak (10:12.532)
Yeah, I'm at my parents' house right now. mean, if they could hear me, they'd probably smack me. But I definitely say go out and try a few different verticals. You know, I think the parents' generation is very much more on that, you know, go find a steady job and stay there for 20 or 30 years. I think my dad was at a bank for 25 years or 20. So I get it. It's definitely more stable. I think if you can hop around a little bit and see what else is out there and get different experiences, it's good.

Carter (10:26.276)
Yeah.

Frank Pastirchak (10:39.562)
I kind of got out of the mortgage and residential side for a little bit and went to Crexi, saw what that was like. And it was great. you know, with the relationships I built in the mortgage and consumer banking space, it's kind of just, it's always going to bring you back, which is great. I never have to go actually apply for a job, which is awesome. People approach me a lot. So having those relationships is great. I'd say another big thing I do is networking. I have like

a Rolodex of people who I just, whether it's trading information on banks, IMBs and credit unions and deals in this space and what's going on in these places, or just seeing what else is out there. People call me saying, but I know of any other jobs that they're looking, I kind of do the same too. So I'd say, you know, networking is big and having people in your corner. But yeah, I definitely say, you know, I wouldn't say jump around, but don't get too comfortable, right? Always be challenging yourself, whether it's a new job or maybe trying a new role at your current organization.

See what you like.

Carter (11:36.075)
That, and that makes me think about where you were talking about earlier about being maybe might making some emotional decisions. What's one, and I know you said maybe you wouldn't change anything, but what's one thing you would do differently if you could restart your A career tomorrow?

Frank Pastirchak (11:52.365)
Good question. I know you say that, but I wouldn't do anything differently. I honestly wouldn't. I think everything's a learning experience. And I think you can learn, like obviously you can learn from anything. So I have no regrets. know, everything is what it is. you know, no matter what happens at work or the decisions you make, you're going to wake up tomorrow, no matter what and still be breathing or most as well, guess. yeah, that's just my...

Carter (12:18.821)
Right.

Frank Pastirchak (12:20.352)
That's my opinion. I really don't have anything I would do differently.

Carter (12:25.593)
I was also curious, especially because you are starting a new place and you have worked at a bunch of different places. When you started a new company, what is your first 90 days look like? Like, what are you doing in week one to get yourself set up?

Frank Pastirchak (12:27.232)
Yeah. Yeah.

Frank Pastirchak (12:37.612)
Yeah, I'm usually doing stuff beforehand just to get up and running and checking out the product, but hopping on as many demos as possible, being able to demo the product. Well, whether I'm an account executive or if I have a solutions engineer who will do the demo for me or not, I'm going to want to know the ins and outs of the product. I'm going to want to definitely see our pitfalls to different customers, what to talk about, what to stay away from. But I'm just going to be a sponge, be talked to other people in different departments at your

a new company, so talk to product about their processes. Maybe if you can talk to one or two people from engineering about what they're doing, what they like about it. Try to get in front of as much leadership as possible, marketing, and just introduce yourself and get to know everyone. Not just the product of the whole organization and how it goes. That's another whole thing, the politics of the organization, getting to know that is a big thing as well.

Carter (13:29.861)
and you say politics, just working with other people. Do you try to make friends with everybody and try to work that angle? everybody likes you a lot so you can move up a little bit in the company or maybe a little bit more easier. Or at least get things done easier in the company. Yeah.

Frank Pastirchak (13:37.29)
Yeah.

Frank Pastirchak (13:42.176)
Definitely. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I some great marketing people at MC now, which, you know, usually take a week or two to help with the sales deck. But if we had a big presentation, I'd, you know, shoot them over a hundred dollar Starbucks gift card or something and be like, Hey, can you help me out and, you know, double check this deck or just make it. I'm not very good with graphic design, but help with any of that stuff. So yeah, I definitely say, you know, doing things like that goes a long way to people.

Carter (14:08.289)
Okay, that Starbucks gift cards is really interesting. Do you have any other tips? Because that was kind of with us at Rocket Mortgage. You do a lot of the underwriters and bankers sometimes are enemies. Even though we have the same goals, it really shouldn't be like that. We're just trying to get the loan closed. But yeah, give me some, if you have any more tips for that, would be on Starbucks gift cards. I would love that. That seems actually super useful.

Frank Pastirchak (14:11.02)
I don't know.

Yeah.

Frank Pastirchak (14:20.736)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Frank Pastirchak (14:27.436)
out.

Frank Pastirchak (14:32.222)
it's anything like that. anyone like really anyone who I worked with during the sales process, who wasn't like one of my leaders. So if I had a BDR who organized the deal, I know they're getting paid on it, but like I would also give them something nice like a gift card. If I had to go back and forth with the deal desk and our finance team. And then if I like worked with anyone who was on the other side, if they were local, you know, take them a dinner or drinks or lunch or whatever, but definitely, you know, anything thoughtful like that. And it doesn't have to be Starbucks, but if you know, they're like blank straighter.

touch brothers better or just, you know, they go shopping somewhere constantly and get them a gift card there. I think it goes a long way. So, you know, you're shelling out sometimes a couple hundred bucks after, know, you close a deal, but it's definitely worth it for the commission. So, know, and for the next deal, because you have to think about that too.

Carter (15:18.053)
Okay, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Well, I think that's pretty good. I'll end it here.

Frank Pastirchak (15:19.071)
No, no, no. Awesome. Appreciate it.