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.
Sam Elrad
Gen AI Product Strategy on the Gen AI Team
Joined Avant in 2021
What’s it like to work @Avant? We asked Sam for his take on our culture, and here’s what he said:
1. How would you describe Avant’s culture?
The culture is incredibly collaborative. Whether you are just starting your career at Avant or you’ve been here for a decade, whether you are more senior or more junior, it doesn’t really matter. Your voice is important. Your subject matter expertise, your ability to learn, your desire to explore is valued here. That’s something that is really unique about Avant. I think it comes from the fact that we all have the same desire to unlock credit for people who might not be able to get it somewhere else, and if we all have the same core mission and are working toward that goal, collaboration just becomes natural. That’s really exciting.
2. Why are you happy/successful here?
What makes me happy to be here at Avant is the ability to try out new things. I’ve been on the Loan team, then extended out to the Loan and Card team, I was the Chief of Staff for our CEO Al, and now I am overseeing the AI strategy. All of those opportunities came up because I said I was interested in diving deeper and learning more about them. I would give the advice to anybody here at Avant that if you’re really excited about something outside the scope of your day-to-day responsibilities, speak up. Avant really allows you to explore new things. That’s part of the reason why people are just so happy to be here.
3. If you were to describe who you are and not mention your work at all, what would you say?
The things that make me who I am outside of work are my love for sports and my passion for grilling with my wife. I’m a Chicago Bears fanatic who spends every minute he possibly can grilling on his Blackstone grill. I love trying new recipes while watching the game, and hopefully seeing a Bears win. I grew up in Chicago, so I have always been a massive Chicago Bears fan. And when I moved into my first apartment here in Chicago after graduating, it was the first time I had access to a grill. I started tinkering around with it a little bit and I fell in love with it. Now, I grill probably four or five days a week. It’s the best.
4. What’s something Avant is really good at? What’s something you’d like to see us get better at?
Avant is really good at describing goals and outcomes that we want to hit and then actually working toward them. I see a lot of companies out there who can describe what they’re trying to accomplish, but then they deviate because of X, Y, and Z. What Avant does really well is it focuses on things that are tangible, even when our goals might be ambitious. Usually, we not only accomplish those goals, but we exceed our own expectations, which is a really exciting thing to be a part of.
For one thing that I think we can work on, I’ll talk about something that would be on my shoulders. With the AI craze right now, I would love to see us continue to be excited about it, to continue to work to understand the technology, and then to use it to enable Avant’s mission. We’re on a great path toward this goal, and I would love to see everyone continue to speak up, reach out to me or other folks on the team, and keep pioneering ourselves to become industry leaders. That opportunity sits with me, and also sits with everyone here, to lean into AI tools and try out new things that are really cool and innovative.
5. What is your favorite thing about the way your specific job role works on your team?
What I love about my role is that I get to work with all our other teams. I help them uncover bottlenecks and pain points and exciting opportunities and then empower them to move forward. Hopefully, I enable other teams to become more productive or more excited about the new technologies that we’re embracing here at Avant.
6. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a football player—that was a short-lived dream at age 4 or 5. But then, as someone who is not the typical size of an NFL player, I pivoted to soccer, and then I realized that that wouldn’t happen either. Eventually I figured out that corporate life was a better fit.
