Simeon Garratt, the Co-founder and CEO of Spark RE Technologies had a talk with Mirror Review about his journey and experience with his company. Simeon shares, “I started Spark through a mix of passion and frustration for the real estate industry. Excel spreadsheets, pen, and paper, all those low tech solutions were used to get real estate deals done. It was frustrating and time consuming. I knew there had to be another way. That’s what led me to founding Spark RE Technologies.” Simeon and his team continually work to take Spark to new levels of success.
A Good Leader Should be Inspiring and Trustworthy
Who is your ideal leader and what are the qualities of a good leader?
Elon Musk. I think he’s the perfect blend of genius, quirky, and insane. In my opinion, the most important qualities of an ideal leader are to be inspiring and trustworthy. All other qualities come as a by-product of these. Inspiration and trust are two of the most important things that employees seek in their leader. The workforce dedicates their time, knowledge, and efforts to a company, and the leader should guide his team members towards success while fostering a healthy work culture. I wake up every day and start work with the goal of succeeding with my team.
Take Time to “Be You” to Push your Own Personal Development
As a leader, what are your ways to conquer challenges and improve personal growth?
I constantly work on how to motivate and inspire my team, while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of my personal development. I try to take time to disconnect, just as much as I make an effort to connect. One should make sure to take time to ‘be you’ and not lose yourself in your work. Being who I am reminds me to stay focused and work consciously without losing myself. Whenever one loses himself in work, he forgets to amplify his abilities and just works at the same pace. By being yourself, you can make better decisions and enhance your abilities to a great extent. This impacts the development of the company. I have been following this rule for ages, and empower my team to walk on the same path towards satisfaction at work balanced with personal growth.
Hiring Smarter People while Bringing Value to Clients
Tell us something about your team. What is the importance of a team for a leader?
My team is made up of people from every walk of life, and who come from diverse backgrounds. Think of your team as just as much of a sounding board as they are your motivation. Hire people smarter than you, who can push you to be better in the same way that you can push them. They will help you to solve complex issues and develop the current state of your company to a much higher level. At Spark, we have surrounded ourselves with a talented and tightly knit community whose reliable expertise and collaborative work brings value to our clients.
Spark is All About Relationships—With Each Other and our Clients
Introduce us to Spark.
Spark is a company comprising of passionate people who are creating and delivering an amazing product. We genuinely care about our team, product, and clients. Our company and our software are based on real relationships: with each other and with our clients. Not only do we implement software, we implement strategy around how to have a successful project sellout. This consultative and immersive approach is something that is rare with most software companies.
Spark currently works in over 80 cities around the world and is looking to grow into more areas. We work with multi-family developers, homebuilders, marketing agencies, and new development brokerages to provide a better approach to real estate transactions. We’re building smarter and more powerful software for the real estate sector.
Changing Way Real Estate is Sold and Marketed
How do you see the future of your venture over the next decade?
Spark is poised to be a major player in new development real estate, as we build out a software ecosystem for the space globally. Our mission is to fundamentally change the way real estate is sold and marketed. Our all-in-one intuitive platform combines real estate lead and inventory management which helps users to validate data by preventing you from entering duplicate information. We’re at the forefront of real estate development and technology. Spark has a rare ability to see the digital translated into the physical realm, and we’re excited to see how our clients innovate with the software moving forward.
From a company standpoint, I’m a huge advocate of equal opportunity and workplace advancement. I’d also love to see a higher level of contribution and engagement between companies and the communities they work in.
Aspiring Leaders should adopt a Problem Solving Approach
What advice you would like to offer to any young leaders?
Solve a real problem. By doing that, you’ll find the people who have the same goal as you. Together with like-minded people, a leader can catalyze huge transformation because simplifying or solving industry issues is an innate, cross-market need in the present business world. Leadership is really about alignment and your team is as good as the direction they are pointed in.
