In this episode, we dive deep into the entrepreneurial journey of Roei, who founded his first successful tech company at just 15 years old, scaling it to 6-million monthly users before being acquired in 2018. Roei shares valuable lessons from his experience, including the critical role of timing in business decisions and the impact of burnout post-acquisition.

Roei's next venture, Connectd, looks at his focus on revenue-first growth and avoiding high cash burn, all while building a positive, purpose-driven work culture. He reveals his hiring strategies, focusing on diversity in management styles and aligning employees with the company’s values to create a flexible, thriving workplace. We also unpack how Roei tackled the tricky “cold start conundrum” for his marketplace by initially offering SaaS tools to generate revenue and attract early-stage startups.

Finally, Roei gets real about the challenges of balancing entrepreneurship and personal life, sharing how journaling and following a healthy lifestyle have helped him maintain focus, avoid burnout, and channel his energy into success.

Tune in for key insights on scaling a business, overcoming marketplace challenges, building culture, and managing work-life balance from someone who’s lived it all.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our host, Adam Kene, introduces Behind the SME, a podcast designed to provide real, actionable insights for small and medium-sized businesses. Unlike the typical focus on big corporations, this show gets into the nitty-gritty of how SMEs operate on a daily basis.

Adam shares his passion for learning from the experiences of his guests and passing on valuable lessons to help other SMEs grow and avoid common pitfalls. He highlights a key practice in his own business—regular “town hall” meetings—which have been instrumental in keeping the team aligned, reflecting on progress, and communicating upcoming changes.

With practical takeaways at the heart of the podcast, Adam aims to inspire listeners in senior roles at SMEs to take immediate action on the ideas and strategies shared in each episode.

Tune in to go behind the scenes of SME success, where the focus is always on what really works for small and medium businesses.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.