Scott Finkelstein is the co-founder and CEO of NextLot, a premier auction software solution enabling auctioneers to run auctions live on their websites and with their own data. He is involved in all aspects of the company’s operations, including product development, strategic planning, and sales. Scott enjoys working with and helping auctioneers grow their businesses and leading NextLot’s fast-growing, dynamic team.
Prior to co-founding NextLot, Scott was a director of business development with Sageworks, Inc., in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he built a new line of business that provided financial analysis technology to community banks across the U.S. This line of business propelled Sageworks’s growth, resulting in an acquisition by Accel-KKR in 2018.
Scott graduated with honors from Duke University with a BA in political science.
1.) What is in your pockets?
Too much, including my car fob, house key, slim card wallet, and phone. I feel like a contractor.
2.) What exciting thing has happened recently for you or your organization?
My dad and I started NextLot in 2007. We are an auction software company that helps auction companies run online auctions on their own websites. We integrate our technology into the auction company’s site so that bidders can listen, watch, and bid from anywhere in the world, thereby expanding the auction house’s audience.
My dad had been a machinery dealer, buying and selling used industrial machinery and partnering with auction companies to sell at public auctions. As the internet became more prevalent and e-commerce really took off, he saw a need for auction companies to build their own brands, own their own data, and control their destinies by not listing their auctions side by side with their competitors in the marketplace—but to do so where they could embed technology into their own websites. My dad had the vision.
I had pioneered and built the bank software part of business for local fintech Sageworks to provide credit analysis and loan review technology to banks and credit unions across the country. This fueled their growth, ultimately leading to a large exit by Accel-KKR in 2018.
Then, as a naive 25-year-old, I went back to law school, since that is what I thought I always wanted to do. I ended up going to law school at Carolina and realized very quickly that I did not want to be a lawyer. This was around the same time that my dad had this idea for NextLot. He had the industry knowledge, and I had the technology expertise, knowing how to make technology easy to use for the average person. So, I took a year off from law school to see what we could make of it. It’s 19 years later, and I haven’t gone back.
COVID really changed the company’s trajectory. Once the pandemic hit, people were forced to be online because the world was essentially closed, and they couldn’t go to a live auction. Then they got used to online auctions, and they wouldn’t have it any other way. Clients demanded that auction houses have this technology as part of their day-to-day operations. NextLot has more than tripled in the last five years due to this paradigm shift.
What is exciting personally is that my dad, who is my business partner, and my mom both relocated to North Carolina late last year. My entire family is now in the same city for the first time in 26 years.
What is exciting for the business is that we recently launched an end-to-end auction solution. We are now not only just a bidding platform that allows people to bid both live and via internet-only auctions, but we’re also a cradle-to-grave solution. The platform allows an auction company to do anything required to hold an auction, from cataloging an event, registering a seller or consigner, selling the asset, and then handling the back end—including invoicing bidders, collecting payments, reconciling the auction, and paying sellers. We are a complete auction ERP solution; think “QuickBooks for auctioneers.”
3.) What is your favorite coffee spot?
Sola Coffee on Lead Mine Road [in Raleigh]. I don’t drink coffee, but I love Sola for lunch. Its food is fantastic.
4.) What keeps you up at night?
Two things. Continuing to innovate and stay ahead of our competitors. And two, as we have grown the team from 10 to 30 over the last five years, continuing to make sure our ever-expanding team really understands and appreciates the culture of the business. Furthermore, we need to maintain the superior level of customer service we’ve had to date and that the client-focused nature of our business does not get lost as we grow.
5.) What’s your favorite restaurant or happy hour?
My favorite restaurants are in categories. Sassool for casual. M Sushi in Durham for sushi. G58 is a hidden gem for authentic Chinese fare. Vivace is still tried and true and consistent for Italian food. I love going to the bar at the Umstead for happy hour.
6.) What is next for you or your organization?
Continuing to do what we are doing well, which is growing the business and rolling out our end-to-end solution across our client base to get our current clients to fully adopt it. We also want to sign up as many new auction house customers around the world as feasible.
I just turned 45 years old earlier this week. I’m still young, energetic, and excited to grow the business to new heights.
