Building Connectd: How Roei Samuel is Revolutionizing Startup Success Through Data, Transparency, and Accountability

0:05Hey everyone, welcome back to Founder Story. Today we have Roy Samuel, the founder and CEO of Connected. Roy, something that really stood out to me is connected what you've been building and how you are bringing together the investor, the entrepreneur, the advisor slash experts, and all of the data that you're collecting all the way and all the information that you're gathering around these startups. And just the ecosystem of investing and funding fascinates me a lot. Let's dive in though, Roy, as to what is connected. So after my last startup, RealSport, was acquired by a gaming company in 2018, I started investing in startups and advising startups as well.

0:50And I could see with the companies that I was invested in and working with a really strong positive correlation between specific behaviors that businesses were making and the outcomes they were having in terms of performance, in terms of growth, and in terms of funding. And those behaviors were really twofold. One was the quality and frequency of their investor reporting, and by extension, the strength of their investor relations. And the second was their ability to access expert networks of talent. Now, neither of these things are rocket science by any means, but it's amazing to see how many businesses almost take those behaviors for granted when they're really pursuing the secret source that we all love in startup land.

1:35But even though those behaviors seem to really predicate success, so with Connected, we build technology that enables everyone in the ecosystem, the businesses, the investors, and the talent to take part in those behaviors in as frictionless way as possible. So for behavior one, the reporting infrastructure, we've built technology that integrates with the business's bank account, accountings platform, and commerce solution. So call it their Chase bank account, their QuickBooks accounting software, and their Stripe commerce solution, for example. we ingest all of that transactional level data so every single transaction in that business's history from inception and then from the ingestion of that data instantly we create that investor reporting environment so all those monthly reports everything historically all the things they should be reporting on that makes an investor bought in that creates transparency in their business accountability helps them really think about growth in a way that helps them understand how they're performing against their peers benchmarking all the rest of it all done instantly which obviously builds amazing trust with investors help helps them grow better and then we use that same data set to power discovery of talent so if for example your revenue is increasing or your cac's increasing and you're a b2c fintech within international payments you need a performance marketing expert with a background in financial services who understand subscription models so we started to build out ecosystems of talent, ecosystems of businesses and investors, really all plugging into this data infrastructure to create instant frictionless reporting and discovery, and therefore improving these outcomes and these two behaviors that we see so interlinked with success, making them easy and accessible for everyone.

3:19I'm new to the investing or funding world. I've never gotten funding for a startup, although maybe I should have looking back. and I've only invested a handful of times and all of them basically failed. So I'm really interested though in terms of the transparency piece because when I invested, I never saw any really information and was barely shared anything. I was talking to a VC friend of mine about this recently and he was telling me that some funds, they basically take money and barely give any information. Some funds get their LPs with some sort of involvement or give some sort of advice.

4:00It's fascinating to me how people can just give money and it's total hands-off and very little transparency. So what are you seeing with your platform from the investor side? Are they much happier that they get to see this information? Yeah, absolutely. And I actually think the reason it leads to success is not necessarily the transparency, but it's more the accountability. So I know as a founder, because my investors are going to see on a monthly cadence how we're performing across these core metrics. It keeps me hyper-focused on moving the needle in the things that really, really matter. It's so easy as a founder to get distracted by the million opportunities and all the different amazing things you could do.

4:45But actually, if you hyper-focus on the things that you need to do and get that cadence of monthly growth and movement, that's what venture wants to see. That's what investors want to see. It's what the market wants to see. So it's all wrapped up in the investor reporting, but it's actually that accountability and the mindset of setting up every unit of operation of the business for monthly movement and monthly growth and accountability. That's what leads to success. Yeah, it's really easy to chase a lot of rabbits. I think when you're a startup, you're just excited about ideas, right? Most people that start a company, they're excited about ideas and they're visionary.

5:22And then there's all these rabbits coming at them and a lot of problems they want to solve. And it's hard to many times get tunnel vision and hyper focus on the thing that you are doing. It's really easy to start chasing everything. I know that you're launching in the US or you've launched in the US. I'm sorry, you're expanding in the US. So what are some of the markets that you're looking at? Yeah, exactly. So we launched into Miami in December, just before Christmas, not because that's a really good time to launch in the new market, but more we were really keen on ensuring we hit the ground running in 2024.

5:57So we're now servicing about six, 700 customers in Florida, and we're now launching up in New York. And we're really partnering with different groups, different organizations, you know, as a business that helps startups grow. We're not taking equity in startups. We're not charging commissions or transaction. you know we're a pure subscription business so we partner really well with others in the ecosystem we're not competing over the same types of dollars take ray or you know equity so we partner really well with um with different players in the ecosystem accelerators incubators etc so we're now really just trying to get our technology into as many hands as possible and just improve the outcomes for all these players and we were talking about him before uh you know you might get the likes of an Elon Musk type entrepreneur who can raise money left, right, and center, and will never have a problem in raising tons of cash.

6:49But the reality for the vast majority of entrepreneurs, first-time entrepreneurs in 2024, who don't have access to loads of capital networks, the way that you fundraise, the way that you grow is following these principles of not chasing the rabbits, showing that accountability. So we really want to just help be that rising tide to lift all boats by helping people understand, you know, if you're in capital networks, then that's one thing. But if you're not, this is how you grow. This is how you find talent. This is how you really build a business. We want to be a really positive force on the ecosystem.

7:23I'm a big proponent of going global with a company, if you can. I know not everyone sticks to that, you know, that same mindset, but I've done it personally and I've seen positive results, although there's challenges along the way. So how has the experience been for you? And what do you think helped you able to expand from the UK and European market to now the North America and then the US market? Yeah, it's a really good question. So one of the ways in which users distribute our technology is you've got startups distributing reports to their investors and to their experts. Investors can say, awesome, I can get everything in one place.

8:05They distribute it out to their portfolio companies so although we only ever targeted marketing at the uk we've initially we found ourselves paying customers in over 80 countries through that customer to customer onboarding and really harnessing those product-led growth groups growth groups right so running into the us actually we just found that our second biggest community was already based out there so we wanted to service the community in a better way by building technology doing the localization and optimization that would really make it as accessible as possible for the US market. So we had good conviction that people were using it.

8:42We were building this wait list of makeshift users who wanted to use it in a way that worked fully for that market. So we spent the second half and most of 2023 really rebuilding that out and then launched it last year. So now I know you're launching in New York City officially. I know you already service these areas, but you're doing like an official, Hey, we're here. This is what we're doing. What do you look at in terms of the marketing that works when you want to launch in a new city? So for us, it's all about finding partnerships and partners who have already embedded themselves in those ecosystems and really see how we can help their communities by improving those outcomes.

9:23So we tend to offer startups, you know, one free year access to the platform, to the technology to really get set up on it. For us, at the end of the day, we know that early stage startups are really scrapped for cash. So being able to, you know, work with partners in that way is just a good way to show that we are trying to be a positive influence, help those businesses grow. So for us, partners is really, really key. And then, of course, you know, we find digital marketing. And in the US, the entrepreneurial mindset is so strong. And in the UK, we're quite risk averse, naturally. In the US, I love how open the market is to doing business, trying new ideas.

10:05I think in the US, they really appreciate it's all about speed of execution. It's all about how you can make things happen quickly. So actually, a proposition like Connected seems to really land well from a message. When you realize you need to hire, it's usually already too late. I've been there wasting weeks waiting for decent candidates. If I had used Indeed, I could have hired way faster. So when it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other job sites. Indeed's sponsored jobs help you stand out and hire fast. With sponsored jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster.

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11:23Just go to indeed.com slash founders story right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash founders story. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. and sentiment perspective in the US. And we've actually grown six, seven times quicker in the US than we did in the UK. Obviously, a big part of that is down to the market size, but I think the US market just gets it when it comes to entrepreneurial and venture tooling. You know, the startup ecosystem is 20 years more mature in the US than it is in the UK. So a lot of that education piece that we have to do in the UK is already done in the US because guys seem to get it there.

12:08That's something that is, I find fascinating too, when I travel, really the U S is very big on risk. And I think that is a huge separation point from other countries where many people are risk adverse and they're taught to, to not question things in the U S if you question your teacher, you're praised for it. In other countries, you're not allowed to question authority or, you know, like you have to whatever they tell you is like what you have to do but i am seeing you know some changes and stuff in a lot of these you know emerging markets and countries so i think the the startup ecosystem in 20 years from now could be completely different but a lot to learn from the u.s market so i'm i'm glad that you shared that because i've seen you know similar things let's go back to when you sold your company and then you're you're going to now figure out the rest of your life I've had friends that have sold and they've become depressed and they're lost in life, you know, because like their business was their baby.

13:11It was everything to them. And now they have no idea what to do with their life. How is it for you, the experience of exiting your company and then figuring out what's next? Oh, that is a, that is a very good question. I mean, you're totally right. I think the exit of a company is a identity death for most entrepreneurs, right? Especially I was 21 when I started building Real Sports 2021. I sold it when I was 26. So for me, that was my whole identity. I've never had a job. Like I didn't know anything outside of that. And you sacrifice a lot for that business, friendships, relationships, especially at that age where every night could be a night out with friends, but it's a night at home with a laptop instead, you know?

13:53So I think with that level of sacrifice and then suddenly, you know, one day post-transaction, it's no longer yours and you're no longer founder guy you know that stage so it's definitely a really interesting transition you go through like a six nine twelve month period where like what am I going to be I was like okay maybe I'll become a firefighter or maybe I'll work with guide dogs like you go through like the whole range of what should I do but I started investing in startups advising startups and really organically I saw some of the patterns that led to creating connected so it happened really organically but certainly that immediate post-exit.

14:30And there's a really good podcast called the Post-Exit Founder Podcast, but they dive into this a lot. And yeah, it's a story you see time and time again. I like that. Firefighter, guide dog expert. I mean, it makes sense. I think if you have a big enough exit where you can then basically retire for a significant amount of time and you could just do whatever you want. I think we feel as if that's our goal, right? That sounds amazing. But then when it happens, you might be lost and not know what to do. I am curious on the data and information that you're seeing from within the organization. Are there any interesting points or things that you're seeing along the way besides like what countries people are in or geography.

15:17Are there any other interesting data points? Well, I would say that in the UK anyway, because obviously that's where our data is the most significant. The venture transaction market is being propped up by a few mega deals. But in the majority of cases, funding is down, transactions down, early stage funding is down. Things are really tough in the UK at the moment from what we can see. There's a lot of uncertainty politically around tax regimes. What does it mean for making investments what does it mean for exits uh around some of the taxes involved with that so it's a really uncertain market and if you if you isolate a couple of the bigger deals that have happened in the uk over the last quarter like quarter on quarter half on half year on year funding stats are just so down at the moment so we're seeing a huge trend of businesses almost trying to launch in other markets earlier especially the us because if they can get traction in that market and actually make that the primary focus rather than the secondary, the routes to funding are a bit clearer.

16:20So that's a really interesting trend that we've seen. Hopefully the one that will reverse post the government's latest tax announcement once there's a bit more clarity. But at the moment, it's been quite tough in the UK. So how do you look at leveraging data for other products and services? I know some companies where they start off as one thing, they realize the information that they can get can really be of value as a new product or service. Are you looking at in terms of how you launch your next product or service? Is it data-based? Is it based on what customers are asking? Or how do you look at that?

16:57So right now, we're just hyper-focused on using our data to improve customer outcomes. So we're about to launch our first Gen AI offering, which will allow business to input its data and understand based on where it is in the journey and based on the experts available to them on the platform, how they can work together with that individual specifically to improve their outcomes, whether it's reducing their cost of acquisition, improving customer lifespan, but really using their data and what we see from across the board when individuals are working together and things that they're doing that are leading to positive outcomes.

17:33that's what we're just trying to really, really help make it as accessible as possible to all the players in the ecosystem. So right now we're hyper-focused on just using that data to improve customer outcomes. I can't wait to see that. I mean, I'm trying to understand exactly how that would look. It sounds amazing. Like it's really, really needed. So I can't wait till you launch that to be able to test that out and try it. It sounds like you're really, I love how you're helping the startup, but you're also helping to make sure that the investors have the end talent, which we know is so hard, right?

18:08Like finding talent could be a make or break for an organization, just like having the right leadership could be make or break for an organization, maybe even more so than just funding in itself. I'm curious on a personal note, you said something before, you know, when you were 21 to 26, you had to sacrifice a lot of nights because you're on the laptop, which looking back, I wish I sacrificed nights on a laptop instead of going out. But from a personal note, building a company, exiting, now building another company, are there specific sacrifices that you've had to make in order to do this? Or are there anything looking back where you're like, wow, that was a really tough and challenging time well in many ways with connected with with with this business um building it during covid was is like a builder's dream because the opportunity cost wasn't there i wasn't missing out on anything so this time around was a lot easier uh you know building during covid but yeah for sure you know during the real sport days you know you you give up you you get to a stage where and this isn't necessarily the healthier the right way to look at it but your identity your ego is so intertwined with the business that you're building that you'll sacrifice things like relationships like friendships to almost keep your ego alive you know and again once you once you go through that process and you know you go through the sale you go through that exit and you realize these things aren't important and it's that that almost like reassessment of self and all the without getting too metaphysical about this but you know you go through all of those processes, that whole journey to realize that actually, you know, you don't necessarily need those things.

19:55But it's, yeah, it's a, it's a very, very interesting topic. Yeah. That's why, you know, I always say it's not that like everyone can be an entrepreneur. It's not like they can't be one, but the mental and grit and the physical toll that it takes, I think it's not for everyone, in my opinion, for that sake, not that everyone can't be it. You know, anyone can just start a company with no funding or nothing, right? Like you can start a company tomorrow, but the grit and what goes into like, you need to have like an ironclad mind that can overcome the ups and downs. because we know there's from the outside, you know, LinkedIn posts seem amazing.

20:38But from the inside, you know, people many times, they're like miserable, and they're tired, and they're exhausted. And, you know, they sacrifice their relationships, and they're getting a divorce because their business, we had a guest on he's pretty well known in his space. And he said, every business he ever started, he had to basically he got divorced, every single business he started, he got divorced, because he had to sacrifice and choose. Was he going to spend time with his wife or is he going to spend time on the business? And three years ago when I interviewed him, that really stuck with me.

21:17If you want to get in touch with you though, Roy, and they want to find out more information, they want to meet you in New York and these cities are going to expand, how can they do so? Yeah, absolutely. I just want to say a big thank you for the opportunity today. Really enjoyed coming on the show. Anyone get in touch with me via Roy Samuel on LinkedIn or come visit connected.com. Man, Roy, I want to see you in New York. I want to see you launch in New York or Miami. Miami, you know, it's always a fun city, but I love what you're doing. Thanks for, I'm so glad that we are connected with Connected.

21:48But Roy, Samuel, thanks for being with us today on Founder's Story. Thanks so much, Daniel. Appreciate it.