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Gain firsthand insight into how auction professionals can overcome growth barriers and use technology built by auction people for auction people, without losing the personal touch.
Brandon Giella: Hello, and welcome back to
another episode of the Innovate Podcast.
I have with me a special guest for
the very first time, the President
and CTO of innovate, Nathan Staub.
Welcome Nathan.
Nathan Staub: Thank you
for having me, Brandon.
Brandon Giella: Okay, so today we
are gonna be talking about digital
transformation and why auctioneers and
auction owners really need to embrace and
think about their digital transformation
initiatives, perhaps even thinking about
their companies as a software company.
We will get into that.
I know that sounds daunting and
overwhelming, uh, because auction,
the auction industry, as you know,
is it's a traditional industry.
In, in the sense that it is about
relationships and it is about often
physical sales people being on location,
hearing the auctioneer, buying and
selling different things in, in real
time, on, on the ground, on location.
And yet there is a digital
transformation that is completely
changing the auction world and has
been for quite a, quite a while.
But as technology now is continuing
to increase, we are seeing this
take place in the auction industry.
Enter your story and
the story with Innovate.
But before we get there, I want to
hear, give me some of your thoughts
on digital transformation and the
importance of why auction owners
need to take this really seriously.
So, I know you've had in your mind, you
know, talking about some case studies
of some companies who have not, but
then also some companies who have done
really well and the importance of it.
So walk me through a little
bit of your thinking on this.
Nathan Staub: Yeah, so, you know, my
background has really come from, um, you
know, traditional industries who have kind
of undergone this digital transformation
and helping, uh, companies navigate that
and, um, uh, kind of ride that wave.
And, you know, we know a lot about the
textbook cases, about companies who
failed to adapt and failed to really
navigate that digital transformation.
Uh, you know, the obvious one that a lot
of people think about is, is Kodak, right?
And you think about Kodak founded,
um, in 1880, uh, in, by 1973,
they had 120,000 employees.
Uh, they had peaked in 1996
with over 16 billion in revenue.
Uh, just a, just a, a behemoth, you
know, dominating, uh, uh, you know,
the, the, the photography scene cameras,
uh, and was really the pioneer there.
In fact, they, they had.
Built the first digital camera,
but we all know the story and
we know where they're at now.
By 2012, they had, uh, filed
for bankruptcy, uh, you know,
basically no longer in existence.
And, and looking at that, you,
you say, how did that happen?
And to me, I think that's one of
those textbook cases of a company who.
Who really failed to navigate
that digital transformation.
Uh, they, they came in strong,
but really failed to see the
signs in front of them and adapt.
And uh, I think you have others like that
and sometimes it's entire industries.
You think about the, uh, uh, New York
City taxis who, you know, used to that,
that's an iconic, uh, you know, New York.
Image in everyone's mind is, is the,
is the, the taxis with the medallions.
And in 2010, you know, that medallion,
that license to be able to, uh, run
a taxi cab cost a million dollars.
Uh, you're talking about the
peak people were looking for it.
Uh, but then today you go to New York
City and everybody's looking at a phone,
uh, looking for an Uber or a Lyft.
Uh, and today less than 10% of New
York City's, uh, driver landscape is.
Is yellow taxis, uh, again, that's
an industry, a company that failed
to make that digital transformation.
They were just overrun by it.
They were dominant.
And so that's kind of the way I view
things is, is looking at how this
digital transformation impacts industries
and again, kind helping customers and
companies navigate that, uh, and, and
really make that transition smoothly.
Brandon Giella: Yeah, those are great
examples, uh, where you have this, these
kind of stayed industries like, uh, the
taxi industry or the hotel industry or
even, you know, a lot of TV industries.
And you then you have these
digital upstarts, like you
mentioned Uber, or you have Airbnb.
Uh, disrupting hotels or you
have, um, like Netflix coming on
the scene disrupting blockbuster.
Uh, and then now, I mean, disrupting
the TV networks themselves, you
know, where they had to all change to
streaming, you know, um, just in, in
a, a short amount of time, you know,
10 or 15 years is really that window.
Um, and this comes, comes out of how, uh.
You know, software has just totally
transformed so many of these industries.
So, um, you know, cloud computing
and so many different things have,
have just changed to everything over
the last, let's say, 10 or 15 years.
So, uh, but where does that
leave us with auction businesses?
So tell us a little bit about, like, so
the auction industry itself, again, we
talked about traditional, you know, kind
of background and, and very trust-based,
relational based, but has shifted
more to this kind of digital platform.
Tell us a little bit about maybe
some, some data that you might have on
where you're seeing how auction, um,
buyers and sellers are navigating this
kind of digital landscape nowadays.
Nathan Staub: Yeah.
So, you know, when you look at
the auction industry and, and you
see again, a, an an, an industry
that goes back thousands of years.
Um, so it has just these
deep roots in culture.
Um, but it, it too is, you know, like
you mentioned, it's going undergoing
one of these digital transformations.
And if you look at just some of
the metrics that indicate that
you see that, uh, you know.
Over 35.6
million Americans have participated
in online auctions, right?
It's that, that is
where they're moving to.
We, we obviously know the prominence
of, of eBay and things of that nature.
Um, but they are, you know, that is, that
is where they're going to look for it.
That's that digital transformation
that's kind of just, uh, really,
uh, permeating, uh, culture.
Um, and, and you look at some of the
other metrics there that are really,
uh, indicative of what's happening
and you see that out of those.
Uh, online auctions, 65%,
uh, are customers who have
repeated attendance, right?
They come back 1, 2, 3, up to 10 times.
You have 22% of those online customers
who've participated more than 25 times.
So it's something that kind of, once
people get into that mode, that's,
that's what they're looking for.
They want that experience.
That's what they're craving, and that is
the indication of, uh, you know, the, the.
Real digital transformation and how
it just kind of starts to overwhelm
an industry is once people get that
taste for, you know, the digital
interaction, uh, the digital product,
that's what they begin looking for.
And so, kind of my strategy for, uh,
for every industry, but specifically for
auctions is, you know, you, you've got
to now begin looking at your business
as a software business in a lot of ways.
You can't just look at yourself
as, uh, an auction company.
Uh, where, you know, you were thinking
about consignors and you're thinking
about buyers now you really have to
think and to take in consideration
your digital strategy, uh, how you were
approaching people from that online place.
Um, and, and to be able to give them the
experiences now that they have, have been
able to, uh, you know, experience online.
Other auction companies.
And that's really how I think, you
know, you, you ride that wave of digital
transformation is you view your company,
your product as a digital product, use
a, you've gotta put a strategy behind it.
You've got to put, um, basically some
effort, some thought around it, and to
be able to approach it with that mindset.
And that is really what will open
up, uh, you know, those doors.
Will really bring you buyers,
because that's what those
digital buyers are looking for.
They're, they're gonna find it, right.
They know the experience,
they know what they're after.
Um, we, you know, especially at innovate,
uh, being able to approach that, we wanna
be able to give auction companies that
tool, set that toolkit, uh, to be able
to meet those needs and, and really what
that digital audience is looking for.
Brandon Giella: I love this.
This is, um, it's, it's kind of
like convenience is one part of
the, the business case, if you will.
It's like once you, once you do
that first digital auction, you're
like, wow, this is kind of nice.
I don't have.
To put my shoes on and get in my car
and go to, even though I would prefer
that all else being equal, you know, I
would prefer to be in the room where it
happens and listening to the auctioneer,
you know, talking and, and the smell
of it and all that kind of stuff.
But it's really convenient to
be able to buy and sell things
digitally where I'm in my office.
Um, so I know that's one part of
it, but talk to me a little bit
more about the business case before
we get into your story with Nno
A and where Nno a may be, um, you
know, solving some of these things.
Talk to me about.
Why is it, uh, uh, maybe more of the
mechanics of if I were to set up a
digital property or undergo this kind
of, uh, digital change or transformation.
Now, we've talked a little bit about this
in previous episodes with Jody talking
about some of the logic and why it's
important to think of, of the business
overall in like an automation cadence.
But I know part of your background is,
you know, doing SEO work and digital
properties and things like that.
Like, like make the case for
me why I should really be
thinking about my storefront or
my business in a digital world.
Nathan Staub: Yeah.
So again, we, we all know that's how
buyers, uh, are really looking, uh, for
what they're, what they're wanting, right?
And whether it's e-commerce and
whether it's a shirt or clothing
or whether it's a car, that's where
people are going first and it's not any
different, um, in, in the auction world.
Um.
In the auction world, people are
searching for what they want to buy.
Brandon Giella: Hmm.
Nathan Staub: And I think for auction
companies, um, auctioneers are
expert in the, the event marketing.
Um, they understand it, they've
been doing it for years.
Um, but this digital first kind of
strategy can throw a curve ball and.
What we see at Innovate is like,
listen, hey, we still think live
auctions work, but we think online
auctions is something that you ought
to be able to have a, an open door to.
Um, either way though, people are
digital minded, and so by being
able to look at your, what I
call your, your digital property.
Your digital real estate, it's your
website, your place on the web.
You've got to invest in that
just as you would in a physical
presence in your building.
You gotta make sure,
you've gotta have a room.
People can sit.
You're ordering lunch, you're making
sure they're taken care of, right?
You have to invest in that digital.
Property as well.
You've got to invest in the
signage and the advertising.
You've got to invest in
the, the user experience.
Make sure people are welcome that they,
they understand where they need to go,
what they need to do, and you know,
what's, you know, where to go to next and
how to, how to conduct a business there.
And I think, so if you take that
mindset of, okay, you, you know how
to do it in a physical presence.
You just need to translate that
into an online presence as well.
It's a, it's a very one-to-one.
Um, and you can apply those same
learnings from one place to the other.
And like I mentioned, it's, it's not
necessarily just about the online
event or having a simulcast auction.
You know, I, I went to, uh, and saw
a comedian, uh, last weekend and.
You know, it was an in-person event.
Me and my family went, we went together.
It was a, it was, you know,
family friendly comic and, but
I bought the tickets online.
I bought my, uh, parking online.
I looked online for what time to
be there and, and how to get there
and, and all of those things.
It was still a digital experience.
And so whether you're doing online
auctions or not, you still have to
think about that digital investment and,
and how your user is finding you and
what their experiences is when they,
uh, when they do land on your site.
Brandon Giella: Hmm.
I love that.
So it's about the experience,
uh, but there's also like
some technical things as well.
I know you've talked about before, uh, you
know, there's SEO value in the content and
the listings and the inventory and the way
that even the architecture of what you're
thinking about with your business that is.
You know, let's say you have spreadsheets,
or let's say you have an inventory
management system or something like
that, but if that's not represented in
a digital landscape, you're losing a
lot of value that could otherwise bring
a lot of traffic to the site as well.
I mean, that's, there's some
huge implications there.
Nathan Staub: absolutely.
You know, I mentioned, um.
Part of that digital strategy is,
is to make yourself visible for
what people are searching for.
And people are searching for inventory.
That's what they're looking for.
They're looking to buy a bulldozer or
they're looking, uh, to, to, to buy, uh,
you know, a certain product at auction,
that that's what they're looking for.
And so that's what they're searching for.
So.
From our view, that is what needs to be
exposed on your website, and that's really
where you need to make that investment.
What we've seen and what I learned,
uh, by joining in the, you know, the
auction industry and being able to
really learn about, uh, this, this
unique, um, method of selling is that.
A lot of times we have auction
companies have, have really taken,
um, their inventory and they've
mo moved it to a marketplace
because they needed the technology.
Maybe they didn't have the tools.
It was, it was really convenient
and that's where a lot of
buyers were already at.
But what you do by moving your inventory
and listing your inventory and your
event on a marketplace website while.
And I, I, I don't fault.
Anyway, it does bring you buyers, but
you are essentially investing in that
marketplace's real estate, their online
real estate, and you are seeding your most
valuable asset, which is your inventory.
And, and you are, or you're
handing it over to them.
You do that year, after year, after
year, and, uh, eventually that, that's
where other buyers are gonna go.
They're not going to go
to, to you, and it's.
It's the same thing you
see on online marketplace.
When you go to Amazon, uh, you buy from
the Amazon marketplace, it's convenient.
They do have lots of buyers, but when you
buy from Amazon, you're not thinking about
maybe the little small business underneath
that's actually doing all the work.
You just think of it as Amazon.
And so with InnovA we really
try to make that, uh, visible.
And one of the big things, I, I'm
not a marketer, uh, I am, I'm not a.
A digital SEO expert, but I, I
work with, um, and have some,
you know, experience, experience
with, uh, companies that do that.
And one of the things you'll hear over
and over and over is, is content is king.
Content is king.
Content is king.
You, you hear that when you're talking
about digital SEO and digital marketing.
And when it comes to the auction company.
Their content is their inventory.
Um, you know, they can write blogs about
auctions and they can do those things,
but really the content that they need to
expose to the, to the search engines for
that organic SEO and now for the AI agents
is that contents that inventory because
that's what people are looking for.
And if you put a, a
storefront on your domain.
You put your inventory listed, you are
now exposing, you are increasing the
footprint of your digital property and.
You are allowing all of that content now
feed, SEO, the search engines, the AI
agents, and that's what will really raise
the visibility, uh, for a lot of auction
companies online, uh, using that content.
Again, that's, that's the strategy
that we've come with and I think
it's a really brilliant solution.
Um, and I think it can really help
invest in those auction companies
making that digital transformation.
Brandon Giella: Yeah, I was just gonna
say as you were talking, um, if you
think software really changed the world,
you know, 20, 30 years ago and even
10 years ago, uh, just wait till AI
starts to totally transform these, these
industries, uh, and, and currently.
Is transforming these industries.
I mean, many, many industries are
being totally disrupted and changed.
Not like, not like you know,
the hotel industry with Airbnb
or you know, Uber and taxis.
I mean, fundamentally their
unit economics are changing.
The way they relate to
customers is changing.
The way customers relate
to them is changing.
I mean, it is a total profound
paradigmatic shift and.
I'm imagining, correct me if I'm wrong,
but from what I know about you and
know about Jodi and what you guys are
doing at Innova, you came to Innova in
2023 and the way that Jodi was talking
about the problem she was seeing in the
industry and what she was doing to, uh,
to create a solution for this around
this kind of digital transformation,
her light bulb transitioned in that
way long ago where she was like,
this has to be a software problem.
You know, and then given your
tech background, your product
background, you're coming to this
and you're going, yes, exactly.
It is a software problem.
Um, so talk to me a little bit about
that dynamic of you, uh, coming
into Innova and seeing this kind
of, you know, revolution take place.
But given your background, given Jody's
background and what you guys are doing,
maybe a little bit more tactically, like
one step down into how you're, you're,
you know, thinking about these problems.
Nathan Staub: Yeah.
So, uh, in 20, uh, three, whenever I
joined Innova, um, I, I just absolutely
fell in love with the opportunity.
Um, I saw Jodi's vision
and the passion she had.
Um, but sometimes you, you kind of
need another piece there, right?
You.
And so a lot of times we say that,
uh, Jodi brings the auction and
I bring, uh, the tech part of it.
Um, and really my experience in
that, in that digital product, uh,
I think it, it really, it meets it,
uh, right where the industry is at.
And I think, um, the vision
that Jodi has, uh, it really is
providing some real answers to.
You know exactly where, what
companies are looking for.
And you mentioned this, you know, ai,
which is now just a, a whole other
layer of this digital transformation.
Uh, in fact, if you
look just recently, uh.
OpenAI announced that chat,
GPT was about to start putting
ads in their search results.
And that's really what
digital product is all about.
It's about connecting people with
the tools and the information
that they're looking for.
Right.
So, you know, I mentioned about the
SEO strategy and increasing your
digital footprint investing there.
Now what we're seeing is that's
beginning to happen within the AI agents.
Back in, back in 2013, I worked for
a, a FinTech company, uh, that was
just absolutely revolutionizing the
way that online lending was happening.
Uh, they, they were basically took
an industry that was complicated,
uh, that was hard to navigate.
You had to go sit with a banker, you
had to fill out an application, fax it
back and forth, a very complex process.
And working with that company in
2013, I really learned the value of.
Giving people the tools that they needed
to navigate that and how to make that
a good digital process so that they
could get the information they need and
perform the tasks that they needed to do.
The same is true here at Innovate, right?
And you, again, we talk about this AI
people are going to it for answers.
They're going to it to look
for information, where to
buy, what should I buy?
How should I, you know,
when's the right time?
And auctions fit perfectly in that.
So we wanna make sure that the
companies we support and the
companies that use our product.
Have a ready toolkit, uh, to be able to
address those problems, to adjust that
new digital wave that's coming, um,
even the latest with these AI agents.
So it's, it's really a, a, a great
partnership to be able to take Jodi's
vision, kinda my tech background, and,
and really provide some tools to these
auction companies that, uh, uh, are
figuring out how to navigate this.
Brandon Giella: That's right.
That's right.
Yeah.
So.
You know, there's layer one, is
that digital, that initial digital,
uh, transformation going from maybe
a physical geographic, um, you
know, industry or, or a business.
Getting that all online,
making that digital.
But now with this AI revolution, it
is a whole new way of interacting with
customers, customers interacting with you.
Um, and so you guys are,
are tackling this in a.
Couple of different ways, but from,
um, what I've talked about with
Jody before is mainly I think on the
back office side of the, the product
and thinking through like, okay,
if we have all of the inventory and
the logic and the preferences and
everything that we need to run, you
know, an auction business effectively.
But then you've also got, I think what
more you're talking about is more of
the storefront, where that starts to
become a public facing interface where,
uh, folks can interact with the, the
auction business and their customers,
um, separate from a marketplace, say,
where they have their own storefront,
their own website, where that
content becomes really, really key.
Especially for search intent, like on
Google, but then also the, the answer
engine optimization, a EO, which is like,
uh, for, for ais and, and tools like that.
But then there's also this
simulcast piece as well where you
can do live auction experiences.
So you get a bit of a mix of both.
Can you talk us through a little bit
of, of the kind of product that you
guys are, are building now that we've
set the problem, but like there's this
product of the, the, um, the storefront.
Can you talk through that a
little bit more in detail?
Nathan Staub: Yeah, so I, I think, you
know, one of the things that you've
mentioned is, is really the full product
suite that inno a offers, addresses
auction companies in each one of these
areas from, you know, the back office,
which like you mentioned, really gives.
Auction companies, the ability to scale
without driving up their overhead.
You have the, um, uh, the storefront,
which we kind of, uh, alluded to
here, uh, earlier in this, uh,
some of these questions, which is
really providing auction companies
with that digital real estate that
they could begin attracting buyers.
But part of the.
Other piece of this that we
have is the bidding platforms.
Um, and it connects to the storefront.
With that user experience, we want
people to be able to get on, browse
that inventory, begin interacting.
Um.
Uh, getting familiar.
Some of the things that, uh, with, with
Jodi's vision as far as how in, uh, in,
uh, inventory is processed and prepared,
we're now being able to put that online.
And, and what that does is it
allows users to get on, spend time
on the website, begin interacting,
falling in love with that inventory.
And it does two things.
One, it really engages the buyer, right?
And when they're engaged, they're
gonna spend more time on your
website with this AI layer.
Right.
Google is also figuring out, all right,
how do we know the difference between what
people really are looking for and this
just AI generated mess that's out there.
And one of the key things that they're
looking for is user engagement.
People spending time on
your site and doing things.
So with Innovate, both with the
storefront and the bidding platform, we're
giving them opportunities to interact.
They have a favorites list.
They can watch it.
Um, they can pre-bid on things.
They can go in and download an inspection
report, and we can do all of this with
the efficiencies of the back office, all
the, all the meantime, really increasing
the engagement on the storefront and then
giving people a direct access to it during
the auction with the bidding platforms.
So I think just overall, it really is a,
a beautiful solution, um, that kind of
answers each, each pain point, uh, what
an auction company might be looking for.
And, and, and some of the, again, ways to
manage this digital transformation without
changing the core fabric of auctions
we're, it's, it's the same, right?
You still get to have that
same event, that same energy.
Uh, you just get to
open up your reach now.
Brandon Giella: Hmm.
Hmm.
That's so cool.
So where, where do you, uh, where are
you going, let's say in 2026, where as
the, the tech lead of innovate, what
are some things that you are, you know,
some trends you're thinking about?
And the reason I'm asking this question
is I, I want listeners to take away
that it's, it is, um, there are
things that you can do immediately.
There are also things that are coming
that are really important to pay attention
to that maybe are not here yet, but are,
are something that are on the horizon
that you guys are, are really focused on.
Nathan Staub: You know, one thing I
really love about InnovA is it is a,
it's a true comprehensive platform.
Um, we can, we can do everything kind
of from the beginning to end, you know,
from your taking early consignments,
managing that inventory all the way
to invoicing and, and paying your
consignors all the way through.
But sometimes that can be a little
bit overwhelming too, right?
You haven't, you have all
these things to change.
And one of the things
that we really wanna, uh.
You know, promote in 26 is the ability
that we can solve your problem where
you are at right now, and we can
grow you into those other things.
Brandon Giella: Hmm.
Nathan Staub: It's one of those
things where we call it a stair step
approach, a scaffolding approach.
People come in, you get
immediate pain relief for the
particular problem you're having.
Maybe it's your write-ups you're
struggling with, the way you know that
you're not getting good, consistent
write-ups or quality images, and.
You know, you as the auctioneer or the
person who's, who's kind of running
things behind the scene, you know, if
you did it, you would do it right, but
sometimes you know you're hiring people
maybe that don't have the experience
and the knowledge that you have.
And, and that's a problem.
Well, we can give you a solution
for that, and you can, you can
just jump right in there and we
can immediately help you there.
Uh, you know, around that pain point, we
have different kind of point solutions
all along the way, and really that's what
we're after in 26 is, is, you know what?
We don't have to solve all
of your problems right now.
We can, we can solve something
and being able to provide those
solutions to people where they're at.
And then they can grow into it as
their company matures, as their
company scales, as their company grows.
Um, InnovA is there that kind
of has that on-ramp for us.
You know, to whatever
point they want to go.
We're, we're able to scale with them
and make it a lot easier, honestly.
Brandon Giella: Hmm.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
I'm excited for what you
guys are up to in 2026.
What's a, what's a takeaway or
any kind of final commentary
you wanna leave listeners with?
Nathan Staub: Yeah.
You know, I think for the auction company
that's looking to grow and scale, there's,
there's a lot of challenges there.
Um, Innova was built for that auction
company, the auction company that
wants to take it to the next level.
Um, and the solutions, the vision that
Jodi had, the technology solutions
we're bringing is really for that.
We thought about, man, if you are wanting
to take a company, an auction company
to the next level, how do you do it?
What are you gonna run into?
We've built solutions for that.
And whether that's hiring, that's a
problem on the back office, efficiency,
scaling, we, we can help you there.
Whether it's SEO, how do I make my.
My company more, uh, uh, prominent online.
How can people find me?
We've, we've got answers for that as well.
Or how do I give them a
better bidding experience?
Um, we have a, you know, a bidding
platform that can help you there as well.
So.
Again, it's, it's the,
it's the right tool.
Um, I think it's it provides
great opportunity, but I do
think you gotta approach it
with a digital strategy, right?
You do need to be looking at it
through that lens and, uh, knowing
that if you start to implement
some of this, you're gonna get the
growth and the scaling out of it.
Um.
Again, I think, uh, it's, it's
just an awesome opportunity.
It's an awesome product.
And seeing kind of from my background
seeing these companies who've undergone,
undergone these digital transformations,
uh, I'm happy to be part of a company,
um, that is really providing the tool set,
uh, to assist and to aid and to provide
auction companies, uh, with the tools
they need to navigate that transition.
And not only navigate, but succeed
and grow and dominate in it.
Brandon Giella: I love that
you are leading this change
with Innova and leading the
product because it is gonna be.
You know, talk about a
digital transformation.
It's gonna be an entire business
transformation for a lot of these,
uh, clients that you guys are working
with, and, you know, clients in
the past and different industries.
You, you've done this before.
This is not something new, but, uh,
but it's exciting to, to take the reins
at on an auction industry as well.
So with that, there are many more exciting
things coming to the nno, a platform.
Uh, but you can catch
all of this at Nno a Ls.
c.com
and also on YouTube and many other
places, wherever you get your podcast.
But we have a lot more resources, a lot
more episodes coming in the future, and
a whole new transformation really to,
to keep on the theme, uh, with innovate.
So I'm excited to keep releasing that and
encouraging listeners to check that out,
join the newsletter, get on the list,
and, uh, there's a lot more coming soon.
So thank you Nathan.
Appreciate your time here,
and we will see you next time.