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Founder@ Interview
Interview with Roei Samuel
“Be prepared to sacrifice. I don’t mean solely in a business sense, I mean friendships, relationships, hobbies – they will have to share you with the business as you move along your founder journey.” – Roei Samuel
Today we feature Roei Samuel, the founder at Connectd. We hear their story in their own words, their successes, their challenges and their insights.
Let’s start by getting to know you. Can you please tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
I’m Roei Samuel, CEO and Founder of Connectd. We connect startups with investors and advisors, giving them direct access to the right people.
A great introduction and start to this interview. Can you please tell us, how did you start, from what age, and what made you decide to change direction and start?
I began working on creative/commercial opportunities before university, running music events/tours abroad, which I continued to do through my undergrad.
I then founded RealSport in 2014, aged 23, one of the world’s most successful eSports platforms, which I scaled to 9.5 million monthly active users. In 2018, RealSport was sold in a multi-million-pound acquisition by Gfinity. After RealSport was acquired in 2018, I moved into the investment space which is when the seed of an idea for Connectd was planted.
Thank you for that insight. So can you tell us…What does your business do and where is your company based?
As an investor, I was suddenly connected to an entirely new community – but many of the frustrations I felt as a Founder were also true as an investor and start-up advisor. There was a distinct lack of diversity and accessibility in investment opportunities for start-ups. All the same types of deals were going to the same group of investors – stifling innovation for both the founders and potential investors.
Basically, I founded Connectd to disrupt this cycle. We connect startups with investors and advisors, giving them direct access to the right people through smart matching technology and help founders and advisors to grow their knowledge and skillsets to boost their chances of success.
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Most importantly, we put communication, transparency and structure at the heart of the product ecosystem we’ve crafted. We know this space is illiquid, it doesn’t mean there needs to be a vacuum of info.
We’re based in London, which really is at the cutting edge of the startup ecosystem but we have already expanded into Sweden and have plans to open up operations across more locations in Europe in the next 12 months. All that said, the beauty of startups is that everyone is very progressive and tech driven so geography isn’t as much of a limiter as in other sectors or markets.
What’s the story behind your success? What led to your aha moment? how did you get to where you are now?
In terms of my career trajectory, I’d say there was a certain amount of ‘the right place at the right time’, at least initially. I was studying at LSE and as a massive gaming fan, I decided to start my own business in the sector. I wasn’t expecting the rapid success we had but we hit the market when it was really building momentum. That said, we had a great MVP which we built out rapidly and with the support of a dedicated and passionate team we attracted the right investors who not only provided funding but also priceless advice and support.
I feel like one of the main drivers behind Connectd’s success is that it’s fundamentally based on democratising the startup space and has opened up opportunities to people who would have fallen outside the traditional demographic. Our service removes any class, race and location bias and ensures that talent is recognised regardless of background, has already enabled hundreds of start-ups across the whole of the UK to accelerate commercial opportunities and get access to NED talent.
Connectd’s growth has been down to a number of factors but top of them all is our people. We have a fantastic team who are really invested and believe in what we are trying to achieve. We’ve also secured funding from some incredibly experienced investors, many of whom are founders themselves and bring a real depth of knowledge to our strategy and decision making
What led to my aha moment? There was no aha moment, really! Great products are built through data-led process and discovery. My only real aha moment was the name Connectd – as soon as I thought of it I knew it was the right name.
My family helped me in terms of supporting me no matter what I wanted to do (for the most part); my friends didn’t really understand what I was doing and thought I was throwing away my Masters by founding a startup!
Thank you for sharing that. What’s been your life’s biggest lesson so far?
Making mistakes is inevitable. It’s going to happen. The key is making them quickly and learning from them. You are better off making 100 good decisions and one mistake in a month, than agonising over five good decisions over the same period, but not getting anything wrong. It enables you to progress at a much faster rate.
When mistakes do happen, you need to ensure you have a clear process in place. Firstly, you need to psychologically get over it. Don’t agonise or try to find someone to blame. Secondly, look for learnings. Often things don’t work because of timing – was the product wrong, or was it launched at the wrong time? You don’t always have to throw the baby out of the bathwater. Thirdly, and crucially, put a process in place so you don’t make the same mistake again.
Possibly the biggest lesson I’ve learnt is there is a huge gap between what customers say they want and what they actually want. The only way to learn what they actually want is to build, release, iterate and improve. Trust what their data tells you, not what they tell you.
Reality is 100% what you make of it, and once you realise you have the freedom to choose what you want to be you can be free!
If you were to go back in time, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
For some people confidence is a natural ability, for some people confidence is a skill built up over time. Work on your confidence every day as it won’t just hit you one day.. Confidence is everything in business, especially as a startup founder. You have to believe in yourself for others to believe in you and come along for the ride with you..
We’re nearly halfway through our interview so it’s a great time to ask how does your business run. What three tools make your business run better?
We really couldn’t run at all without Hubspot. Claudia Stankler, our COO did an amazing job of building out our CRM and with her at the helm, our processes have been incredibly polished since day one as a result.
Stripe is also pivotal to our business. As an online platform, we need a safe, secure and responsive SaaS payment system and it really ticks all the boxes. It’s been a hugely popular tool for so many startups and we are no exception – what a world we’d be in without Stripe!
Finally, Slack is central to our internal operations. When you’re working at the pace we do, with multiple teams spinning a lot of plates, having such an agile messaging system as Stripe is invaluable. It really helps to connect everyone within the team and allows us all to have a view across every facet of what the entire team is doing. Plus, it integrates seamlessly with Hubspot, so it’s a win-win.
What do you know now that you wished you had known before?
Reality is 100% what you make of it, and once you realise you have the freedom to choose what you want to be you can be free! If you switch your perception to one positivity and a can-do attitude, the sky’s the limit. Don’t be limited by yourself or the judgements of others – you shape your own reality, no one else.
What has been your greatest or proudest achievement or moment?
I was the Chief Coordinator of Karnival, a student-run charity at the University of Nottingham. In my year as CC, we organised country wide events, fundraising drives, sponsorship opportunities etc for charities such as Marie Curie, Great Ormond St, Cancer Research and many others.
We raised £1.8m in total, which at that time was the largest ever amount raised by a student-run charity in a single year outside of the US, globally.
What future life goals do you want to achieve and why?
In the long run, my main goal is to make everyone around me happy and successful. The Connectd team are so invested in the company and have given so much in the short time we’ve been in operation, that I want to succeed for them.
And what’s more, they want to succeed just as much as I do – it’s great to be on the same page as the rest of the team. Obviously, my family and friends also matter hugely, and I want to get to a point were I can be focussed on them, though that may be some time away!
To finish our inspire questions…”We believe that sharing inspiring words can inspire others.” If there was one positive thing you would say to someone to inspire and empower them what would it be and why?
Be prepared to sacrifice. I don’t mean solely in a business sense, I mean friendships, relationships, hobbies – they will have to share you with the business as you move along your founder journey.
Running a business can be all-consuming, so make sure you are prepared and willing to miss out on other things in order to build and run a successful business. Don’t get me wrong, it will be the most fulfilling experience, but it is not without its challenges!
“Thank you it has been great learning more about your founder story and Saritasa”
To learn more about Connectd Visit https://connectd.co/
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