Roei Samuel

Exited Founder | Angel Investor | Host of Big Risk Energy Podcast | BBC Million by 30

I built Connectd because startups need easier access to experts, and talent deserves the flexibility of fractional work. People deserve better than a job they don’t love. We're making fractional work actually accessible. Not just for people with existing networks - for anyone who wants to work on their terms.

The numbers:
0 to $13M ARR in 3.5 years
6,000+ fractional professionals on the platform
45% of revenue from the US (launched Jan 2024)
LinkedIn Top Startup #5 UK (2025)
Deloitte Fast50 (27th fastest growing UK company)
$18M raised

Before this, I sold RealSport at 26, became a millionaire overnight, and started investing in startups & working fractionally for 2 years.
That's when I saw it - fractional work is incredible but the infrastructure doesn't exist. So we built it.

Connectd gives fractionals everything they need: identity, portfolio, billing, client matching, rankings, reviews. The full stack.
Most of our members are still in full-time jobs. This is their side hustle starter kit; the thing that lets them test fractional without quitting.

I write about:
Future of work and why fractional is inevitable
Escaping corporate without betting everything
Real startup building (not the polished version)

DMs always open if you want to chat.

CEO & Founder

Launched Connectd.com in November 2020
Raised $9m seed funding
Generating $6.8m ARR (May 2024)

I have dreamed of a partnership like this for SO long.

Simon Squibb and HelpBnk felt like the perfect fit from day one. His community is full of entrepreneurs with big dreams but limited connections - exactly who we built Connectd for.

So I pitched. And we got it.

Then immediately thought: sh*t, now what?

Landing a dream partnership is one thing, but actually delivering on it is another.

Now his dreamers - the entrepreneurs pitching to the Doorbell of Dreams - will have access to our network. CMOs, CFOs, operators who can actually help them build.

I know how it feels to have someone believe in you before anyone else does. It’s rare.
And that's why this partnership matters.

We're not just connecting two platforms. We're combining two networks that actually want to help people who need it most:

The young founders grinding alone, the ones with brilliant ideas but no one in their corner, and the ones who remind me of myself at 20.

Simon's built an incredible community of dreamers. We've built a network of people who want to help them.

Now we get to do it together. Insane 💪

CEO @ Connectd | $14M ARR | #5 LinkedIn Top Startups | #18 SundayTimes100 | Ex-RealSport Founder (acquired)

Connectd made the Sunday Times 100 Tech.

When I was a kid, my dad used to read The Times cover to cover at the table every morning.

He still does. This time, he's going to see our company in there. 

Insane. 

$14M ARR. 125+ people. Thousands of world class fractionals now using our services. And now, ranking 18th on the Sunday Times 100 list.. 

This is the team's win for sure. But my dad reading this in the paper is the moment I keep coming back to.  

Proud of what we've built, and excited to keep pushing.

I've pitched over 800 times.

But I've never been as nervous as I was pitching to Simon Squibb.

My first business started when I was 21. I had no connections or network. Just an idea and then hundreds of thousands of pounds of debt.

Every day felt like a panic attack waiting to happen. I had the will but didn't know the way.

Then I met the right people and EVERYTHING changed.

Went from drowning in debt to selling that company at 26 for 7 figures.. But I never forgot what it felt like to have no one in your corner.

That's why I built Connectd. Experienced, talented people who want to help entrepreneurs like I was: young, hungry, but completely alone.

So when I got the chance to pitch to Simon Squibb and HelpBnk, the stakes felt different.

This wasn't about me. Instead, it was about every young founder who's grinding with no connections, just trying to figure it out.

Simon got it immediately.

"I love it. You wanna help people, I wanna help you help people. You're my kind of person."

Now Connectd is partnering with HelpBnk.

Simon's community of dreamers will get access to our network of fractional experts. The entrepreneurs pitching to Our Doorbell will have senior talent in their corner.

The kids who feel like I did at 20 - brilliant ideas but no connections - they'll have a path forward.

This changes everything.

Connectd launched in Jan 2022 so we just hit 4 years. 

We've grown a lot in that time in every sense of the word! Were servicing over 6000 fractional execs/board advisors and 3200 organisations!

And if you know anything about growing  business, servicing 9k customers, whilst growing from a team of 4 to over 100, and from $0 to $15m ARR, including now 40% of customers coming from the US, you know how difficult this is.

At this scale you cannot keep everyone happy,  but with literally thousands and thousands of customers renewing we know we are on the right track

its not always been perfect, its not always been pretty  but we will never stop fighting to make Connectd the most powerful force in the future of work.

JUST. GETTING. STARTED.

James Matthews Oliver Tarpey Claudia Stankler Spyros Balampekos FCCA Benjamin Parker Clement Bigot Jamie Morris Alex Rose Samuel Gray William Smith

I just gave £5K to Chloe's non-toxic clothing business.

This one's personal.

When Chloe’s mum was diagnosed with cancer, the doctors couldn't figure out why the cancer wasn't responding to treatment.

She switched to non-toxic clothing and the cancer went away, inspiring Chloe to build a business:

Non-toxic gym clothes and underwear that don't expose people to harmful chemicals every day.

As someone whose mum had cancer, this hits home. We got through it, but I watched what it did to her and our family.

We also lost my aunt to cancer. It’s the kind of loss that stays with you, so when Chloe told me her story through HelpBnk, it felt bigger than a business pitch. 

I’ve gifted £5K to help her get started, and introduced her to Kate Buttery via Connectd to help turn the vision into reality.

This is something tangible - something that might actually make a difference.

This is what makes it all worth it.

Founders. Fractional work isn’t consulting. 

I keep hearing people use them interchangeably. They’re not the same.

Consulting: You come in. You analyse. You create a strategy document. You leave.

The company has a plan, but they still need to execute it themselves.

Fractional: You come in. You analyse. You create the strategy. Then you execute it.

You're part of the team. You own outcomes rather than just recommendations.

In short: a consultant tells you what to do, but a FRACTIONAL leader does it with you. 

Don’t get me wrong, fractional workers do consulting-style projects. Sometimes consultants get pulled into execution.

But the core model is different. One is advisory. One is operational.

Choose fractional for part-time leadership with full accountability.

I’m setting myself a challenge.

Help 10,000 founders find their fractional people over the next 100 days.

When I built my first company, fractional work made all the difference. Not full-time employees, but advisors, consultants, and experts who came in, solved problems + moved on.

I'm documenting the whole process of the challenge and posting more on Instagram and TikTok - sharing the process of our work with Simon Squibb and the HelpBnk team as well as supporting the founders who reach out me directly.

We're already off to a flying start. 

Let's see what happens…

Startups on the Connectd Ambassador programme get 3 months of senior fractional expertise completely free.

Let that sink in.

A fractional CMO, CFO, CTO, or COO for 3 months. £0.

The reason we do it is pretty simple. 

Most early-stage companies can't afford £150K full-time hires. But they DESPERATELY need senior expertise to scale.

3 months free gives them time to prove the value and see what fractional can do. Then (and only then) do they decide if they want to continue.

For the ambassadors, you're not just getting paid. You're giving startups in your network access to expertise that could change their trajectory.

If you're:

A VC helping portfolio companies 
An accelerator lead supporting your cohort 
A community builder connecting founders 
Already making these intros

You should be part of this.

Link in comments or DM me.

I've been in a lot of CEO and CFO calls lately.

Same theme keeps coming up:

"We need a CMO but we can't justify the £150K full-time salary right now."
"Board wants financial expertise but we're frozen on headcount."
"Operations need help. We're in a hiring pause. How do we square this?"

Every conversation lands on fractional.

Because in hard economic times, companies aren't cutting back because they don't need expertise. The CMO work still needs doing and the financial strategy still needs building!

That tension is what’s steering companies towards fractional, and the data matches up: our enquiries at Connectd are way up this quarter. 

Economic uncertainty doesn't make senior talent less valuable. It makes FLEXIBILITY more valuable.

That's why fractional is coming out on top in 2026.

At Connectd, we didn't copy our perks from other companies.

We built them around what actually matters when you're building something hard.

- Connect Days exist because burnout is real.

You can't just "power through" indefinitely - sometimes you need a day to reset. We'd rather you take it than pretend everything's fine.

- Work From Anywhere exists because life doesn't happen in one place.

Maybe your family lives abroad or you want to work from somewhere different for a month. We don't need you in a specific location to do good work.

- Company trips exist because hitting goals should feel like something.

We've been to Lisbon, Madrid, Split… the list goes on. When we win, we celebrate PROPERLY.

- Team events exist because shared experiences matter.

Formula One. Oasis concerts. Royal Ascot. VIP rugby experience. Michelin star dinners. Insane memories to look back on years later. Not just another office party. 

- EMI Share Scheme exists because you should own what you're building.

Your work creates value, so you should benefit directly from that. Simple. 

- Private health insurance exists because your health matters.

Gym discounts, physio, dental, eyecare. The things that keep you functional shouldn’t be a luxury. 

The principle behind all of this is that people do their best work when they feel genuinely SUPPORTED. 

These perks aren't about looking good on LinkedIn, but about creating good conditions for great work.

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My first company was in the US market. Biggest regret from that time was not building more relationships there when it mattered.

Not making that mistake again.

I’ll be in NYC February 23-29 building Connectd's US presence properly - meeting customers, partners, and potential hires. 

But I’m also looking to meet people who are building interesting things in their space.

Drop me a message if you have any podcasts or events going on that week - or if you want to grab coffee to talk about what you’re building.

Let's connect!

Yoann Pavy

Head of Growth at AiApply | ex Deliveroo, Depop, Perkbox & Nude | Host the 'In Growth We Trust' podcast | Startup Advisor

I didn’t come into growth through a textbook or a formal program. I built my career in the trenches of performance marketing, inside fast moving startups where the only rule was to make things work. 

From launching paid social channels at early stage companies to scaling growth teams across consumer brands, I’ve always been drawn to ambiguity and momentum.

There were no playbooks handed to me on day one. Just business goals, blank dashboards, and a constant need to figure things out. I learned to think like both a marketer and a builder, spotting patterns before there was enough data, iterating when certainty did not exist, and making decisions that balanced instinct with evidence. 

That hands on, test first mentality still shapes how I approach growth today.

Today, I’m the Chief Growth Officer at AIApply, helping rethink how people experience the job search. We are building products that remove friction from a process that is often stressful and opaque, using technology in a way that is practical, human, and genuinely useful. It is not about growth for growth’s sake, but about solving real problems at scale.

I still operate like a practitioner. I stay close to the data, the experiments, and the details. I believe good marketing is earned, not manufactured, and that responsible growth matters more than fast wins that do not last. 

I care deeply about building teams that feel ownership over their work and understand why what they are doing matters. You will not find polished frameworks or buzzword heavy playbooks here. I share openly about growth, marketing, and building in public because I believe the real work is often messier and more thoughtful than it appears from the outside. 

If you have ever felt like this work is both highly creative and quietly existential, and that tension is what keeps you sharp, then we will probably get along. Let’s connect 👋

Podcast Host

The best Growth Marketing podcast on this planet 🌎  (trying to be)
If you’re a marketer, growth leader, founder, or entrepreneur! This is for you.

When your boss knows you too well...

And brings you back a 1996 Alakazam Pokemon card from his trip to Tokyo 🇯🇵

Not only because I do love cool objects
But also because he added "you reminded me of this pokemon, a wizard" 🧙‍♂️

Very cool, thanks Aidan C., super thoughtful ☺️

I'd still take a pay rise though!

FYI: This pokemon has the coolest names, Abra -> Kadabra -> Alakazam 🪄

You won't believe it, but this AIApply video was made by Claude...

✨ One-shot prompt
✨ Claude code + Github + Remotion
✨ Taking elements straight from our codebase

Imagine a world where a 1-person growth team can automate and deploy product content on any channel just by linking GitHub to LLMs...

Well, that's happening today! 🤯

What are you waiting for?

Some shots from the fabulous growth event at Sushi Samba organised by the legendary Hannah Parvaz from Aperture but also Paddle.

MRR was unlocked that night 📈

Thx for the invite 👏

You're not ready for this! 

Content coming in a feed near you...

I love his "walk and talk" videos ❤️

Big thanks to Raphael Yarish for inviting me to his show. 

AdManage.ai x AIApply

LFG!!!

Most people obsess over WHERE they should work,

They shouldn't...

👀 Big logo
👀 Big brand
👀 Big valuation

The real cheat code isn’t where.

It’s WHEN.

Because honestly, AIApply, Deliveroo or Depop on my CV aren’t impressive because they’re well-known today.

They’re impressive because I joined early enough to be part of the inflexion point. That chaotic, scrappy, high-conviction moment where a company goes from:

“Wait… what is this?”
to
“Oh sh*t… everyone knows this.”

That moment is electric.
And it changes you.

👉 You don’t just “do a job”
👉 You build the machine.
👉 You ship fast, break things, fix them, learn everything.

You develop an obsession with impact.

If you’re hungry
If you want to crush it
If you’re ready to give it everything you’ve got

Then maybe the best move isn’t chasing the biggest startup.
It’s finding an early-stage one with:

✅ a genuinely great idea
✅ early traction (even small, but real)
✅ a team that’s moving like they have something to prove

Because joining too late means you’re executing the playbook.

Joining early means you’re writing it ✍️

And trust me, that’s where the fun is.

What’s the best early inflexion point company you’ve ever joined (or wish you had)?

📸 2018 photo of myself, my wife and son at a Depop market in London

I didn’t come into growth through a course or a formal program. 

I built my career in the trenches of paid marketing... 
Inside fast moving startups where the only rule was to make things work. 

Allow me to reintroduce myself 👇

From launching paid social channels at early stage companies to scaling growth teams across consumer brands, I’ve always been drawn to ambiguity and momentum.

There were no playbooks handed to me on day one. Just business goals, blank dashboards, and a constant need to figure things out. 

I learned to think like both a marketer and a builder, spotting patterns before there was enough data, iterating when certainty did not exist, and making decisions that balanced gut with evidence. 

That hands on, test first mentality still shapes how I approach growth today.

Today, I’m the Chief Growth Officer at AIApply, helping rethink how people experience the job search. We are building products that remove friction from a process that is often stressful and opaque, using technology in a way that is practical, human, and genuinely useful. 

It is not about growth for growth’s sake, but about solving real problems at scale.

I still operate like a practitioner. I stay close to the data, the experiments, and the details. I believe good marketing is earned, not manufactured, and that responsible growth matters more than fast wins that do not last. 

I care deeply about building teams that feel ownership over their work and understand why what they are doing matters. 

You will not find polished frameworks or buzzword heavy playbooks in my posts. In fact you should 99% of the time ignore them. 

I share openly about growth, marketing, and building in public because I believe the real work is often messier and more thoughtful than it appears from the outside. 

If you have ever felt like this work is both highly creative and quietly existential, and that tension is what keeps you sharp, then we will probably get along. 

Let’s connect 👋
Yoann

Traditional VC scaling is becoming an outdated flex 👋

Not because VC is over.

Because the advantage VC used to buy is no longer rare.

Speed is getting commoditized.

1) The traditional VC playbook

You raise money to buy speed.

✅ Goal: Win the market fast
✅ Growth strategy: Aggressive acquisition + expansion
✅ Team size: Hire ahead of revenue (sales, marketing, ops, “future-proofing”)
✅ Growth marketing: Spend-heavy (paid, teams, agencies, tools, experiments)
✅ Valuation logic: Narrative + TAM + growth rate
✅ Multiples: Higher multiples because “growth is the product”

VC-backed scaling is basically:
“Invest first, profit later. Dominate before someone else does.”

2) The bootstrapped scaling playbook

You grow with what you earn. You’re optimising for infinite runway + control.

✅ Goal: Profitability, durability, independence
✅ Growth strategy: Efficient channels + strong retention
✅ Team size: Lean, multi-hat operators
✅ Growth marketing: ROI-first (content, partnerships, referrals, SEO)
✅ Valuation logic: Revenue quality + margins + predictability
✅ Multiples: Lower multiples historically, but more “real”

Bootstrapping is basically:
“Earn the right to grow and never lose control of the wheel.”

Here’s the thing: AI is making these playbooks blurry
Because AI is changing the cost structure of scaling.

Team sizes are collapsing

What used to require:
3 marketers
2 SDRs
1 ops person
an agency
and a CRM mess

…can now be run by 1–2 killers + AI workflows.

You can build “VC-speed output” with a bootstrapped headcount.

Growth is being rewritten

The old world:
Spend more → test more → learn faster → scale

The new world:
Automate more → personalize more → ship faster → scale

AI gives small teams leverage that used to only exist inside well-funded companies.

Valuation is shifting from “headcount” to “efficiency”

The question is changing from:

“How fast are you growing?”
to:
“How fast can you grow without burning cash?”

This is where things get spicy:

The best businesses now combine both worlds:
bootstrapped discipline
with VC-level ambition
powered by AI-level execution speed

Multiples will reward profitability and velocity

The companies that will get insane outcomes won’t be the ones with the biggest teams…

They’ll be the ones with:

✨ strong distribution
✨ insane iteration speed
✨ low marginal cost
✨ and scalable retention loops

We’re entering an era where capital is no longer the only growth multiplier.
AI is.

So the real question becomes:
Do you need VC… or do you just need leverage?

Because in 2026+, the scariest companies won’t be the most funded.

They’ll be the ones that can do more with less and still grow like crazy 🚀

Have a nice day!

🚨 Job hunting shouldn’t feel like getting punched in the face by your inbox.

So this week, we shipped a BIG batch of updates to AIApply to make the process feel less chaotic… and way more winnable. 👇

🔥 What’s new this week:

✨ Instant Job Matching
Just add aiapply.co/ before any job URL → and instantly discover similar roles.
Every “nope” job becomes 10 new options. And you auto-apply to them instantly.

📬 Smart Inbox (finally)
Your job emails, automatically organized and sorted by type:
interviews, confirmations, rejections… with priority filtering so you don’t miss what matters.

📊 Progress Tracking
Visual milestones so you can actually see your momentum.
From applications → callbacks → interviews (and beyond).

💬 More human language
We replaced “Rejected” with “Declined” across the app.
Because job searching is already brutal — your tools shouldn’t make it worse.

⚡ Smoother onboarding
Progress bar ✅ smarter suggestions ✅ upload your resume from anywhere ✅
Getting started now feels as smooth as hitting “Apply”.

🎯 Better matching
Improved resume parsing + smarter job fits

🎁 Referral Program
Invite a friend. If they subscribe, you both get 10 Auto-Apply credits.
Win-win. Period.

✅ Everything is live now.
If you’re job hunting — or know someone who is — these updates will help a lot 💙

🔗 Try it here: aiapply.co

Quick question: which feature would save you the most time right now? Tell me in the comments

taplio

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