CHICAGO — What happens when you combine a deep-rooted understanding of a community with the expertise that comes from years in consulting, funding and technology spaces, and a need for connection?
For Solome Tibebu, that combination resulted in her founding Behavioral Health Tech.
During COVID, Tibebu created what would become the largest behavioral health technology and innovation event in the sector, and it started as a virtual convening.
Since launching its in-person event, Behavioral Health Tech has grown into the event for the industry, attracting everyone from startups to investors, to payers and providers, and the event continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of the behavioral health technology space.
Its strong growth trajectory — the show welcomed more than 2,500 attendees in 2025, with 40% of them at the C-suite level — caught the attention of one of the world’s biggest organizers by revenue. In July 2025, Hyve Group acquired Behavioral Health Tech, expanding its healthcare portfolio which includes the HLTH brand.
Related. Hyve Group Expands its Healthcare Portfolio with Acquisition of Behavioral Health Tech
The acquisition unlocked new opportunities for Behavioral Health Tech to expand meaningfully, and the 2026 edition will take place in Nashville in September.
Trade Show Executive connected with Tibebu about the intention behind the show, how she managed to turn a virtual community into a physical event and what the acquisition process was like for her as a passionate founder.
MADDY: From what I know of your story, you didn’t start your career with the goal of being an event organizer. What was the path that ultimately led you from behavioral health advocacy into building this community and conference?
SOLOME: I’ve struggled with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder since I was a teenager. I’ve also valued community and connecting with like-minded people with lived experience dealing with similar issues for just as long. After needing help but not being able to find it, I turned to the web to create a place for other teens like me to access psycho-education about anxiety and more. I started Anxiety In Teens as one of the first nonprofit for-teen, by-teen online resources nearly 20 years ago as a 16-year-old, and I’ve been passionate about advancing technology to expand access to high-quality behavioral health care ever since.
During the pandemic, I had the honor of running The Upswing Fund for Adolescent Mental Health, a philanthropic COVID-19 response fund focusing on the mental health and well-being of adolescents of color and LGBTQ+ teens, funded by Pivotal, Melinda French Gates’ personal investment company. Around this time, I started really developing what would eventually become a robust behavioral health community.
Throughout my career, I’ve worked for behavioral health technology companies, venture and philanthropic funds, and consulted with a wide variety of stakeholders, including large telehealth brands, chronic disease vendors, health insurers, and private equity firms, on behavioral health technology. Bringing people together, especially this community, was a natural extension for me.
MADDY: Behavioral Health Tech launched during the pandemic as a virtual gathering, and it’s since evolved into a major in-person industry event. Looking back, what were the most important decisions you made that helped transform this idea into a sustainable business?
SOLOME: A critical, ongoing decision was to constantly listen to what community stakeholders actually needed in a rapidly changing environment, without any preconceived notions about what a solution should look like. As a consultant, health insurance companies were asking what the best scalable virtual mental health and addiction solutions were as the pandemic set in. As a funder, I was hearing from community-based behavioral health providers about their need to connect with peers and other funders. As someone with lived experience, I was also searching for specialized solutions that could support me during difficult times. Keeping these perspectives in mind, I was able to develop an evolving platform to foster more connections between stakeholders and focus content on issues that continue to matter to each member of the community.
MADDY: In the entrepreneurial space, I’d imagine there are moments of uncertainty. Did you ever face a point where you questioned whether Behavioral Health Tech would be a success, and what helped you push through that?
SOLOME: Constantly, especially in the early days with minimal resources or experience! I’ve often said that running an events business is not a business for someone with anxiety, but thankfully, BHT became what it has become because of the community, not because of any one thing I could do on my own. Regularly receiving emails from attendees about the success they had in meeting their first health plan or health system customer, or someone who would eventually become their co-founder or investor, or the new job they secured because of someone they met at BHT, reminds me why I started BHT.
Eventually, after our second edition, I was able to recruit an incredible team, and that has been the single most game-changing factor in our success. We have two rules at BHT: do what you say you are going to do and take initiative, and everyone has embodied these traits in their actions with attendees, partners, sponsors, and colleagues.
MADDY: The event ultimately attracted the attention of Hyve, and became part of its portfolio through acquisition. What factors made Hyve the right partner for you and this event/community, and what did you learn about the process of selling a founder-led business?
SOLOME: Mark Shashoua and the entire Hyve leadership team immediately recognized the passion and authenticity of this community and made me comfortable with how Hyve would nurture what was already special about BHT. They encouraged my team and me to continue our focus on listening to what our community needs most and invested the resources to support that mission. They offered the flexibility to innovate outside the box, including launching our nonprofit arm, BHT Impact, to support youth mental health and Medicaid innovators. Finally, they provided the expertise to guide our inaugural hosted meetings program this year, a service that Hyve has developed and perfected across their events.
Overall, I was very impressed with the alignment we had from the beginning, and it was only bolstered by conversations with other entrepreneurs who had worked with Hyve. Hyve had already attracted several of the best event entrepreneurs to its portfolio, including those who also served as advisors and mentors to me, Jonathan Weiner and Jay Weintraub, through its acquisitions of HLTH and Manifest, respectively. Hearing about their positive experience was very important to me, given the huge decision ahead about who would steward something I worked so hard to build. I would tell any founder in a similar position to interrogate alignment on values as rigorously as possible.
MADDY: How has your role changed since joining forces with Hyve, and what has been the biggest adjustment in moving from an independent founder to part of a larger organization?
SOLOME: One of the most positive outcomes of our partnership with Hyve is the ability to give my small but mighty team additional resources to support them in the many, many jobs each person manages. Unlike many other event entrepreneurs, I had no event background whatsoever, and for several years, it was just my intern, Danielle McNichol (recently promoted to Head of Content!), and me, flying blind. Now with Hyve, we have event marketing, operations, sales, legal, partnerships, and many other experts and event veterans available to help us in our growth.
MADDY: I heard from another leader at Hyve that you recently did something around more sustainable carpeting for your event. In recent years, we’ve been talking a bit more as an industry about the sustainability challenge show carpeting poses, so I’m curious about what you did on this front. Can you tell us a bit about that?
SOLOME: Yes! Event carpet is one of those things nobody thinks about until you both receive the shocking invoice and realize how much of it gets sent to a landfill after a single event. Full disclosure: I’m a co-founder of CarpetDiem, a company that rents biodegradable, natural-fiber flooring as an alternative to the synthetic carpet most shows use once and then throw away. At our upcoming Behavioral Health Tech conference, attendees will be able to experience CarpetDiem’s flooring. We believe an event about health and wellbeing shouldn’t leave behind unnecessary waste, and we hope other events follow our lead.
MADDY: As you look ahead, what excites you most about the future of Behavioral Health Tech, and what personal goals are you still pursuing?
SOLOME: I’m most excited about how much more integrated behavioral health is becoming with the rest of healthcare and technology as our space matures. The conversations happening at our event today are more sophisticated and more urgent than they were even a few years ago. AI and the ever-evolving political and funding landscape have created so many new opportunities and challenges for payers, providers, and innovators. I’m proud that Behavioral Health Tech continues to be the meeting place for these important conversations and that we get to keep pushing this community toward real, measurable impact on really challenging questions.
Personally, I’ve mostly gone from being an anxious teen to being an anxious adult. I continue to lead by being a person with lived experience, most of all. Developing people, fueling resources, and supporting solutions for individuals impacted by behavioral health issues is a lifelong mission for me.
MADDY: What advice would you give to this group about being successful in this industry?
SOLOME: Easier said than done, but let your lived experience be an asset, not something to hide to seem more “professional.” All of my best ideas have come directly from my own struggles, and there’s a very high likelihood that many others may be struggling with a similar problem, need, or wish. Additionally, cultivate and enjoy the relationships you create. You never know who you may end up partnering with to create something absolutely amazing. Finally, don’t wait for permission to start something meaningful. Certainly, I didn’t, and I am glad for it.
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