Every unique and talented Avantee is a co-creator of the Avant culture we love. We hope the @Avant series helps you get to know who we are, how we do what we do, and what it looks like to build your career at Avant.
Kevin Friedrich
Chief Financial Officer on the Finance Team
Joined Avant in 2014
What’s it like to work @Avant? We asked Kevin for his take on our culture, and here’s what he said:
1. How would you describe Avant’s culture?
Since the beginning, Avant has always been energetic, authentic, and full of people who are motivated by success—Avant’s success, and their own personal success. We thrive on challenges, on solving problems. We’ve had to weather our fair share of storms, and it’s the people and the culture that get us through it.
To me, authenticity and trust-building are key—anybody who knows me knows I really value those things. I see it on my team, in our weekly finance leadership meetings, where everybody has this genuine camaraderie, this trust. Everybody’s comfortable. We can have real conversations and open dialogue, without the feeling of hierarchy. People are free to speak their minds. That’s part of what makes this culture great.
2. Why are you happy/successful here?
The two main things that make me happy here are the authenticity of the people and the problems we solve. I came from a very large bank where the job was pretty similar month to month. It gets tedious. What has kept me here at Avant, and what has made me happy, is the variety, that constant switching from one thing to another. I’m walking out of one meeting and going into another on a completely different topic. A new problem to solve, a new topic to dig into, something new to learn, to see as an opportunity. The job isn’t just numbers on a spreadsheet, it’s the ability to touch a wide range of things across the organization.
3. What’s something Avant is really good at? What’s something you’d like to see us get better at?
What we’re really good at is being adaptable. Our people are really scrappy. To take on the challenges we have, to weather these storms, we’ve had to get creative. We’re good at recognizing when we need to move fast and adapt—to understand, in a moment of uncertainty, what’s in our control and what’s not, and to do our best to find a solution and a path forward.
I wouldn’t give up the pace at which we move, but I think we could narrow the scope a bit, in terms of what exactly we’re moving fast on. In some cases, we could focus on doing a smaller number of things better or faster, and then move on to the other things that we want to do.
4. If you were to describe who you are and not mention your work at all, what would you say?
Simply put, I’m a baseball dad. I’ve got three boys; they all started in tee-ball and now they’re in baseball. And over the years, I’ve gotten to coach all three of them. They love it, I love it, and it’s just been great to see them grow.
I had never coached before, and I really only played baseball in middle school. But when my oldest started to play tee-ball, there was a shortage of coaches, so I volunteered. After that, I coached two years of tee-ball for my middle son before he moved on, and then two more years with my youngest. Ever since, I’ve been an assistant coach for all of them.
As a coach, I really want to see them learn and grow. I’m the type of coach that’s not about necessarily winning or losing—it’s about the team, and how you can perform relative to your own expectations. What can you do? How can you improve to be better for both you and the team, and have fun in the process? That’s my style as a coach.
5. What’s your favorite thing about the way your specific job role works on your team?
I think my favorite thing about my role is that I get to build my team. I genuinely enjoy all the conversations I have about what we like about our team, and what kind of people would thrive and add to the culture. Often, the very specific skills are less important than your attitude, your eagerness to learn and grow, your adaptability—spreadsheets can be taught, but I can’t teach you how to be motivated. I can’t teach you to care about solving problems or living up to our values. So that’s my favorite thing about my job.
6. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
As a teenager, I worked at a photo developing company and I thought it was cool. For a fleeting moment, I thought, “I can do that,” and I was interested in becoming a photographer. That was the first thing that piqued my interest.
