Building Businesses Across Multiple Markets

By Chaim Grunfeld, serial Entrepreneur and Director of both SIMSINLIFTS and Prime Connect

When Chaim Grunfeld founded London-based telecoms company Prime Connect alongside partner Chaim Berkowicz in 2011, the Belgium-born entrepreneur was laying the foundations for something bigger: a venture that now spans property, lift safety, and enterprise messaging. His secret? Disciplined experimentation, rapid validation, and evidence-led innovation. We speak to him to find out more.

So, Chaim. You’ve already built several successful business ventures across different markets, with more on the horizon. How do you decide what to pursue?  

I start with the problem. The issues we solve aren’t always glamorous, but they create real friction for the people we serve. I have a habit of asking, “How could we make things better?”. And that’s what we do. We test ideas quickly, work out how to mitigate risks where possible, then build custom technology-driven solutions for underserved markets.

How can you tell the difference between a distraction and a genuine new business opportunity? Do you have a rule? Or is it gut instinct?

I do still listen to my gut, but have criteria, too. I tend to focus on niche markets that offer recurring revenue and have potential to scale.

The key for me is to move fast, validating ideas as soon as they come. You can spend months analysing whether something will genuinely contribute to wider business success, or if it’s merely a distraction. But sometimes, the most reliable way to find out is simply to launch and see what happens. We’ve tried things over the years that never really materialised – and that’s fine. Moving past those ideas fast is what allowed other concepts to develop into fully-fledged businesses. SIMSINLIFTS and Landlord Connect are good examples. Both started with us identifying a fairly specific problem and asking if we could build a simple, scalable solution around it.

In a recent article, you flagged the accelerating pace of tech change as the big challenge for leaders in 2026. Why do you think this is? What tool should all business leaders integrate into their organisations and why?

Many established businesses are run by people who have been doing things successfully in the same way for years, which often leads to “If it’s not broken, why fix it?” attitudes. I approach things from the opposite angle. With tech moving so fast nowadays, by the time something is obviously broken, you’re already two steps behind your competitors. So, you need to get ahead of it, identifying and resolving problems before they’ve come to the surface. That’s why AI integration is so important: it keeps things efficient. In fact, business leaders need to keep their eyes open for technology of any kind that can improve customer experience and help them scale faster. It’s not about chasing every new development for the sake of newness but investing in things that allow you to keep pace with what’s changing around you.

You’re in the process of launching a new WhatsApp Messaging Solution, having been approved as a Meta Technology Provider. Messaging platforms move fast, and Meta can change the rules of its own platform overnight. How do you build a business on infrastructure you don’t own or can’t control?

Meta has deliberately created an ecosystem in which technology providers and integrators serve as the middlemen, because they don’t necessarily want to provide all the tech, integration, and customer support directly. Yes, there’s a risk, because we’re building on somebody else’s infrastructure. But the opportunity is significant enough that the risk is worth taking, especially because the product complements the connectivity, voice, and mobile solutions we already offer. We’ve done the calculations, so we’re not walking into this blindly – and the fact that we’re never completely dependent on one product or revenue stream acts as a kind of insurance.

So, what ‘frustration’ does this new messaging product solve? And how?

WhatsApp is now a primary means of communication, with customers increasingly expecting to message a business via the platform just as easily as they can email or call. They value the speed and convenience. Yet, many businesses still aren’t equipped to communicate with customers this way – putting them at significant disadvantage.  

Our product bridges that gap by turning WhatsApp into a formal business communication channel, which can be managed properly and at scale. Multiple agents can handle conversations through one business number; enquiries can be assigned to the right people for a fast, appropriate response; and colleagues can add private internal notes, allowing them to share important context and collaborate on enquiries without the customer seeing.

Businesses can also broadcast relevant messages where permitted, while AI can be integrated to automate and improve customer service. A widget embedded on the company’s website enables visitors to start a conversation immediately, reducing friction and helping businesses move more quickly from enquiry to sale, too. As a result, fewer sales, bookings, and other time-sensitive opportunities slip through the net.

You’ve described yourself as someone who enjoys digging into spreadsheets and P&Ls. What is the one number you check every single week without fail and why?

Weekly? More like daily! I check the bank every morning – because cash is reality, regardless of what the P&L says. I also keep a very close eye on the monthly P&L and cash flow, and we run regular reports around customer acquisition, churn, and our bill run, as well. These numbers quickly tell us whether we’re genuinely growing or simply keeping busy. It’s easy to get swept away in the emotion of business – feeling like something is going brilliantly when, in reality, it’s not. The numbers ground you.

Ten years from now, do you want to be running one large group, or still be the entrepreneurial person who spots the next annoying problem and builds a new company around it?

Both! That’s exactly what we’re building right now: a larger group with a number of smaller, niche verticals sitting underneath it – each with its own management and clear proposition. I’ll never stop thinking, “There must be a better way of doing this!” when I come across an annoying problem. So, the opportunities are endless – provided that I continue to build structure, so I don’t need to run every detail of every business personally.

Finally, what lesson would you pass on to other entrepreneurs?

Don’t be afraid to launch and fail! Not every idea will work. We’ve made mistakes and lost money on ventures that went nowhere. But it’s far better to try ten things and discover that two of them have real potential than spend years waiting for the perfect idea. There’s no such thing as risk-free business and mistakes don’t define you. The lessons you learn from them do. That’s what’s made Prime Connect what it is today: being prepared to try, learn quickly, adapt, and keep moving.