Ritten’s Elite Culture Starts with Shift Group

About Ritten:

Ritten is a fast-growing EMR platform purpose-built for behavioral health providers. The platform simplifies referrals, billing, and outcomes tracking—helping clinics run more efficiently and deliver better care.

At the helm is Noah Whitehead, a former Army engineer officer and varsity athlete turned tech founder. With a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed in high-pressure environments, Noah knew that building a winning sales team in a complex, early-stage market would take more than traditional SaaS experience.

Not Your Typical Sales Hire

Hiring for a startup is always high-stakes—but selling into behavioral health added even more layers of complexity.

Ritten needed sales talent who could thrive in ambiguity, own outcomes, and win without the crutches of brand recognition or mature processes.

Early hires with conventional software backgrounds struggled. They were used to structure, not chaos. Playbooks, not problem-solving.

“When you’re at a startup, it’s not about relying on a brand or existing processes—it’s about figuring things out as you go. If you’re not comfortable with ambiguity and creating your own playbook, you’re not going to make it.” Noah Whitehead | CEO at Ritten

A New Playbook for Sales Hiring

Noah’s mindset shifted after seeing a former Army company commander—someone with no prior software sales experience—crush it as a VP of Sales.

“That changed my thinking… Having a background selling B2B software was not the most important thing.”

Instead, Noah looked for something deeper:

• Ownership
  

• Accountability
  

• Resilience
  

That’s where Shift Group came in. The team connects elite veterans and former athletes with sales careers—individuals trained to thrive in high-performance environments where mindset is everything.

“Those are the things we were trying to hire for. As someone who’s both an athlete and a veteran, I know firsthand how prevalent those qualities are in those communities.”

Performance That Elevates the Entire Team

Since partnering with Shift Group, Ritten has brought in reps who don’t just fill a seat—they raise the bar.

“In the sales organization, we want a culture of intensity, a culture of winning, and a culture of learning from our losses. The folks we’ve hired through Shift Group embody those things.”

These hires quickly adapted to a complex market, took full ownership of their outcomes, and brought a competitive edge to the team. Their impact went beyond just closing deals—they fostered a culture of collaboration, resilience, and continuous learning.

“They take losses in stride, they try to learn from them, and they’re focused on making the organization successful. At the end of the day, these are people who understand what it takes to win.”

What Sets Ritten’s Top Performers Apart

Through Shift Group, they’ve hired candidates with the mindset, character, and real-world experience to thrive in the chaos of early-stage growth.

What sets Shift Group candidates apart? Three traits stood out time and again:

Ownership & Accountability

Shift Group candidates don’t wait to be told what to do—they take initiative and own their results. In the unpredictable environment of a startup, that mindset is critical.

“There are lots of excuses for why something won’t work in an early-stage startup. But if you’re making excuses, you’re not going to hit your number.”

Resourcefulness

What makes Shift Group hires different is how they respond—they figure it out, get creative, and move the ball forward without waiting for someone else to fix the problem.

“It’s easy to get blocked in a startup. We need people who solve problems and move forward without waiting for someone to fix it for them.”

Resilience

Shift Group candidates know how to take a hit and keep going. They’ve developed thick skin and mental toughness through sports or service. That’s crucial in a sales role where rejection is constant and success takes persistence.

“Even great companies only win about 30% of the time. Two-thirds of the time, you’re told no. You can’t spiral when that happens.”

Advice for Founders Building Sales from Scratch

For Noah, Shift Group didn’t just solve a hiring problem—it helped establish a foundation of grit, competitiveness, and ownership on the sales floor.

“If what you’re looking for is people who win—and people who bring the resilience that’s needed in a sales role—Shift Group is the right place to find them.”

The candidates Shift Group brought in didn’t just help Ritten hit its sales targets. They helped create a culture of excellence—one where every win felt earned, and every setback was a chance to improve. These hires didn’t just rise to the occasion—they made everyone around them better.