I've spent 15 years building growth behind other people's brands.

I'm Simina. I launch businesses, run launches and fix growth that has stalled, for founders in telemedicine, e-commerce and education. More than 200 launches in, I still start every project the same way: by asking what's actually true.

Simina Ilea in a green blouse, smiling, against a warm gold backdrop

The short version

How I got here

  1. 01

    Listen to customers first.

    I'd already spent two years in marketing, at an agency in Cairo and running Wolters Kluwer's financial webinars across more than 40 countries, when I joined Mindvalley in 2014, answering customer support emails. That job taught me what I still build every project on: know who your customers are and listen to what they actually say. Marketing that isn't connected to customer support is guessing.

  2. 02

    See the whole machine.

    Over six years I moved from support into launches, then ran them end to end, then oversaw more than 100 launches across the marketing team. Every launch put me in the middle of product, copy, design, tech and data at once. That's where I learned to look at the whole business, not one channel.

  3. 03

    Think like an owner.

    In my last role at Mindvalley, as head of a new business unit, I built Little Humans from a business idea to a live product in one year, with a $100K budget. It brought in $400K in its first four months. I also helped start the schools and corporate divisions. Building from zero with a fixed budget is where I started thinking like a founder, not just a marketer.

  4. 04

    Trust what you know.

    In winter 2020 I came back to Europe. A turning point was a project with Michael Pilarczyk: a launch for a Dutch mindset education program. We started two weeks before Christmas, and it brought in about €1.2M. That was the moment I knew I could do this on my own.

I moved to Barcelona in 2021 and I've been independent since, launching businesses from zero, rebuilding ones that had stalled, and running launches for founders who want someone looking at the whole business.

  • Simina on stage presenting the Little Humans launch
  • Simina and a colleague smiling on the coast
  • Simina with a client team at a video shoot
  • Simina at the Dot IT booth at a tech conference in Cairo
  • Simina and a client smiling on a shoot day
  • Simina working through a launch with a client at a laptop
  • Simina with a client team at a filming set
  • Simina speaking to a room at a conference

What I believe

Judgment matters more than production.

AI can build a landing page in an hour. It can't tell you if it's the right page. It multiplies the knowledge you have, it can't create the knowledge you don't. I never accept the first output. I challenge it until it's right.

Fit beats formula.

Most agencies sell their format: a webinar, a challenge, a quiz. I fit the funnel to the business and the founder. Some founders shouldn't sell live. Some content is too deep for a five-day challenge. The format comes last.

Honesty over hype.

Revenue is what keeps a business alive, so every plan I build is measured against it. We set realistic revenue targets from your real numbers, track them every week, and I tell you the truth about what the data says, including when it's not what you hoped.

There are no mistakes, only untested assumptions.

Every page, email and ad is a test. When something doesn't work, we run a retrospective and let the data be the villain, not the person. Launches usually break weeks before anyone notices, in the part nobody was watching.

What I've built

Built from zero

  • Sprout Health: launched from scratch. Site, copy, first GLP-1 funnel, CRM, email and social. About $1.4M in revenue in 13 months, with a new vertical added roughly every two months.
  • The Natural Law: from zero to a 200K list and around $500K in revenue in its first six months.
  • DermClick: a full brand relaunch from zero. Took over a US telemedicine dermatology brand that wasn't performing, rebuilt the whole front end, funnels and intake in about ten weeks, and relaunched it with weekly optimization since.
  • Zero to Skill: co-founded and launched from zero as CMO. A 100K list in a few months through viral articles, and around €300K a year from digital courses.
  • Little Humans (Mindvalley): from a business idea to a live product in one year, with a $100K budget, and $400K in revenue in its first four months.

Also launched from scratch: Luua, The Homeschool Revolution and IARMAROC.com.

Scaled and turned around

  • SoulCybin: monthly revenue from about $200K to $360K in five months, in a category where most ads get rejected.
  • Michael Pilarczyk: three launches for the Dutch-speaking market, about €3.4M combined, the largest around €1.5M.

Also scaled and grown: Jordan Peterson, Meditation Moments, Project Yourself, Ancient Explorers, Shai Tubali, Golden Era Media and Rich Litvin.

How I work

I ask about your runway before your roadmap. If cash is tight, we start with something that brings money in quickly and build the long-term engine alongside it.

I don't skip strategy. Product interviews, market research and a clear picture of your buyer come first. Without them, your ads, pages and emails all end up saying different things.

I'm hands-on. I work inside your business, write the briefs, check the work and read the numbers every week. When a project needs more hands, I bring in specialists I've worked with for years, including a trusted operations partner.

And I teach as I go. When we're done, your team should understand why things work, not just that they do.

Who I work best with

I do my best work with founders who want an honest partner, not a yes-person. You don't need to know how to sell. You do need to be willing to learn, show up on camera and stand behind what you've built.

I only take on products I'd buy myself. If I can't see myself as your customer, I'm not the right person to sell it.

I'm probably not the right fit if you want guaranteed numbers, prefer to start and stop every few weeks, or want someone to execute without questions.

Outside client work

I'm Romanian, I live in Barcelona, and I switch between four languages most days. I'm also building Little Stories, a small publishing project for children's picture books.

If this sounds like the partner you've been looking for, let's talk.

A 30-minute call. I'll tell you honestly whether I can help.

Book a call