We Don't Build Teams for a Task. We Build Teams That Stay.

CEO of Smartexe on trust, organic teams, and why networking in Israel is infrastructure, not a nice-to-have.

Building teams, not filling seats

Gena has spent most of his career on what he considers one of the hardest problems in tech: building organic software development teams — people who operate as a real team rather than a collection of contractors, share responsibility, and become part of the client's business instead of remaining an outside supplier.

He joined Smartexe in 2004 as employee number three and grew with the company into CEO. Today his work is less about filling individual roles and more about helping founders build a team and ecosystem that actually fits their needs.

Two countries, one lesson in curiosity

Growing up between Ukraine and Israel taught Gena that there's no single "right" way to communicate, negotiate, or lead — every culture solves problems differently, and that's something to learn from rather than overcome. Working later across Europe, the US, and Israel only reinforced his belief that curiosity is one of the most underrated leadership skills.

When the questions stopped being about deadlines

Gena doesn't describe Smartexe's hardest moments in business terms. In February 2022, with much of the organization based in Ukraine, the questions that mattered stopped being about deadlines or roadmaps — they were about whether people and their families were safe, whether they could relocate, and what practical support they needed. There were days he felt the full weight of being responsible for the people inside the company. Then, in October 2023, that same uncertainty reached Smartexe from another direction, in Israel.

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"Those periods taught me more about leadership than any year of uninterrupted growth. What kept me going was a team that stayed productive no matter what happened."

Listening before solving

Ask Gena what quality has mattered most, and the answer sounds almost too simple: listening. A client may say they need five developers when the real problem is unclear ownership or a team structure that no longer fits the product — he tries to understand the problem behind the request before proposing a solution.

The same principle shapes how Smartexe hires. Rather than matching keywords on a resume, both sides speak directly before anyone joins a client's team, which takes curiosity, patience, and the willingness to challenge the first answer.

The moment that matters more than the invoice

What motivates Gena more than money today is the moment something that began as a conversation becomes a real business. A founder once came to Smartexe with an idea for a streaming video app. Gena built a dedicated organic team. And ~8 months later the project went live, and the founder called  full of emothions:

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"I didn't think it was possible so fast, let's go and scale our app worldwide."

That's the moment he remembers — not the invoice. He's equally motivated by something less visible: watching his own people hold together through COVID, the war in Ukraine, and the uncertainty in Israel, supporting colleagues in other countries and continuing to grow through circumstances none of them would have chosen.

Why relationships are infrastructure, not a nice-to-have

For Gena, relationships in Israel aren't a nice-to-have — they're part of the infrastructure, in a country with an unusually connected tech ecosystem. It isn't about collecting business cards or LinkedIn adds; reputation travels fast, and opportunities move through personal conversations long before they're public. That belief is part of why he co-founded JATN together with Anna Koreban — a community built so that people exchange ideas before they need favors.

The problem that hasn't changed since 2004

About 22 years ago, Dr. Nachum Panich developed an R&D model that enabled software projects to be delivered in half the time compared with relying on individual freelancers. That experience shaped the Smartexe approach and led to a mission: build teams that help companies achieve their goals.

The metric that matters most

Asked about his proudest achievement, Gena doesn't point to a deal or a valuation, but to how Smartexe has grown — from a small team to two R&D centers and offices across the US, Israel, Ukraine, and North Macedonia. Client relationships typically run 3 to 9 years — some longer, with a handful of clients still on board past the nine-year mark — and individual teams grow to as many as 30 people.

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"About three out of four people stay with the company more than 10 years — that's the achievement I value most. We didn't just find strong professionals; we built an environment people want to stay in."

Where AI actually changes the team

AI is changing software development faster than anything Gena has seen — but he thinks too much of the conversation is about replacing people. What's really changing is where value sits inside the team: technical skill alone won't be enough, while communication, judgment, creativity, and the ability to learn quickly will matter more. AI doesn't remove engineering complexity, in his view — it moves it to a different level. The real question is whether a team can build something that still makes sense two years from now.

What's next

Gena's priorities right now: helping companies adopt AI in ways that create real business value rather than impressive demos, continuing to develop Smartexe's organic team model as established teams gain an edge in an increasingly AI-assisted industry, and investing energy in growing JATN, because strong ecosystems create stronger companies.

Open to Network with...

People who think long term.

Founders building companies, engineers building products, and leaders building teams— especially those who understand that success is rarely the work of one person.

It's the same standard Gena looks for in every team: people who contribute more than their expertise — they create an environment others want to be part of.