Employee Number One! (Chronologically at least…)
So, my name is Kathryn Sinclair, and I’m a Business Development Manager working on the Street.co.uk team. It’s a massive privilege to be working on Street, introducing this ground-breaking estate agency CRM platform to the UK estate agency industry. Street.co.uk completely reimagines the way estate agents run their businesses, as well as the experience consumers have in managing the buying, selling, renting or letting process.
As Street was only launched last November, my role right now encompasses many, many things (which I love!). I regularly conduct live demos of Street to estate agents who are looking not only to change their CRM, but vastly improve the consumer experience they can give to their clients.
Some agents are brand new startups, and it’s awesome to be sharing their exciting journey and providing them with the very best technology to ensure they succeed. Others are large, well-established agency groups, many of whom we have worked with for several years via our flagship prospecting software, Spectre.
Once an agent decides to come on board with Street, I help to plan timelines and work with them and their teams to “onboard” their business and get them up and running with Street as seamlessly as possible. As part of the Street commercial team, I also get to collaborate with amazing colleagues on the development team too, which is really great.
You were the first full-time hire made by Street Group, meaning that you’ve been able to watch the company grow to where it is today! Could you tell us what that has been like?
What a journey it’s been! The business has completely transformed in the past four and a half years. When I joined “Agent Software” as the first employee Heather and Tom hired back in August 2016, it was just the three of us and Lukas, the software developer who worked with Tom developing Spectre on a contract basis.
I first came to know Heather and Tom as a Spectre client. I was one of the first end users of Spectre shortly after it was launched, and ran the Spectre accounts for a 9 branch agency. I loved seeing all the new instructions won for the business as a result of Spectre letters we sent out! So when I was leaving that role and let Heather and Tom know I wouldn’t be their contact for Spectre any longer, it didn’t take long before I was working with them as their first employee!
Since then, I have seen the company grow. And grow. And grow!
My first few very happy months on the team were spent in a converted office building in Swinton which was shared with Tom’s and Heather’s “Aunty Sue” who ran a successful care sector business. As Spectre gained traction and became a much sought after prospecting tool, a move to a snazzy new office in the City was on the cards. So, in January 2017 we moved to a small (but hip) office in a state of the art complex in Ancoats (very “SaaS”!). The addition to the team of the legendary duo, Jamie Redfern and Alex Cicchirillo, employees number three and four respectively, prompted a move to a large (equally cool) basement office in the same building.
Then, as the development team grew, we realised that another move to accommodate our rapid rate of growth was needed. And so came the move to our current humungous office in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, which, if it weren’t for the enforced working from home, we’d have grown out of by now too!
Throughout my time at Street Group, from it being just the three of us, to where we are now with a diverse commercial and development team of more than fifty people, the culture of the business has always been the same. Transparent. Honest. Open. Inclusive. Striving to be experts in our field, we support one another and work towards shared ambitious goals — with the customer at the heart of everything we do.
I have absolutely no doubt that with the incredibly clever and talented team we have, with the world-beating products we have, and the leadership of Tom and Heather at the helm, Street Group and our clients have a very exciting future ahead. I feel privileged to be part of it.
You deserve a little spotlight moment because not only has the company grown, but so have you! It’s been amazing to see how you have stepped into the role you’re in now. Could you tell us a little bit about your journey through the company?
The nature of my journey through the company, from a small, one product tech start-up, to where we are today means that I’ve gained hands-on experience of pretty much every part of the business.
When I first joined, working exclusively on the growth of Spectre, I did everything from cold calling to generate new business, to demos of Spectre, training of new clients and acting as their account manager for ongoing support. With Spectre, I’ve had the privilege of working with every type of agent from one branch start-ups through to national corporate agents with hundreds of branches, and have had a close, long-term working relationship with many of them.
This relationship with our estate agency clients and my grounding in the company has meant my transition to working on the Street.co.uk team has been a natural one. Witnessing Street’s transformation over the last three years from a visionary idea, through to its enormous launch last November means I feel that I have seen every step of the Street journey. I am very excited now to be working with agents all over the country, who are embracing the efficiencies and benefits the phenomenal technology behind Street provides for themselves and their clients.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced during your time at Street Group?
It’s a nice challenge to face, but working every day as part of the Street Group team amongst some of the cleverest, most visionary, most driven and motivated people I’ve ever worked with, means I have to work really hard to try to keep pace! Without exception, every member of the Street Group team is at the top of their game. It keeps me on my toes and challenges me every day.
What has been your biggest achievement whilst working at Street Group?
I’m most proud of the great long-standing relationships I have built up with our clients over the past four and half years, and seeing how these have helped to grow the business and build our reputation within the property industry. Seeing those clients loving our products and the service they receive, as well as benefiting from an incredible RoI at the same time is priceless!
And to think I’ve played even a small role in the evolution of Street Group to where it is today feels like a massive achievement.
To find out more about life at Street Group, visit streetgroup.co.uk, our Glassdoor page, or visit our careers site.
