If you’ve attended any Jewish tradeshow or simply a large event with a focus on a specific industry, such as homecare, Amazon, kosher food, non-profit, etc., the odds are that you’ve attended an event arranged and run by Powwow Events.
The Powwow team consists of a unique trio: Joel Wolh, Mechy (Mac) Schlesinger and Yehuda Susskind. They met by “chance” and ended up starting a business together.
Today, they are, by far, the most prolific company putting together events, with about 12 a year, across different industries. They take care of every aspect of an event, from sponsors to exhibitors to marketing to attendees.
Powwow events exude a certain flair and uniqueness. Set in high-class venues with top-level event production, yet the atmosphere is light and relaxed.
Attendees see the final product, but there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. Here is the business behind the business events.
Next time you go to a tradeshow, you will have a different outlook on what you’re seeing—you’ll understand the work that goes into it. Enjoy!
—Nesanel
Nesanel: Let’s start with a brief background from each of you.
Yehuda: I’m 35 years old, and I still consider myself a yeshivah guy. I’ve learned in BMG every day since I got married, and I’m proud of it.
For the first six years, I was full time in kollel. Then, I started a small business during bein hasedarim. I was selling shopping cart ads. I worked on it for about two years just during off hours, and that business still exists today. Eventually it grew and became my main business.
Later on, I launched a marketing agency and worked closely with David Koenigsberg; we did a lot of business together. A few years ago, right around the time Powwow began, we sold the marketing business.
I always had a passion for chesed. I was that kid growing up who raised $2,000 for Shalom Torah Centers. I’ve always had a drive to help people.
During that period, I reached out to Eli Goldring because I was passionate about helping people who tried to make it on their own but, due to illness or other hardships, needed support. That’s how I got involved with HOPE. Together with Eli, we built it up into a more than $1 million-a-year organization helping people in Lakewood. Eli had started it about a year before I joined, and we’ve been running it together for the last ten years.
Mac: I’m 36 and I live in Toms River; I grew up in Kiryas Yoel. Before I got married, I started working at B&H Photo. Since I was young and had no experience, they started me off with the lowest job in the warehouse. After I got married, they noticed some potential and moved me into the store as a sales rep.
I was doing well there and growing, but after a while, I started feeling a certain emptiness. I wanted more for myself. That led me into the world of eBay and buying and selling, which eventually introduced me to Amazon.
I tried a few different things. It took time to figure out the right direction, but gradually, I gained knowledge and confidence. Still, it was a big leap when I left B&H. I didn’t have a clear plan or job lined up. I just knew that if I didn’t make the move then, it may never happen. So the next day, I gave in my notice without knowing what would come next.
While trying to find my footing with my side hustles, I took a part-time job at a steakhouse in Monsey. I had no restaurant experience, and it didn’t last long. I was fired after a few months.
That’s when I decided to go all in on Amazon. I rented a small office, signed up for a course, and started learning how to source and build products from China. I launched a pretty successful private label brand of swimming gear called SHVIM.
After about a year, I hit a financial wall. I just didn’t have enough cash flow, and I had no real access to funding. I couldn’t keep the business afloat while covering personal expenses for a family of four, so I had to step back and take a job.
That’s when I joined another Amazon company. They had heard about what I built and brought me in to manage their account, listings, advertising and the whole backend.
But after a year there, I felt that same restlessness I had back at B&H. Like I wasn’t moving forward or building something for myself. I told the owner that if I wasn’t getting equity or a serious raise, I’d have to figure something else out.
Around that same time, word got around among Amazon sellers that I was good at creating listings. Sellers began reaching out, asking for help. I didn’t really have the confidence to start an agency, but out of desperation, I said yes to a few projects. And that’s when things started to click. I was building listings and marketing them, and word just kept spreading. At that point, I gave notice at the company and jumped in, hoping that this was the opportunity I’d been waiting for.
That’s when I launched my own company: Best Seller Listers. What started as a listing service expanded into photography, branding and full marketing support for Amazon sellers. A few months later I started Seller Centry, an agency that helps sellers dealing with violations and suspensions.
At some point, I realized I needed to get the word out about my Amazon agencies, but I had no idea how. I’m a quiet guy, sitting in my basement doing my work. That’s when I started getting active on LinkedIn. I was actually inspired by Joel, though he doesn’t know it. He was also in the Amazon space and very proactive about putting himself out there. It inspired me to do the same.
So I started posting on LinkedIn, and it slowly caught on. That’s also what got me to join and exhibit at trade shows and events. A few years went by, and things kept building, culminating in Powwow Events.
During Covid, I rented out my backyard for small events, and that sparked the idea to host a laid-back get-together for Amazon sellers with a BBQ, music and real networking. Joel was my neighbor at the time, and we started talking about it seriously. When Yehuda came on board, everything started to take shape.
And here we are.
Joel: I’m in my 40s. I like to say no one really cares about my story, so let’s focus on the here and now instead. But I’ll give you the basics. I grew up in Seagate, Brooklyn. I started dabbling in business when I was in college, importing apparel from China. I later moved to Canada and spent about ten years in a pretty standard import-export business, a basic distribution and supply company. It wasn’t anything flashy, just steady.
Eventually, I moved back to New York. I started getting into consumer goods via a family company. I worked with a few companies that were inventing and designing new products, baby products, toys and more. I got involved with helping product creators bring their ideas to market. Working with consumer brands eventually led me into the Amazon world, because if you’re in consumer products, Amazon is where it all ends up.
On Amazon, I got into PPC, pay-per-click advertising. I became fascinated with how products rank and how the algorithm works. Eventually, like Mac, I realized there’s a business model in this. I launched an agency focused on Amazon PPC called Boutique Seller. I started doing really well as an agency; at one point, I recall being asked, “How much do we manage in Amazon sales?” I said, “Put it this way: If my team stops working for a week, Jeff Bezos is getting on a plane in person and knocking at my door!”
It was during this time when I really discovered myself. I realized that when I sold products, it was all about the product, or rather the price. Now I am selling a service and I am the product and there is no price! I learned to appreciate my unique capabilities and how to relay them to clients and potential clients. I had been using LinkedIn for many years as a networking tool and address book, and it was starting to turn semi-social; people were posting about themselves in a business context. I leaned into it and ended up becoming one of the biggest early content creators on LinkedIn, generating millions of views a month. Together with Berel Solomon, we launched LinkedIn Global and held the world’s largest LinkedIn meetup events. That really introduced me to the events world.
Getting involved with the ASGTG Amazon groups (shoutout to Ed Rosenberg!) led me to start promoting myself and my agency in the group forums and at Amazon events. All this helped me build my personal brand and get experience in event management. At the same time, I started dabbling in tech startups and venture capital, and I organized some startup events. And then Covid hit and everything came crashing down. I was leveraging all these events for exposure for my business, but there were zero events happening.
Toward the end of Covid, Mac and I started planning the second Amazon event (more about that later), and Powwow was born. The rest is history. Bisyata dishmaya, one of the largest Amazon agencies that was sponsoring our events came to me with a buyout offer, and I ended up selling my company to them. That gave me space to focus fully on events, and that’s when we decided to go big, move beyond Amazon, expand, and take on the events world. I discovered that at 40 years old I am doing precisely what I was intended to do.
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