Shachar Orren (Co-Founder EX.CO & Playbuzz) The Personal and Professional Sacrifices of Building a Start-Up & Choosing To Delay Family #036

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Shachar Orren, co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of EX.CO, to explore what it really costs to build something from nothing and what becomes available when family arrives after you have already built yourself. Shachar spent over a decade growing EX.CO from six people to a 115-person global company, helping publishers and media companies survive and grow in an industry being reshaped by AI. That journey required years of pivots, a full rebrand, and the kind of relentless focus that leaves little room for much else. She describes EX.CO as her first child and means it. But the story behind the story is harder to tell. A marriage, a divorce, a move back to Tel Aviv, a new relationship, becoming a bonus mother to a seven-year-old, and then having her son Max at 40 while navigating a company at full tilt and a war breaking out in Israel the day after she flew home from receiving a Working Mother of the Year award.Kevin and Shachar trace the real cost of ambition, why the hustle years actually gave her something, what maternity leave forced her to confront about her leadership, and what it means to build a life on your own timeline when the world has a different plan in mind. This is a conversation about reinvention, timing, and the unexpected gift of doing things out of order. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why building a startup and building a family require the same emotional infrastructure What years of searching for product-market fit actually does to a leadership team How to know when to pivot, when to adjust, and when to stay the course What maternity leave reveals that no leadership audit ever will Why becoming a mother later gave Shachar something earlier motherhood could not have How to lead with vulnerability without losing your team's confidence What bonus motherhood teaches you about earning trust that biology does not automatically grant Why the best version of yourself as a leader and as a parent is often the same version How to carry something difficult at work without making it everyone else's problem What it looks like to build a family that does not follow the expected sequence and still works Top Takeaways: Product-market fit announces itself. When 80 to 90 percent of your calls end in yes, you have found it. Until then, keep moving. Hustle years get a bad reputation. For some people, they build the career and the confidence that makes everything else possible. A great manager makes themselves unnecessary. If everything falls apart when you leave, that is not leadership. That is dependence. Maternity leave is the most honest executive audit you will ever have. You find out what only you can do, what others can handle, and what never needed to exist. Vulnerability in leadership is not about falling apart. It is about giving people context so they can trust what they are seeing. Doing things out of order is not failure. For some people, it is the only order that was ever going to work. Confidence is what makes presence possible. Shachar could enjoy motherhood more because there was less fear underneath it. About Shachar Orren: Shachar Orren is co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of EX.CO, a video and revenue platform helping publishers and connected TV companies grow in an AI-driven media landscape. She joined the company as employee number six and helped lead the pivot and rebrand that defined its current identity. Before a decade in tech, she was a senior journalist at two of Israel's largest newspapers. She was recently recognized as Working Mother of the Year by She Runs It and splits her time between New York and Tel Aviv. Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction(00:02:24) - Winning Working Mother of the Year(00:05:34) - Behind The Scenes Building EX.CO(00:11:59) - The Personal Story Behind Building a Start-up(00:16:18) - Transitioning from Journalism to Tech(00:26:30) - Personal Sacrifices and Building a Family(00:29:39) - Navigating Showing Up Fully in Difficult Times(00:34:24) - Taking Maternity Leave as a Co-Founder(00:39:30) - How Motherhood Shapes You(00:42:29) - Building a Modern Family(00:47:27) - Advice for Aspiring Executives