For a real estate tech platform managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investor fundraising every day, you might expect the team at Juniper Square to boast real estate-heavy backgrounds.
While the team certainly has a deep pool of real estate experts and finance pros, Juniper Square has also thrived by embracing those with unconventional backgrounds.
Take Logan Buckner, for example. The customer success manager joined the startup two years ago from a talent agency in Los Angeles, where he helped clients land acting roles in film and television.
On paper, entertainment and real estate don’t share much in common, but Buckner’s previous experience working with clients to determine what they’d like to achieve, then customizing a plan of attack to execute those goals is exactly what he does for his customers today.
It’s hires like Buckner that have helped Juniper Square create a team of diverse backgrounds that’s united by the belief in their product and the goal of delivering an industry-leading customer experience.
We chatted with Buckner to learn more about what makes working at Juniper Square a fascinating and fulfilling experience.
How did you end up at Juniper Square? What attracted you to the company?
The two things that impressed me the most early on were the groundbreaking product they built and the opportunity that came with it. It makes life easy when you work for a company that has a product you believe in, and I knew getting to work at a rising startup like Juniper Square would also provide me with a plethora of opportunities to learn and grow as I further my career.
What’s the culture like?
It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Our executive team is incredibly transparent, and there is a true sense of collegiality amongst the entire Juniper Square team. We all come from unique backgrounds, and we respect everyone as equals. There isn’t an ego to be found as we all work together to deliver the best product we can to our customers.
As a member of the growing CSM team, what challenges are you faced with and how does your team overcome them?
As the real estate industry is constantly evolving, our product grows with it. For this reason, it’s important for our CS team to recognize the different trends in the real estate market and work with our customers to help them best take advantage.
We have a number of employees — myself included — who didn’t have any real estate experience prior to working at Juniper Square, which could make the mission above challenging. However, from the first day on, our team of real estate experts do a great job of educating new and current employees on all there is to know about the real estate market, which in turn has helped our product and customers thrive.
We know that everyone can add value in ways that are outside of their job description.”
What opportunities are there to cross-collaborate with other teams?
We all know that we come from unique backgrounds, and for that reason we know that everyone can add value in ways that are outside of their job description. Instead of sticking to the status quo, we encourage our colleagues to interact with other teams whenever the opportunity presents itself. With that in mind, the opportunities to cross-collaborate are endless.
This recently occurred after a CSM received customer feedback on how we could improve our product with an added feature that currently didn’t exist on our platform. The CSM knew this would be a nice feature for our customers, so she met with the product and engineering teams, walked them through the use case and helped them build out this feature. Through the collaboration between the three teams, we were able to ship out that feature within several days.
What resources and professional development opportunities are available for your team?
One of our company’s core values is “become better together.” We take care of each other because people are the foundation of our business. For this reason, we offer an array of resources and opportunities to help bolster each employee’s professional career. If you are interested in taking a class or participating in an event that will help you progress in your career, then our company will find ways in which it can cater to what you need.
What are you most excited about for the future of your company?
Can I say “everything?” I started at Juniper Square about two years ago when we were 15 people strong, and now we have grown to 90 employees, and it’s only going to go up from there. I have had the luxury to work with an amazing team that is constantly expanding. Being able to see firsthand how this company has evolved has been an incredible journey, and I could not be more excited for what’s to come as we continue to grow.
