Meet Sebastian! The iATS connection to an ever-growing network of consultants, Seb has built his role from the ground up and has made significant contributions to iATS’s success in the nonprofit sector.
iATS: Tell us about yourself! What’s your background?
Seb: I’m Vancouver-born and raised, but I’ve moved around a lot. My parents immigrated from Peru, which gave me a different perspective growing up.
After a master's in international business, I worked at a local outsourced sales development organization, followed by a SaaS organization based out of Chile. I started, unsuccessfully, as a one-man show trying to bring the software to a North American audience. It was a great learning experience, but, thankfully, the CEO asked me to join the Latin America Sales team. I grew a lot there and was eventually able to lead a team and return to my original mandate, this time with a bit more success.
iATS: You've had such a diverse background. What drew you to iATS?
Seb: I came to iATS about a year ago because I was interested in the nonprofit sector, as well as tech for good and impact-oriented organizations. A company with purpose appealed to me, as well as the many and diverse nonprofits that iATS works with. I was excited to build upon and expand these relationships.
iATS: How has that relationship building been going for you? Have you managed to connect with consultants?
Seb: It’s been daunting, but as I’ve learned more about our products and the space we work in, I’ve been able to connect with consultants. I was able to learn from them and really start to understand what they and their clients are looking for.
Early on I noticed an unexpected lack of awareness about iATS among consultants, which was surprising to the organization given our size and legacy working with nonprofits. I quickly realized that my role wouldn’t be just about signing people up to a generic partner program, but also about amplifying our voice and bringing in an element of marketing. I’ve been creating resources, demos, webinars, blog posts – all the things that serve the need of communicating who we are.
iATS: Then it’s safe to say your role has changed since you started?
Seb: It really has. It became more a balance of community building and product management. I had to understand how the platform itself is changing, learn the use cases, and gather feedback from the consultants so that we can keep improving the way we serve nonprofits.
iATS: With your role evolving, has that also come with challenges?
Seb: One of the tricky things was figuring out how to measure success. Since this is unprecedented, and my output has changed to meet the needs of our clients and the company, it can be hard to find a barometer to measure my work by. There have been achievements and improvements, just not necessarily the ones we expected.
iATS: Tell me more about these achievements!
Seb: I think I’ve managed to find a way to get us a seat at the table with organizations that work with a lot of different nonprofits. I’ve been able to build a level of rapport and brand awareness by taking the time to showcase that we are genuine about what we’re doing.
iATS: Have you also had professional growth more broadly?
Seb: I’ve had to be fully accountable for my work and make sure that I clearly communicate what I’m doing with a lot of stakeholders. I need to manage relationships, keep aligned with product development, and even offer support in some client implementations. It’s a challenge but I enjoy it.
I’m also a fan of implementing best practices, which often leads me to research and learning. I’ve been reading up on project management, and I’ve even found myself doing some design work.
iATS: What do you love about working at iATS?
Seb: I love the team. People are here because of the nonprofit focus and genuinely want to make our clients successful. I’ve been surprised by the nonprofit space more broadly too; other industries can be intense, but this industry is full of overwhelmingly collaborative people.
iATS: How So?
Seb: For example, you’ll go to a conference, and everyone will be open and happy to share what they’re doing to succeed because they want your clients to succeed too, even if you’re competitors. It keeps me motivated in my mission.
iATS: Speaking of missions, what causes are important to you?
Seb: Like a lot of my generation, I worry about climate change. Organizations that bring awareness to and solutions for these issues, like the Honnold Foundation which does really interesting solar energy projects designed around communities, interest me.
More locally, homelessness and inequity is a big issue in Vancouver. Places like A Loving Spoonful do phenomenal work to help the most vulnerable populations in this city.
iATS: What upcoming initiatives are you excited about? What’s on the horizon?
Seb: I’m really looking forward to more product-oriented work. I’ve had lot of great conversations with people who want to collaborate and now I have the agency to execute these initiatives. I’ve also been working with our developers and I'm excited to see what our platform is going to look like going forward.
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