Good things happen when you pursue things where your energy is naturally aligned
In our latest Up-Close interview, we speak with John-Paul Savant, CEO at ATG (Auction Technology Group)
What drew you to join ATG, almost 10 years ago?
The opportunity to lead a business undergoing a structural shift—from offline to online—was incredibly compelling. ATG, at the time, was a relatively small company with $20 million in revenue and $3 million in profit, but it had the ingredients of a strong two-sided marketplace: good supply on both buyer and seller sides, and early network effects. That foundation was rare.
Additionally, I was drawn in by the pitch from Clare Johnston who painted a strategic picture for my career: I’d checked the boxes for banking at JP Morgan, strategy consulting with Zefer, and big tech with PayPal and Elevate (a Sequoia VC-backed company). The missing piece was leading a private equity–backed business. Taking the CEO role at ATG offered both the experience and the potential to shape something meaningful or even transformative while entering an area I was passionate about, which was specialised and unique assets with ongoing value. That challenge — and the career inflection it represented — was a major part of the appeal.
Has the experience lived up to those expectations?
Yes, and more. ATG has become something bigger and more impactful than many expected. For me, the excitement came from recognising the potential early on and then trying to bring it to life. That journey has been incredibly rewarding.
Looking back, what are you most proud of in terms of what you’ve built and the impact you’ve made?
I’m proud of having seen the potential for impact and the potential for value early on. In my first year, I told our investors that I believed we could take ATG public. I remember one of the investment committee said to me that it was hard not to be swept up in my “infectious American enthusiasm”, and that it sounded pretty bold to say it now, but he was open to it. I had that excitement because I genuinely believed in the market opportunity and ATG’s positioning and potential.
We were the only company in Europe doing what we did with a platform that worked across multiple verticals and geographies and was also multi-tenant. Building the team to make that vision of an IPO a reality, scaling the business, and growing revenue nine-fold and profitability twenty-five-fold over that time, was a collective effort. I’m proud of what we achieved. It took our entire team and multiple versions of the executive team over the nine years, but it was all of us who made it happen and I’m happy to have led the company in this phase.
“You don’t have to outthink your team—you need to empower leaders in finance, product, commercial, and beyond to build excellence in their functions. ”
How have you had to evolve as a CEO during that time?
The evolution has come in layers, learning different things at different times. Early on, when our exec team was small, I was very much in the detail of things, but as we grew, I was steadily able to depend more and more on other executives without having to micro-manage as much as I needed to in the early days. First, scaling from a company of 125 to 600 people increasingly required me to manage through others, rather than being hands-on. That meant hiring and designing the organisation thoughtfully.
Second, taking the company public shifted the nature of the role dramatically. Investors, board members, and market reporting started taking up half my time—even when I wasn’t actively engaging with them, it was an element of each day.
And third, I’ve had to stay open to new perspectives. After nearly a decade in the role, it’s easy to feel like you understand the business inside out. But bringing in strong executives has been humbling and educational. They’ve brought fresh insights and challenged assumptions I didn’t realise I had and so for me, part of the evolution has been repeatedly remaining open to new perspectives on how we can best position ATG to win.
What key lessons from your early career helped shape your approach as a CEO?
Understanding what motivates me has been crucial and is something I learned, ironically, more in the latter part of my career. I realise how important that is because leading as an executive requires a lot of energy and you get natural energy rising when you work on something you truly care about. I love what ATG does, I love accelerating the circular economy and finding new homes and ongoing use for a whole range of unique and specialised items. I encourage my kids to think about the school they choose, what they study, and how they spend their time with the same mindset. I want each of them to do what excites them, whatever it is and whatever it pays. As good things just happen when you pursue things where your energy is naturally aligned. So I guess I’d say that’s my biggest lesson and one I’ve seen strongest at ATG.
Elsewhere in my career — From JP Morgan, I learned how to quantify opportunities. Consulting taught me to apply frameworks to problems and to look for patterns, and PayPal showed me what world-class at scale looks like along with the results you get when you hire truly excellent people. But the biggest lesson was probably connected to my first point — finding what excites you as it brings your best energy to bear and it helps you stay the course when things get tough.
What were the biggest challenges in transitioning from PayPal to a smaller, VC-backed company like Think Finance?
The biggest shock was the talent gap in the early days. At PayPal, it was incredibly high calibre across the organisation. Many smart, hard working, driven people—many of whom have gone on to senior leadership roles across the US and Europe. In a smaller company, the talent is more mixed. People are well-intentioned but may lack the skills or drive or experience, and you can’t always afford the top performers. That was an adjustment.
So, a lot of the early work involved setting expectations, hand-holding more than I was used to, and gradually bringing in people with the skill set needed to pursue the vision.
What advice would you give to leaders entering a nimbler business for the first time?
First, be crystal clear on what your investors want. Knowing whether the goal is EBITDA growth, a sale, modest-profitable growth, or an IPO shapes how you lead and how fast you need to make changes.
Second, know which roles on your team need A-players and advocate to pay for them—even if it’s a stretch. Get the best leaders you can as early as you can. It avoids pain and wasted money down the road even if it seems expensive up front.
Third, build a strong relationship with your Chair. You won’t convince the board unless the Chair is aligned with you. And really it will sit on you to build that relationship in a way that works for both of you.
And finally, stay connected to what excites you beyond the financial transaction. That passion is what keeps you going—and people can sense when it's genuine or when it is bland corporate speak.
How do you build a high-performance culture?
That’s an ongoing learning and challenge. It starts with understanding what your organisation needs at a specific point in time and hiring executives who’ve done that before. They’ll bring the tools, metrics, and mindset that drive high performance. As a CEO you will not know as much about any given function as your top execs so you need people you can trust.
You don’t have to outthink your team—you need to empower leaders in finance, product, commercial, and beyond to build excellence in their functions. I’ve seen that firsthand across our leadership transitions at ATG with different leaders doing this for whichever phase ATG was in.
How do you attract and retain top talent in such a competitive market?
Be honest about what your company offers and what excites you. It will attract the people who share the vision and those who don’t share it won’t come. ATG won’t appeal to those chasing big-brand logos on their resume or quick equity wins. But for people who want to make a meaningful impact—who want to see their work make a real difference—we’re a great fit.
That framing helped us find candidates who truly wanted to be part of the journey, rather than just using the role as a stepping stone.
What trends do you think will have the biggest impact on digital marketplaces over the next 5–10 years?
Two stand out. First, sustainability and uniqueness. Consumers are moving toward vintage and curated goods, and ATG—with 23 million unique SKUs and over $13 billion in inventory—is well-positioned to take advantage of this trend.
Second, AI. Its ability to parse millions of items, improve seller efficiency and quality of presentation, and AI’s ability to personalise buyer recommendations will be transformative, especially in the specialised and unique market for secondary assets like ours where each item is effectively a unique SKU! Imagine AI recognising patterns that show a user likes not just 19th century British landscapes, but really those that have birds and rivers in them. The relevance of the results should lead to higher engagement and higher conversion, which then will further accelerate the circular economy, as even more abstract and niche items will be surfaced for the relevant user. That’s the future and I think it makes the world ATG operates in even more exciting.
Many have referred to the last few years as a “wartime CEO” period. What have you learned about leading in turbulent times?
I guess what they mean is that there are people who lead well in stable times and there are people who lead well in chaotic times. And in the chaotic times like we’ve had, I guess I see two types of “wartime leaders”: those who hunker down and wait it out, and those who see chaos as an opportunity. I’m in the latter camp. I like the chaos and figuring out what to do amidst rapid change.
If your company is high-margin, with no need for emergency capital, you can take risks others can’t. The trick is distinguishing true risk from perceived risk, and finding frameworks and data that can help you quantify the true risk. I think I’ve gotten better at evaluating opportunities others shy away from and turning adversity into advantage but there is always more to learn.
My elder daughter says to me, “You’re an optimiser Dad—you believe you can make something good out of anything.” That sums it up.
