Snapdocs, the quickly growing San Francisco based real estate tech company, is an industry-leading digital closing platform. The company is on a mission to perfect mortgage closings for all involved. Snapdocs powers over one million closings per year, and is leading the charge to modernize, streamline, and improve the process for lenders, borrowers, and settlement.
We spoke to Greg Russell, Head of People and Talent for Snapdocs, about the continuing Covid-19 crisis and his company’s culture and mission.
In what ways has this pandemic shifted the way your business operates? How have your
people responded to the crisis?
people responded to the crisis?
“Before the pandemic, ‘face to face’ was our default way of operating. While we’ve got a handful of fully remote folks, and we certainly supported the ability for anyone to WFH occasionally, the expectation has always been for folks to be present in one of our two offices (SF and Denver). The pandemic has obviously completely changed that in the short term, and will no doubt have some longer-term influence on how we think about WFH and remote work. I’m super proud of how our people have responded to this crisis. I think everyone has really lived up to two of our operating principles in particular: Be Empathetic, and Be Pragmatic, which have helped ensure that everyone has the flexibility and support they need while keeping our business moving without slowing down.”
What are you most proud of that your company has achieved over the last year?
“I’m super proud of how we’ve grown over the past year. We’ve doubled in that time period, going from ~70 to 145. We have 3 entire departments that did not exist a year ago. And we’ve managed that growth without sacrificing one iota on our quality bar, our culture, or our operating principles. If anything, our growth has strengthened our commitment to doing things the Snapdocs Way.”
What attributes are you looking for when determining who gets hired there?
“We value expertise and autonomy. i.e. if you are an expert in your area, our culture gives you wide latitude and autonomy to get your job done and help move us forward toward our shared goals. We have a very humble and empathetic culture, and those are two of the things that are always top of mind for us when hiring. In fact, we have an interview session that is focused solely on our operating principles, and misalignment to those principles is a disqualifier, no matter how strong the technical or functional fit may be.”
Are there any guiding principles that your company lives by?
“We have a set of living, breathing Operating Principles for the company. Empathy, Authenticity, Pragmatism, Innovation, Teamwork, and Results Orientation. We chose to officially call these our Operating Principles rather than ‘core values’ or ‘company values’, as we truly view them as the principles by which we make decisions and operate Snapdocs. We work hard to live these principles every day and have put several mechanisms in place to help us do just that.”
How did you rise to the occasion when you were faced with the biggest challenge you had to overcome as a business?
“One of our biggest challenges is that there really is no playbook for a tech company in the mortgage space. This is perhaps the largest space that is still relatively untouched by technology, and we’re a first mover here. This means there is no giant success story for us to emulate as we grow. We’ve had to figure everything out as we go.”
What are some of the best practices you and your staff do to stay connected, in general
and in times of crisis?
and in times of crisis?
“I think one big thing that has helped us to feel really connected in general and to stay connected during this crisis, is our culture. I’m really grateful that we have a super strong culture so we’re all connected by a common language and shared foundation. During the shelter in place period, we’ve worked hard to mitigate the loss of the organic touchpoints we all have on a daily basis when in the office by creating as many virtual events and opportunities to connect both in and out of work mode.”
Would you like to share anything else that we have not yet asked?
“We’re super grateful that our business continues to grow through this crisis. We’re hiring for a variety of roles across the business (especially product and engineering) in both Denver and San Francisco (and we’re increasingly open to remote folks).”