How a 24-Year-Old Serial Entrepreneur Turned Passion and Vision into Multi-Million-Dollar Ventures
When most high schoolers were focused on homework and after-school sports, Robert Wein was already running his first venture: flipping sneakers. For Wein, who was born at the dawn of the new millennium and grew up in Montreal, spotting consumer trends and moving fast to fill market gaps was instinctive. That instinct has since blossomed into a career that, by age 24, already included multiple startups, multi-million-dollar revenue streams, and even a company acquisition by a publicly traded firm.
"Opportunities don't wait. When a market inefficiency appears, the solution must be built immediately," says Wein.
From Vape Sales to a Record-Setting Distribution Business
At just 19, Wein founded Podmaster, a vape distribution business he launched while still a student. Starting with nothing more than samples secured from a supplier, he scaled the company into an $8.9 million enterprise in just 19 months. At its peak, the company shipped 1,500 parcels per day—a Quebec record at the time.
Disruption in Esports and Digital Assets
In 2023, Wein turned his focus to esports and blockchain. He founded Item. Bet is a platform that enables asset-based digital gaming. Within months, the innovation caught the attention of VIP Entertainment Technologies Inc. (TSXV: VIP), which acquired Item. Bet for $301,600.
The acquisition placed Wein in a rare company: an entrepreneur under 25 whose startup was validated by the public markets.
Building OpenThatPack: A Vision for Global Collectibles
Today, Wein is scaling OpenThatPack, a Texas-based startup that digitizes and gamifies the thrill of trading card pack-opening. The platform allows collectors to buy packs online, open them virtually, and receive real physical cards—or instantly resell them on the platform.
Launched in March 2025, OpenThatPack has already attracted more than 5,000 users worldwide.
For Wein, the journey from sneakers to scalable platforms has been about one thing: solving problems at scale. "Whether in logistics, esports, or trading cards, the focus remains the same: identifying inefficiencies, driving innovation, and creating solutions that transform the way people experience an industry."
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