Razvan Atim, Head of Sales for Eastern Europe, UiPath. Razvan joined UiPath in 2007 and has been in the current position since 2018. UiPath is the fastest-growing enterprise software company in history. The employee base grew to over 2,900 people today, across 25+ offices. In 2019 UiPath was named a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation Software.
How did you start your career? Which were your first steps? How did you envision your career?
I started my sales career in 2001 and have sold a wide range of product and services from web design, cakes, confectionaries to software solutions.
What were your key career moments (those that had an impact on your professional journey)?
First, I did not have any corporate experience before UiPath. I was among the first ten employees that joined the company. The opportunity to be part of the exponential growth from start-up to scale-up has been truly amazing.
There were a couple experiences that influenced my career. A former manager, now one of my closest friends and an entrepreneur in the clothing business, introduced me to the principles of sales.
I have also learned a lot from the UiPath founders having the pleasure and privilege working with them directly and closely. I was immersed in Daniel Dines’ customer-centric business philosophy and Marius Tirca’s technical expertise and I absorbed everything like a sponge. Kulpreet Singh, who now leads UiPath Test Suite, encouraged me to express myself candidly. For me, that was liberating – and I keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone. There is a lot of talent infusion at UiPath that gave me a lot of energy – together with the innovative mindset and the company’s ambition to deliver transformation with RPA for our customers.
What is the best three most valuable career lessons you have learned?
Here are the top three lessons that I have learned from my few decades of experience:
- Talk meaningful topics, talk the language of the customer, be in the customer’s shoes and start the action from the customer’s perspective and priorities.
- Be professional and modest. Success, anywhere we may find it, is a result of balanced reason and emotion, vision and pragmatism and professionalism.
- Long-term partnership. It is important that we are in the game ‘together’ with our partners, working together to deliver constant innovation and sustainable, mutual success.
Why did you choose Business Service Industry? What were top 3 reasons for choosing UiPath?
The software industry is very dynamic. I feel like fish in water in this environment. The application of RPA goes across multiple functions – HR, Finance, Procurement IT and we are helping to build a new business model with RPA. I believe technology innovation and adoption help to create a better future for humanity and I think the future is bright and unexpectedly specular.
UiPath is a different type of company. It has a unique culture that embraces a beautiful variety of people with top skillsets, deep minds and creativity, and the culture empowers employees to unleash their talent.
I am an action-oriented person, not necessarily because I am in sales, but because I like to see opportunities turning to successful measurable results. Seeing happy customers reaping the benefits of what we do, keeps me going!
I joined the company in 2007, before being even named UiPath. I am among the first 10 employees. Thus, I have had the unique opportunity to fully experience this amazing journey. I consider myself very lucky to have experienced such a wonderful journey. It’s once in a life time opportunity!
What are your/your company’s plans for 2020?
As a company, we are constantly raising the bar – expanding platform capabilities and creating new solutions for the customers. For example, we have acquired new capabilities in process mining, launched UiPath Automation Hub, which helps customers manage the automation lifecycle with instant visibility and control, and our test automation solution will soon become publicly available.
2020 is the year of hyperautomation – automate everything that can be automated and with a much more sophisticated automation approach from process discovery to the management of automation and insights. For our customers, it is about scaling up PRA enterprise wide, making automation accessible, and delivering the vision of one robot for every employee.
What do you think would be the keywords of the year for managers in the Business Services industry? Automation? Cutting costs?
Automation. Business transformation. Rapid evolution and technology adoption.
Tell us a little bit about your private life. Tell us about your passions, family. What do you do to relax?
I am married with two children aged four and six. Life is a gift and I have a lot of fun with my children. They are genuine, upfront and expressive and they make me smile. Reading is one of my passions. I especially interested in philosophy, psychology, and psychoanalysis but I am also very into tech trends such AI, ML and blockchain.
If you were starting now your career, knowing the present and near future opportunities, what would you do? What career would you pursue?
I am living in the present to the full.
What are the top 3 skills that you would develop?
I am always looking to improve my soft skills, my communication and relationship with the others, setting up new personal standards as the main driver for personal growth.
What would you do and what would you avoid doing? – practical advice to young professionals.
I would do the same. I would train myself to carry out whatever I set as a task, project, desire to help. Just do it! I would train myself not to act on first impulse. Many beautiful, long-term partnerships end before they happen because of a wrong first reaction.
Correlated to the above, be a mix of modesty and professionalism.
There is no business without feelings. Be a mix of professionalism and passion.
I would train myself to be patient. Nothing happens over the night, at the same time, the success after a prolonged effort is a unique feeling. Built yourself on successful tasks, projects, results, that will make you trust in yourself. It is then when you will bring value to others.
I would be bold – a question will not kill anyone! Ask, initiate dialogue. We all die eventually, there is no single human more superior than others. We are all in debt with death and live only once. Be bold, be cool, be creative, and act.