Jure Knehtl

Growth Expert for International Scaling ECOM Brands

3x Founder | 2x CMO from 0 to 50M+ € in Europe | Now building my own eCommerce brand 🛠️

Hey, nice to meet you. I am Jure Knehtl (also called JK), driven by results, creativity, and being a distributor on the market.

In my career, I helped generate 300M+ € eCommerce revenue for my partners by developing a customized marketing mix to maximize the brandformance.

For the last 11+ years, I've been leveraging Meta ads, TikTok, Influencer marketing, scientific performance-oriented creatives, localization, and retention channels to help DTC brands grow.

Here are 3 of my biggest successes so far:
- Built the whole marketing department from scratch and reached an explosive growth of a bootstrapped eCommerce business from 0 to 50M € revenue in 4 years.
- Founded a Boutique DTC Performance agency WeScale, in 2020, that grew to 20+ team members and 5 Mio € revenue in 3 years.
- Hyper-Scaled a beauty brand from 0 to 100M € revenue in 3 years, profitability.
 
❤️ Growth, leadership & basketball.
🛠 Chasing the NEXT WIN.

Knowing that I have more to offer, I apply that same drive to work with established brands as well as brands looking to make that pro jump.

If you have a question or just want to exchange ideas - send me a message - I look forward to our conversation!

Want to get in touch about the potential collaboration, mentorship or a speaking gig?
Email me: jure.knehtl.digital@gmail.com

Chief Executive Officer

At WeScale DTC performance marketing agency, I am in charge of building an ecosystem and strategy to empower the growth of fast-growing DTC brands.

We built multiple 8-figure brands in Europe with the help of scientific creatives, behavior-driven media buying & advanced acquisition strategies.

WeScale performance 🚀 numbers:
• +152 Mio € revenue generated across all our clients
• +41 Mio € ad spend across Meta, TikTok & Google
• Scaled a business from 7 Mio to 25 Mio €
• 1.1 Mio € Revenue in 72 hours
• 27,000 products sold in 1 day

Click the links below and check our value posts 👀

Want to get in touch?
Email me: jure.knehtl@wescale.agency

Jure 🚀 Knehtl

I've:
🚀founded 2 of the fastest scaling agencies in the region 
🚀2x CMO from 0 to +50 Mio €
🚀Founded my own ecommerce brand
🚀Spoke on international stages and podcasts
🚀Worked on 40+ international expansion projects
🚀Generated +300 Mio € with FB ads

The truth is that I didn't do it alone. I had an amazing group of people behind me:

My wife and family
Friends
Incredible team members
Mentors and coaches
Therapist
Personal trainer
Business partners
Mastermind members

So like + 100 people to help me get to where l am...

Thank you all ❤️

I'll continue the journey - Far from done 💪

Founder/Growth CMO🚀 • Growth Advisor • 300M+ € Sales Generated in Europe • On a Mission to Scale Profitably

No alternative text description for this image

6 years ago, I was working with a founder from Sweden who already understood the:

CAC: Contribution margin 90-day ratio.

What an early adopter 🧠

So I was running Meta ads, and the target CAC was set based on the projected contribution margin from Lifetimely data.

Result: Superscale

Going from 0 to 12 Mio € in 14 months.

We beat the competition and took a significant market share.

No one in my circle was looking at profitability and acquisition this way back then.

Now, this is becoming the norm.

I love seeing how the game changes and how early adopters disrupt the market.

My 5 main learnings from my entrepreneurial journey: 
1) If you want to go far, don't go alone 
2) You will never be as smart as someone's experience 
3) Follow your passions but stay flexible 
4) Take some time off 
5) You will have to re-invent yourself multiple times on your journey 
 
I am grateful for everything that I am learning every single day and how I am getting better. 
 
What was your biggest learning so far?

Revenue feeds your ego. 
 
Profit feeds your business. 
 
Don't be blinded by revenue numbers and focus on profit because it is way better. 
 
It applies to the ECOM brands. 
 
It applies to any business. 
 
Remember that and grow profitably. ✌️ 
 
Have a good week.

Do less & do it better.

My mentor told me this, and I took it to heart. Focusing on things that work and doing more of them.

Forgetting about everything else.

Been scaling ever since 🚀

Underrated marketing tactic 💡 
 
Analyzing your competitors. 
 
Understand their: 
- Angles 
- Offers 
- Creative approaches 
- CRO tactics 
- Acquisition strategy 
- Retention flow 
 
Do the analysis at least bi-weekly. 
 
This can save you: 
- Time 
- Money 
- A lot of resources

Your Facebook ads won't work if: 
- your product is 💩 
- you have a broken business model 
- you have really bad reviews and an NPS score 
- you ignore creative strategy 
- you think the next media buying hack is going to save your poor performance 
- you are not constantly creating new content 
- if you are not systematically testing and just throwing spaghetti at the wall 
- you are not trying to improve things outside the ads manager 
 
What else is missing?

ECOM Startups 101: 
 
Product-market fit is the most important thing in your business. 
 
Don't read too much marketing stuff; try to build something that people want first. 
 
Build a product people love, then figure out how to sell it.

Quick scenario for e-commerce founders 👇

You’re doing €3–5M/year in revenue.

Meta is still working, but:
> CAC is creeping up
> Creative fatigue hits faster every month
> Scaling spend doesn’t scale profit

You have €150k to invest this quarter.

What do you do?
A️⃣ Hire an in-house performance marketer
B️⃣ Double down on creative production
C️⃣ Invest in retention (email, SMS, CRO)
D️⃣ Expand to a new channel or market
E️⃣ Fix unit economics before scaling further

There’s no “right” answer — but your choice says a lot about how you think about growth.

I’ve seen brands win (and lose) with every option above.

Curious — which one would you choose and why? 👇

Following the blended ROAS will slow down your (profitable) growth.

Still, most founders don’t know their:

- new customers(NC) ROAS, CAC, contribution margin per order, and AOV

- returning customers(RC) ROAS, CAC, contribution margin per order, and AOV

- CAC: Contribution margin 90-day ratio

These are crucial for profitable scaling.

9/10 times, when we launch whitelisting (partnership) ads on an account, they outperform everything else.

Different niches. Different budgets. Same outcome.

We combine:
- Different following sizes
- Different personas
- Content formats
- Copy angles

Been working especially well for acquiring new customers.

Not a hack — just how trust scales in paid media.

Use that insight however you want.

How Meta’s Andromeda changes quietly killed old e-commerce playbooks

If your Meta performance feels less predictable than 2–3 years ago, you’re not imagining it.

The Andromeda update changed how Meta decides what scales — and what dies.

Here’s what most brands still don’t fully understand 👇

Before Andromeda:
- Media buyers “controlled” performance
- Small tweaks = measurable improvements
- Structure > creative
- Winning audiences could scale for months

After Andromeda:
+ Meta optimizes at the system level
+ Structure matters less, signals & diversity matter more
+ Creative quality beats targeting hacks
+ Learning phases punish weak inputs fast

In simple terms:
👉 Meta stopped rewarding media buying tricks
👉 Meta started rewarding real businesses with strong signals

What actually wins now:
✅ High-volume, high-quality creative
✅ Clear product-market fit
✅ Clean conversion signals (AOV, CVR, retention)
✅ Fewer, stronger campaigns — not 50 ad sets
✅ Patience through learning instead of constant “fixing”

The brands struggling most?

Those still trying to:
- Out-structure the algorithm
- Force scale with budget instead of personas, angles, offers
- Blame Meta instead of fixing the business

The brands scaling?

They treat Meta as:
+ a demand amplifier — not a demand creator.

Meta didn’t break e-commerce.

It exposed weak systems.

If you’re running Meta right now, what changed the most for your brand since Andromeda?

What separates brands that scale past €10M vs those that plateau

After 11+ years in e-commerce, here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Most brands don’t stall because of traffic or ads.

They stall because the business stops evolving.

Here’s what I consistently see 👇

Brands that plateau at €2–5M:
- Chase ROAS instead of contribution margin
- Rely on 1 channel (usually Meta)
- Optimize ads, but ignore retention
- Make decisions based on “what worked last year”
- Founders are still in execution mode, not leadership mode

Brands that break past €10M:
+ Know their true numbers (LTV, CAC payback, margin by channel)
+ Build systems, not hacks
+ Treat creative as a growth engine, not an afterthought
+ Invest early in retention (email, SMS, repeat purchase)
+ Founders shift from “doing” → “designing the machine”

The biggest difference?

€10M brands stop asking:
👉 “How do we get cheaper clicks?”

And start asking:
👉 “How do we build a business that compounds?”

That’s when growth stops being fragile — and starts being scalable.

If you’re stuck in the €1–5M range and feel like you’re pushing harder every month for the same results, it’s usually not a marketing problem.

It’s a system problem.

Curious — what do you see as the biggest blocker to scaling right now?

Why is January rough for acquiring new customers?

A) Zero gifting pressure
This shifts customers into:
“Do I really need this today?” territory

B) Financial recovery period
After holidays:
- credit card bills hit
- less discretionary spending
- paycheck cycle mid-month matters more
- people delay non-urgent purchases

C) No urgent problems to solve
January consumer problems are:
- health
- self-development
- weight loss
- gym
- organization
- supplements

If you are one of them, HAPPY SCALING 🚀

For the rest of you, here are some options:
> Explore new messaging 
Self-Improvement, Fresh Start trigger, Replacement Cycle

> Craft new exclusive (bigger) bundles 
Because they convert the rational brain:
“This makes logical sense. I’ll save now and stock up”

> Attach product to a Goal for the customers set for themselves
Speak about how the product is going to help them reach their goals faster, better 
  
> Creative Refresh
January requires different creative than Q4

> Reallocate Budget & focus
Shift away from aggressive broad acquisition campaigns (for 2–4 weeks). Shift towards returning customers via Email/SMS, and you may also include them in your ads

Not all the budget, just part of it that is higher then ussual.

These are common Q1 optimization rhythms for DTC.

For my brand, we already made some adjustments:
📈 better offers for acquisition
📈 exclusive offers for retention
📈 messaging angles
📈 creative testing
📈 scaling tactics
📈 gathering social proof

.. and it works!

What else is missing from the January DTC survival guide? ;)

I never forgot the words from a HubSpot speaker on Web Summit…

It was 2017, and I was attending my first international event with my friends.

From all the speeches, something stuck with me more than anything else.

It was about how the investment between buying advertising space vs. the creative production switched on TV 📺 

First it was just about being on TV being enough, even with the 💩 creative. The more time passed, the more brands needed to invest to be relevant and effective on the platform.

“And on social media, it will be the same.”

And it was Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, etc.

>> The more mature it gets, the bigger the role creative plays. 

I sadly don’t know the name of this guy, but this fact changed the path of my career.

Since then, I always prioritized CREATIVE as the needle-mover to success.

What I did then:
> internal studio
> external shooting teams 
> Influencers
> Content creators
> Employee-generated content
> Customer-generated content
> Namings and analytics for measurement
> Creative sprints
> Hire more internal people to content department

We invested more in creatives, and we got better results every time.

 8,5 years later, this mindset still works, but the methods are evolving.

Most e-commerce brands obsess over ROAS & CPC.

But there’s one leading indicator of sustainable scale that almost no one talks about:

👉 CAC payback period by product and by channel.

Here’s what I see in successful brands:
• It’s tracked weekly
• It drives budgeting decisions, not “gut”
• It predicts scaling viability before traditional KPIs

If your CAC payback is trending up — even with good ROAS — that’s a red flag.

A good rule of thumb:
If you can’t pay back CAC within 30 days, the margin gets fragile real fast.

Curious —Do you track payback period weekly or monthly?

What’s your current payback trend telling you? 👇

3 ways for an ECOM business to grow:

- Increase the number of customers
- Increase the average transaction with each customer
- Increase the frequency of customer transactions

High Performing Business Lifestyle Program

I have created a High Performing Business Lifestyle Program Ebook.
Your guide with actionable steps to higher personal & work performance.
Work smarter, level up your results and earn more. Avoid burnout and have more time & energy for yourself.

For busy company employees, CEOs, enterpreneurs, business owners, freelancers and consultants

Founder and Author

Krka

Managing large and small accounts

• I build longterm and trustful relationship
• Being transparent and active listener
• Actively solve challenges
• Deliver what I promise

I've also been leading local team & remote team:

• Find and empower each member's talent
• Motivate individuals for their personal & career growth 
• Making good vibes among all team members

Beside I have been implementing Sales & Marketing strategies that:

• Give results
• Realize KPIs
• Follow goals and objectives

Head Of Sales

My first independent role where I:

• Learnt how to lead a team and remote team
• Was preparing commercial offers
• Was setting prices for products and services
• Was preparing contracts and agreements

Head Of Sales office

This was the role where I made first steps and started getting experience

• I was mainly establishing client relationships
• I have managed my first 3 clients
• Did lots of business and market analysis
• I have absorbed knowledge & experience from my colleagues and mentors

Sales manager 

Next Level Zone Newsletter

Writing a newsletter for busy company employees, CEOs, enterpreneurs, freelancers and consultants.   The goal is to help everyone with actionable tips to perform better in personal & work life

Avoid being stuck. Work smarter & deliver better results. Earn more. Escape the burnout and have more time & energy for yourself!
Become a subscriber.

Author

Porsche Slovenija

B2B sales intern

CCUSA

Summer Camp Counselor

B2B Sales | Account Manager | Multilingual | Sales | International Sales and Marketing | Project manager | New Business Developer | Portfolio manager | Pharmaceutical Sales |

Having difficulties with your B2B sales, managing your clients and leading teams?

Struggling with Business Development, setting the right Commercial strategies, Pricing and Managing Projects?

Imagine that your B2B sales, clients and teams could be handled the right way, business development going well, using proper communication, team spirit and having fun?

➡️ With my years of experience I exactly know how to be a Connector between a Company and Clients. 

My focus is on B2B Sales, Leading Top Performing Teams, Business Development, Preparing Commercial Strategies, Pricing and Managing Various Projects. 

I am Multilingual (Spanish is my favourite 😉). 

Always a team player - grew up playing basketball.

I enjoy riding my bike to work to get morning boost of energy and stay active. 


🔥 I also share my knowledge, experience and my way of dealing with daily work & personal challenges.
I have done tons of research and tested many principles, I've put in the work so you don't have to
My content and newsletters are for FREE 
+I have created some paid products for your personal & professional growth

1. Subscribe for my Next Level Zone Newsletter to get weekly actionable advice on aleszehelj.substack.com

2. My new E-book High Performing Business Lifestyle Program E-Book launching in May
Preorders available on www.aleszehelj.com/ebook 


I have created 4 products in Slovene language which you can get on https://aleszehelj.com

1. Top Performance Newsletter with 5 minute actionable tips (sign up for FREE)
2. E-Book Poslovni Lajfstajl Program - all the tips and hacks in one place (in pdf)
3. Simple Mobility Exercises which you can do anytime and anywhere (video content)
4. Package of E-Book and Mobility exercises - great combo to put your performance on the next level (video + pdf)



Sounds interesting?

Feel free to DM me or send a connect request 😎

And see you in the feed

Aleš Žehelj

My key message to all for 2026:
Surround yourself with supportive people 

These people really make the difference if we progress or we stay stuck in life, career & business

1. Alone we can get far but together we get further

2. Invest your time, energy and budget in this support.
- This is the investment with NO RISK.
- The investment with the highest ROI.

3. Since my teenage years I had besides me (and behind me) sports coaches, which were guiding, supporting, motivating and give me focus. 
- These people really shaped me in the way I am today and helped me facing all the challenges (and avoid troubles while beeing a teenager 🤪)

4. I still have supportive people around me:
- Mentors, coaches, business network, inspirative, experienced and open-minded people.
- They push me forward and kick me out of the comfort zone so I progress and easier face the hardest challenges

5. I will also be giving support to everyone who needs it on personal, career and business journey. 
- That's why I started with mentorship and consulting program in 2025.
- My experience, knowledge, mindset and fails in Sales, Business Development, Leading Teams, Communication, Client management, have compunded over the years.
- I have also established structure, systems, focus and effective approaches which help me reach great results, avoid burnout and have more time & energy for myself.
- So it's time to give back to the community and help others progresss.

6. I would be glad to connect you with other supportive people too.
- Sharing is caring

p.s. Who gave you the biggest support in 2025?

B2B Sales & Team lead | 1:1 Consulting for Sales Growth, Career Progression & Sustainable Performance - Without Burning Out | Author Next Level Zone Newsletter

Newsletters for me are a great source of knowledge and insights
In 2025 I was regularly learning from 5 newsletters 

All these authors are sharing unique approaches, methods, value, insights and many years of experience in the different fields.

1. The Modern Leader by Gregor Kosi
It's about true leadership without micromanaging 
What I like - honest, straight to the point and no bulls*t approaches.
See here: https://lnkd.in/dd3ZWCZ4

2. The Silent Influencer by Damjan Blagojevic
It's about building a personal brand with claritiy over noise.
What I like - practical, honest and sustainable advice and approaches.
See here: https://lnkd.in/dMSnYF8a

3. The Saturday Solopreneur by Justin Welsh
It's about enterpreneurship, personal branding and solo business development.
What I like - sharing all the steps and approaches he's doing while building his business.
See here: https://lnkd.in/dyh4PM8f

4. Engineering Leadership by Gregor Ojstersek
It's about leadership and career growth in the IT industry.
What I like - Many collaboration articles with professionals sharing perspectives. Huge bonus are infographics (as I am more visual type of person).
P.s. I have provided 2 articles for this newsletter
See here: https://lnkd.in/dfEtNiQv

5. Next Level Zone Newsletter by me 😉 
I write about improving personal and business performance
What I like - Sharing actionable steps so everyone can progress. 
Plus writing a newsletter and getting deep into some topics is actually learning from the research and other perspectives.
See here: https://lnkd.in/eYpbmbDQ

What are your newsletter recommendations?

Let me know in the comments.
I like to read valuable content.

One of my goals for 2026 is to protect my energy, time and focus

And dedicate it to what matters the most:

1. Myself, my well-being, development & progress, flow and good times
2. The most valuable (and profitable) tasks & projects
3. The people who deserve it the most

I will try not to give it too much to:

- Disturbing factors
- Low valuable tasks and projects
- People who are just draining my time, energy & flow

What is your biggest 2026 personal or business resolution?  

p.s. I will share my journey of protecting my time, energy and focus 😉

Top 3 articles of my Next Level Zone Newsletter in 2025:

1. 8 Simple Shifts to Stop Burnout Before It Kicks In - https://lnkd.in/eaTrH8cV

2. 15 Productivity Hacks Every Engineer & Manager Should Know 
(collaboration with Gregor Ojstersek) - https://lnkd.in/gG3ZqaKg

3. Deep Work, Big Results: Why 90 Minutes of Focus Beats 9 Hours of Hustle - https://lnkd.in/dm7D_pc2


I write about improving personal & business performance.
Approaches, mindset, experience, scientifically prooven methods and fails.


Get 5 minute actionable tips straight to your inbox: https://lnkd.in/eYpbmbDQ


I promise you lots of valuable insights and actionable tips in 2026 🙌

p.s. What was your biggest personal or business related challenge you had in 2025?

What I’d do differently if I were rebuilding my career today

For a long time, I believed career growth was simple:
Work harder → Get better → Move up → More satisfaction.

I did exactly that.
Long hours. High standards. Consistent results.
And yet, at several points in my career, I still felt… stuck.

Looking back, if I were starting again today, I’d do a few things very differently:

1️⃣ I’d act before I felt ready.
Clarity comes from action, not overthinking the next move.

2️⃣ I’d focus on impact and value, not just effort.
Being busy isn’t enough — do the work that drives results.

3️⃣ I’d invest earlier in skills that compound.
Communication, sales, leadership, decision-making, networking.

4️⃣ I’d build systems and structure instead of relying on motivation.
Structure and habits outperform willpower long term.

5️⃣ I’d protect my energy as much as my time.
Sustainable careers and business don’t run on exhaustion.

Career and business growth isn’t just about moving up faster.
It’s about building something that lasts — without burning yourself out along the way.

If you’re ambitious, performing well, but quietly questioning your next step…
you’re not behind.
You might just need a clearer system, not more effort.

If this resonates, let's chat.

p.s. What would you change in your career or business approaches if you could rebuild them again?

taplio

The Battle

Jure 🚀 Knehtl

Aleš Žehelj

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreJure 🚀 Knehtl's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAleš Žehelj's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Jure 🚀 Knehtl

Aleš Žehelj

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jure 🚀 Knehtl's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAleš Žehelj's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJure 🚀 Knehtl's LinkedIn Performance