Elana Harari: Record labels, a Melbourne agency exit, and 15 years building towards something bigger

Elana Harari has had a pretty interesting run. She spent her early twenties in the music industry looking after artists like Taylor Swift and the Black Eyed Peas. Then she started a social media agency out of a tiny Collingwood office with three desks - and eventually sold it. Now she's Chief of Staff at Backable and COO of Philotimo, working on AI that's been about 15 years in the making. In this one, Shaun and Elana talk through all of it, the good decisions, the ones that didn't work out, and what she'd actually tell someone thinking about starting a business today. What comes up in the episode: Starting a social media agency at 22 when you couldn't even schedule posts yet Growing Loud Days to a multi-million dollar agency and what made it sellable Firing her own husband from the business - and why it actually worked out Three attempts to sell before the right deal finally came together Running an agency through Melbourne's lockdowns (it was a boom time, surprisingly) What Backable actually is and why they spent 15 years building up to it Her take on handling hard conversations instead of sitting in dread about them The "care deeply, don't mind" idea she keeps coming back to About Backable: Backable is personalised business intelligence. The more you use it, the more it gets to know how you think and how your business works. Not generic advice - something that actually learns you. About Briefly. Briefly. is hosted by Shaun Ryan, CEO of Fishr and About Today. Straight conversations with Australian founders and agency owners about what's actually going on behind the business. Presented by Fishr. Learn more about Backable: backable.ai Follow Elana: linkedin.com/in/elanaharari Subscribe to catch every episode.