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The Power of Authentic Leadership: Adina Eckstein’s Approach to Leadership and Growth

Motivation, Self-confidence, Growth Mindset, Communication, Support System, Team, Culture, Women in tech,

In this episode of The Human Founder, I had the pleasure of speaking with Adina Eckstein, the COO of Lemonade. We delved into her journey of scaling the company from a small team to a global operation, where she emphasized the importance of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) in aligning the organization’s strategic goals. Adina’s focus on integrating top-down objectives with bottom-up execution has enabled Lemonade to remain adaptable to change while ensuring that each team member is working toward clear and measurable outcomes.

Empowering People and Creating a Collaborative Culture

One of the key themes that resonated with me during our conversation was Adina’s deep care for her team. She shared how empowering people and fostering authentic connections drives her leadership. Adina believes that when individuals feel valued and supported, they naturally perform at their best, which has shaped the collaborative culture at Lemonade. For her, it’s not just about hitting targets but ensuring that the people behind the work are thriving.

Navigating Transitions and Staying Resilient

We also explored some of the major transitions Adina navigated as COO, including Lemonade’s IPO and the challenges of adapting to a post-pandemic world. Her ability to foresee changes and keep the company resilient in the face of uncertainty is a testament to her forward-thinking leadership. Adina shared how she focused on maintaining employee motivation and stability during times of market volatility, proving that staying true to long-term goals is essential.

Strong Female Leadership Network

A particularly inspiring aspect of our chat was how Lemonade has grown into a strong female-led company, with many of the senior leadership roles held by women. Adina explained how this organic growth has created a supportive network of female leaders who bring out the best in each other, contributing to both the personal growth of these women and the business’s success.

Work - life balance

Adina also opened up about balancing her professional role as COO with being a mother of three. She highlighted how her genuine love for people and her passion for empowering others fuels her ability to manage both work and family life. It was clear throughout our conversation that her strength lies in her ability to connect with her team on a human level, while maintaining her strategic leadership.

Authenticity as the Core of Leadership

To me, the most striking part of Adina’s journey is her commitment to authenticity. Her leadership is deeply rooted in staying true to her values, which she believes is the foundation of long-term success. From her personal life decisions to her professional path, Adina’s courage to embrace change and empower others is a guiding principle for her, and it’s something that left a lasting impression on me.

Adina’s journey highlights the power of authentic leadership, emphasizing the importance of empowering people while staying adaptable in the face of change. Her ability to balance strategic vision with a genuine care for her team sets a strong example for leaders navigating both personal and professional growth.

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The Intersection of Business and Biblical Wisdom: Insights of a Prominent Investor into Ethical and Moral Principles for Success

Michael Eisenberg, a prominent figure in the Israeli venture capital landscape, started his journey as an investor without even planning it. In our conversation he offers a candid and unique glimpse into the world of investments. As Co-founder and General Partner of Aleph, a leading early-stage venture capital firm, Michael shares with me his life experiences, philosophies, and insights about life and how these values also reflect on the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Relationships are the key

From his perspective, the investors are just the stagehands, the real heroes are the entrepreneurs. Michael believes that the key to being a good investor is to invest in long term relationships with entrepreneurs who have potential. Michael knows it takes time for companies to grow and for entrepreneurs to ripen.

He emphasizes the importance of understanding people, their motivations, and their potential. His ability to discern the "inner truth" of entrepreneurs is a core competency, allowing him to identify promising ventures.

What is the investor looking for?

In his opinion, the most important qualities in an entrepreneur are optimism and resilience. People who see problems and are optimistic enough to believe there is a solution and that they are the ones to solve it. . This positive, forward-thinking attitudeis essential for navigating the complexities of starting and running a business.

Additionally, resilience is crucial; it enables entrepreneurs to bounce back from setbacks and maintain their focus on long-term goals. They don’t back down from challenges, but face them head on. This proactive approach transforms difficulties into opportunities for growth and innovation, ultimately leading to greater success. By cultivating these traits, entrepreneurs can inspire confidence in others and drive their ventures toward realization.

Rooted in the community

Central to Eisenberg’s investment philosophy is a deep-rooted belief in the power of Jewish and Israeli culture. In our conversation it's interesting to see how he embodies the spirit of both Jewish tradition and Israeli innovation. This is also evident in his book “The Tree of Life and Prosperity”. The book explores the intersection of business and biblical wisdom, offering insights into ethical and moral principles for success.

In our conversation we dive into Michael’s personal journey, including his family life and experiences, which are intertwined with his professional life. His reflections on his upbringing, the loss of loved ones on 7.10, and the balancing act between personal and professional commitments, offer a multifaceted portrait of Michael as both a person and an investor.

Michael's story is one of personal growth, resilience, and a deep-rooted connection to his community. This podcast is all about the significance of human relationships and the role of leadership in every aspect of our life.

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How to strengthen resilience as a founder?

As I say every episode, entrepreneurship is often described as an emotional rollercoaster, oscillating between the highest highs and lowest lows. Alon Leibovich experienced this firsthand when his company BrandTotal was sued by Facebook, throwing him into a crucible of immense mental stress for nearly two years. Yet he also tasted the sweet victories, like running an Intel Ignite agro/climate tech bootcamp, which helped rebuild the Gaza Envelope community.

An entrepreneur, founder, and builder, Alon is also an organizational psychologist by training, though he never practiced clinically. This background shaped how he navigated the turmoil when he learned via social media that Facebook was suing his company. "It felt like someone had punched you in the stomach," he recounts. His first step was consulting his mentor and lawyer, feeling his world had collapsed.

Following his mentor's advice to take action rather than dwell, Alon assembled a crisis team that worked until 2am in the morning - risk managers, PR personnel, lawyers. "Attention is just like any other muscle," Alon says. You need to train the ability to pay attention and direct your attention to the right place, to navigate between everything, because eventually doing and being in action greatly reduces anxiety. It's better than getting caught up in thoughts in the head, which eventually didn't leave him for almost two years.

A board member's call proved pivotal in shifting Alon's perspective: "I know it's hard for you to see this now, but it's a good thing that's happening." Realizing customers remained loyal, Alon decided to fight back. CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) with biofeedback revealed his stress levels which mirrored "a soldier behind enemy lines under real life or death threatening situation" at risk of heart attack. He was coached to exercise, practice mindfulness, and breathwork to reduce his toxic stress levels.

The dissonance between his inner turmoil and outward composure to employees was grueling for Alon. Yet after two years, they prevailed in the lawsuit, and investors doubled-down on the company. Reflecting on being a founder-CEO, Alon asserts, "As an industry, we don't talk about the fact that it is very hard to be a founder-CEO." We devalue how hard it is these days to do something against all odds and give everything you have, and to believe that you are the one who can do it. But to do that, we have to build, for hours every day, our resilience. And it should be every day, not only when a crisis comes but before - for prevention, and after, and all the time.

Alon candidly shares grappling with imposter syndrome, doubting himself as both a person and manager, although at the end, a pivotal and very important realization was: "There is more to us than just our business."

His key lessons were understanding what you can control versus accepting what you cannot, having a "North Star" vision while remaining humble and coachable, and leaving ego aside to be agile. "Many first-time founders don't listen enough," he cautions. The dissonance between his first and second venture as an entrepreneur yielded profound growth.

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Journey of Courage: Balancing Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Parenthood

In the dynamic intersection of technology and family, Lisa deftly navigates dual roles as Chief People Officer and Founding Partner at Appsflyer, blending strategic prowess with profound empathy. Beyond the boardroom, she cherishes the bonds of matrimony and parenthood, relishing the adventures shared with her partner and the joy of nurturing four remarkable children. As an immigrant, she embodies resilience and innovation, embracing challenges as catalysts for growth. At her core, she champions diversity, leads with kindness, and advocates tirelessly for women in tech.

"For me it was to look at the cards I have in my hand, how can I improve them and play them the best way"

At the tender age of 17, she embarked on a solo journey to Israel fueled by unwavering ambition and a steadfast resolve encapsulated in her mantra, "There's no Plan B to my Plan A." Courage and resilience became her guiding stars, propelling her forward even in the face of uncertainty. Her decision to relocate, despite familial complexities and cultural nuances, epitomized her willingness to seize opportunities and craft her destiny.

Reflecting on the rapid pace of modern careers, she espouses a philosophy rooted in diligence and patience, rejecting the allure of overnight success in favor of sustained, deliberate progress. Her evolution from zero-player marketing to pioneering new roles underscores her affinity for venturing into uncharted territories, from establishing educational initiatives to revolutionizing customer onboarding.

Amidst the demands of leadership and parenthood, she and her partner-husband embody a testament to harmony and mutual support. Setting clear boundaries and prioritizing quality time with her children, she navigates the delicate balance between professional ambition and familial bliss with grace and pragmatism. As co-founders, they've mastered the art of conflict resolution, fostering an environment of trust and collaboration within their company.

Guiding her employees with empathy and fostering a culture of psychological safety, she champions inclusivity and empowerment, recognizing that true leadership lies in nurturing confidence and resilience. Through Appsflyer's global expansion, she has cultivated a culture of community engagement, empowering each branch to enact positive change within their local ecosystems.

Her career journey is defined by audacity—the courage to defy conventions, challenge the status quo, and embrace the unknown. In the words of the PawPatrol slogan, a cartoon movie her kids are watching, she says "No pup is too small, no job is too big", encapsulating her unwavering belief in the power of perseverance and determination.

As our conversation draws to a close, we find solace in the conviction that success is not merely a destination but a journey fueled by unwavering belief and steadfast determination. Through incremental progress and unwavering focus on our goals, we navigate life's challenges with resilience and purpose, knowing that every step forward brings us closer to our aspirations.

In the ethos of Appsflyer, we embrace the ethos of being "1% done" (which means both that there are 99% opportunities out there other than what you did, and also that If you improve 1% every day, you will be much better at the end of the road) recognizing that our potential is limitless and that each day offers new opportunities for growth and achievement. As we press onward, we do so with the unwavering belief that the journey itself is the ultimate reward.

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The Wevo Odyssey - A Startup's Evolution Leading to SolarEdge's Acquisition

Teddy, is the Co-founder and CEO of Wevo Energy, a seasoned entrepreneur with a background in Electrical Engineering. His journey began with a childhood fascination for dismantling gadgets, a hobby that foreshadowed his future in technology. After earning his master's degree, Teddy ventured into the startup world, where he made significant contributions to companies like Cyota, Radvision, and Panoramic Power. These ventures not only showcased his leadership skills but also culminated in lucrative acquisitions totaling over $450M. Amidst his professional triumphs, Teddy finds solace in his family life, cherishing moments with his spouse, two grown-up kids, and a lively household of pets.

Adi, the Co-founder and CTO of Wevo Energy, shares Teddy's entrepreneurial spirit. With a background in Computer Science, she embarked on a journey that led her through various tech roles before crossing paths with Teddy at Panoramic Power. Adi's passion for problem-solving and her knack for innovation set the stage for her pivotal role at Wevo Energy. Beyond her professional pursuits, Adi finds fulfillment in her family life, juggling the demands of parenthood alongside her dedicated husband and a menagerie of pets.

Their entrepreneurial journey is a testament to the highs and lows that define startup life. From the exhilarating highs of breakthrough moments to the gut-wrenching lows of navigating crises, Teddy and Adi have weathered it all. Their resilience and unwavering determination have propelled them through countless challenges, shaping them into the dynamic leaders they are today.

Reflecting on their individual paths to entrepreneurship, Teddy and Adi reminisce about pivotal moments that shaped their careers. Teddy's early forays into startups exposed him to the realities of building and scaling a business, while Adi's while Adi's service in MAMRAM instilled in her a sense of discipline and problem-solving acumen. These diverse experiences laid the foundation for their partnership at Wevo Energy, where they seamlessly complement each other's strengths and expertise.

Their decision to co-found Wevo Energy wasn't taken lightly. It was the culmination of years of introspection, fueled by a shared vision for innovation and impact. Supported by their respective spouses, Teddy and Adi embarked on this journey with a sense of purpose and determination, knowing that the road ahead would be fraught with challenges and uncertainties.

As they navigated the complexities of building a startup, Teddy and Adi leaned on each other for support and guidance. Their partnership, grounded in trust and mutual respect, became the bedrock of Wevo Energy's success. Together, they tackled obstacles head-on, celebrating victories and learning from setbacks along the way.

Fast forward two and a half years, Wevo Energy caught the attention of SolarEdge, after an investment, ultimately leading to an acquisition, which is a testament to their tenacity and vision. The synergy between Wevo Energy's expertise in renewable energy and SolarEdge's market reach promises to usher in a new era of innovation in the clean energy sector. With this milestone, Teddy, Adi & the remarkable Wevo Team, look forward to continuing their journey of dreaming big and pushing boundaries in pursuit of a more sustainable future.

Their collaboration with me as their executive coach, underscores the importance of an external perspective during challenging times, providing clarity and facilitating constructive dialogue.

Teddy shares insights from his experience living in Boston, highlighting the complexities of relocating while balancing personal and professional responsibilities.

In a rapidly evolving startup landscape, Teddy and Adi remain steadfast in their commitment to excellence. They believe that the key to success lies in embracing change, staying true to their values, and never losing sight of the impact they aspire to make. As they embark on the next chapter of their journey, Teddy, Adi & the Wevo Team are poised to write the next chapter in the success story of Wevo Energy.

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Fortune 500 Leadership Coach Wisdom: Navigating Challenges, Fostering Resilience, and Leading with Purpose

Fred Kofman, co-founder of the Hoffman Kofman Foundation, along with Reid Hoffman and Zur Genosar, has a rich business background. Formerly an MIT professor in Economics, Fred has held leadership roles in LinkedIn and Google, and he is an international consultant for leadership. Residing in Mexico with his family, he is deeply passionate about Israel.

We met during the Hoffman Kofman Foundation transformative leadership program, and I had the opportunity to learn from him, dive into deep and meaningful conversations with him and exchange insights about leadership, business & life itself.

Throughout his extensive career, Fred has collaborated with top industry leaders, offering them a broad perspective on life and work. From an educated and experienced standpoint, we delve into the three most significant lessons we believe are crucial for humanity, society, and top performers leading global innovation, technology, and the economy:

• Response-Ability in Startups:

Fred emphasizes the importance of a startup mentality—realizing that while one may not be responsible for everything, the ability to respond to any situation is vital. In essence, it's about taking ownership and being able to adapt to challenges, fostering a culture of response-ability.

• Adapting to Challenges:

Fred draws an analogy: "There's no such thing as bad weather, there's only bad gear." This underscores the idea that preparation is key; unforeseen challenges are inevitable, but how well-prepared you are determines your ability to navigate them effectively.

• Effectiveness and Resilience:

Fred stresses the significance of resilience in achieving success. He points out that being effective means being resilient, as setbacks are bound to occur. Learning to navigate challenges is more important than simply relishing success, as the former equips individuals with the tools needed for sustained success.

Moving on to the broader perspective of success, Fred highlights the need to align personal values with one's mission. Just as Viktor Frankl emphasized in "Man's Search for Meaning," following one's values provides a guiding force. When individuals align themselves with their values, these values become the driving force propelling them forward.

Few Thoughts on Leadership

We delve into leadership and its essence. He asks a crucial question: Do you want to make your employees do something, or do you want to make them want to do something? The distinction lies in inspiring people to be motivated intrinsically, fostering a connection to the mission rather than merely following a leader.

Fred and I (Gali) agree on the importance of leaders being ego-free. It's about focusing on the mission rather than personal achievements. Leaders should inspire their teams to follow the mission, creating a self-sustaining drive even in the absence of explicit guidance.

Reflecting on his career journey, Fred introduces the concept of servant leadership—leading to serve the mission, with the mission taking precedence. He acknowledges moments when he sought coaching, emphasizing the value of both giving and receiving guidance.

Navigating Difficult Moments

Addressing the challenges of maintaining an optimistic outlook, Fred shares a personal low point on October 7th. Despite feeling that things couldn't get worse, they did on October 8th, when we all faced the trauma and the response of the world. Fred emphasizes the importance of honoring such feelings while recognizing their transient nature, and that’s also what brought him to Israel, to support its people and organizations.

“I have a dream for a long time which is to work with people that would combine the courage and the heart of a warrior, with the spirituality, compassion and love of a monk, and the intelligence and the application of wisdom like an engineer”.

The conversation concludes with Fred's vision for the Hoffman Kofman Foundation. He envisions working with individuals embodying the courage of a warrior, the spirituality of a monk, and the wisdom of an engineer. The Foundation aims to leave a lasting impact by combining these diverse qualities through its Leadership Programs. I personally was fortunate to take part in this program & journey. For more information about the next programs visit here: https://www.hoffmankofman.com/

For a more in-depth exploration of Fred's journey and the Hoffman Kofman Foundation's founding story, listen to the full episode.

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[As this is my birthday month, I wanted to give you a very special gift I gave myself this past year].

This year, I had the opportunity to dive deeper into Wellness & Biohacking and to learn how significant it is in building one’s physical & mental resilience. That’s how I met Maya Elhalal, a Biohacking Expert.

So, who already took the plunge into the IceBath? 🧊🛀 From hardly 2 minutes, I’m already doing 6 min in 4 celsius degrees. This is how I got stronger.

In order to be resilient founders, we need to take care of our bodies & minds, and to do so - we need to dive deeper. Literally.

Our bodies always try to communicate with us; we just don’t know how to listen.

Biohacking includes so many tools & hacks for checking & improving the body's functionalities, that impacts our wellbeing, resilience & performance.

As entrepreneurs - it’s crucial to learn how to use it with respect & care.

I invited the amazing Maya to my show, to share with you all the important hacks of Biohacking. Listen to our conversation and learn how to manage stress and avoid burnout >>

Special thanks to @zur genosar and the @Hoffman Kofman Foundation for opening my eyes to Biohacking and to Maya, who is an outstanding professional who also became a friend.

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Journeys of Impact and Meaningful Connection: From Leaving with Loss to Building a 'Capitalist Kibbutz' in Silicon Valley

Oded Hermoni, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of J-Ventures Group, carries a profound connection to his Jewish identity, notably shaped by the circumstances of his father's death in the Yom Kippur war. Born just 10 days after this event, Oded was named after his late father, and this experience, along with the support of his mother and stepfather, significantly influenced his life.

His journey, spanning journalism, investments, and entrepreneurship, reflects a commitment to understanding the impact of his vision. Oded's move to Silicon Valley, marked as a major shift, emphasizes the transformative nature of his career choices.

When reflecting on the loss of his father, Oded identifies three significant impacts: his name, his deep commitment to Zionism, and the profound experience of fatherhood. The significance of his name, "Oded Hermoni," becomes particularly poignant when he searches it online and sees it on his father's grave during visits.

Throughout his varied career, including journalism, Oded underscores the importance of a mission-driven approach, aligning with his commitment to making a meaningful impact. He draws parallels between journalism and business, emphasizing the need to put ego aside, connect with people, and provide value.

His involvement in various impact and social activities, as well as founding J-Ventures Group (J-Ventures+J-Impact), a Silicon Valley based Upside down VC fund with $70M AUM that he calls a "Capitalist Kibbutz"", to connect Israeli Startupsand Jews through investments. This further demonstrates his dedication to fostering connections within the Jewish community.

J-Ventures is a unique VC model empowered by 430 men & women. It's the only VC backed by over 150 other GPs from VC funds, by over 100 serial founders (and invested in 18 of them), and by 200 Executives. The model changes the paradigm of GP/LP and Also of VC/ Founders.

Oded's perspective on building a company emphasizes creating a positive community and inclusive environment, where everyone feels part of something significant. The emphasis on choosing colleagues based on shared values reflects Oded's belief in mutual support during challenging moments. Therefore, ask yourself both as an investor & a founder: "Are you a person I would enjoy being in his company for 7 years?" and then make a choice.

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In 2020, his second company was already after an A round and had 60 employees - and then COVID hit. As a travel company, they suddenly had no market, and their sales crashed by 50% in just two weeks, and it only got worse as time passed.

Noam shared that after meeting with their investors, he understood that radical changes needed to be made in order for their company to survive.

And so, with a heavy heart, they had to let go of almost half of the company to insure the future salaries of the rest of the employees for the next two years.

“It was very tough, and thinking about it now in retrospect, it was one of the things I didn’t have much control over - I couldn’t prevent it, but I still felt so bad. Everyone was crying in the office because it felt like we’re just starting to scale up and build our DNA, and then things are down the drain.”

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Every team of co-founders deals with conflicts. As three co-founders of IntSights, Alon shared that they had to overcome many obstacles. When I asked him what caused conflicts between them and what helped them solve them, he explained that he had to make a shift in his mindset.

“It was a tough process to go through; you believe in yourself, you believe that you know what needs to be done as the co-founder who's supposed to make the decisions, but you learn, like in marriage, that you can’t take all the decisions alone.”

Letting go of our egos is a big part of being a good co-founder. It’s a difficult shift in mindset to make between going all force toward a goal in one arena as an entrepreneur, and being considerate and compromising within your team to achieve this goal together in another. In some ways, it’s going against our nature.

It’s a tricky process that takes time - one that took Alon two years to make, but in the end, it's definitely worth it

Diving into everything in episode 103 of The Human Founder podcast, with Alon Arvatz, CEO & Co-founder of PointFive.

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“I felt like I had no control, not knowing what’s going on in my life, but I kept fighting, and no one felt anything - in fact, the company doubled itself.” 

He felt great responsibility to succeed for his family at home, and for his family of employees in HAAT - his community. 

Part of the capacity of responsibility that you choose to take on yourself when you become a founder is exactly this; accepting that even in the most stressful, difficult, and challenging moments, you will still be there, because you see it’s serving something bigger than yourself.

“Generally speaking, the journey is super difficult. We usually see the success, but we don’t see the suffering and patience behind it. Physically, I’m really tired, but mentally, I’m super excited. It’s the happiest and the hardest time in my life at the same time.”

Diving into everything in episode 102 of The Human Founder podcast, with Hasan Abasi, CEO at HAAT Delivery.

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Our childhoods had immense power in shaping the adults we are. The events that occurred to us early in life taught us what to expect from life in the future; they created our whole perspective.

Eyal shared about the insights he now has on the effects of his childhood: “Being the first son of a family when both your father leaves the house and you lose one of your role models in a sense, and in addition, losing our brother to cancer in those exact ages, which now I know are considered the time of personality development, were pretty traumatic. And so, in the future, I had to create a certain personality to deal with uncertainty in life.”

Stress is definitely very prevalent this year, both for us as people and as a part of the ecosystem as a whole. Many investors and founders who were used to success in the past few years are now experiencing a first crisis in their “algorithms”. For the first time, everything they knew and were sure about isn’t enough - new data is coming, and it’s very different from what they expected and were prepared for. It’s difficult to contain it all - for all of us.

With all of that in mind, Eyal emphasized - “If we want to maximize the chances of a certain company being successful and have the founders and their team maintain a sense of sanity and wellbeing (especially in this time), we need to put a lot of emphasis on addressing our personalities, communication, and awareness expansion…”

Diving into everything in episode 99 of The Human Founder podcast, With Eyal Gura, Entrepreneur & Venture Investor.

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The power of authentic storytelling for founders.

“I do appreciate what I have achieved so far, but I think that my best projects are ahead of me. I believe in continuous learning - the more you know, the more you can give. And I think meaning doesn’t come from what you have or receive but from what you give to others. You are not the story - you’re the storyteller. It’s not about you, people only care about what you can give them - an idea, a way to think about things, a methodology, a message, or a powerful principle - if you give me that, that’s what’s interesting.”

Diving into the fascinating world of branding and storytelling in The Human Founder podcast episode 96 with Eliav Alaluf, Marketing Expert and Author.

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In honor of International Women's Day, I'm excited and happy to share with you a special episode with Nathalie Rafuah, who shared in our intimate conversation about the insights she gathered during two decades of her career in the worlds of investments and entrepreneurship. Hearing and learning from her sensitive and wise take on the ecosystem has definitely made this day special and inspiring for me, and I hope it can do the same for you. 

“I like looking at things at a macro level - looking from the side of the investors, the LPs that invest in funds, gives you the macro perspective. When I started this journey two decades ago, there were barely women who were Partners, General Partners or analysts, and I think that today it’s about 15-20% of women at the top of VCs, so it’s definitely better, but I don’t see any reason for why it won’t be 50%.”

Diving into everything in ep 95 of The Human Founder podcast, with Nathalie Rafuah, General Partner at Viola Growth.

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How to dream big and make an impact on your community?

Rabea grew up as the oldest out of five siblings with two amazing parents. Despite the fact that his parents didn’t have the opportunity to finish school, they believed in and supported all of their children in completing their education and reaching their full potential.

Because two of his siblings were diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture) and required care, Rabea developed a strong sense of responsibility from a young age, knowing it was his responsibility to care for them with the family for the rest of their lives.

“I always knew I wanted to do big things that affected people at the macro level, and I also wanted to study something in the medical field," something that was heavily influenced by him growing up with his brother and sister and wanting to help them.

And so, he ended up choosing physical therapy. That year he also started what he called his “entrepreneurial adventure” - and opened together with a good friend a study center for pupils in elementary school in the Arabic society who came from a tough background and had no one to help them with their studying.

“We were 20 years old, and knew nothing about business and how to start things," but still, they managed to help many kids complete their education. And that was just the beginning.

Diving into everything in episode 93 With Rabea Zioud, Co-Founder & CEO at Hasoub

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How can we become indistractable?

Nir’s research on personal productivity and distraction came from a specific moment in his life, when he and his daughter a quality afternoon together, reading an activity book for parents and their kids, and one of the suggestions there was to ask each other - ‘If you could have any superpower, what superpower would you want?’

Unfortunately, Nir shared that he didn’t hear his daughter’s answer because he was too busy checking his phone. “When I looked up, she was already gone, because I was sending a very clear message that my phone was more important than she was.”

At that point, he realized he needed to reassess his approach to distractions because he could see how it affected every single part of his life.

The superpower he now wanted to cultivate was the power to be undistracted.

He spent five years researching and writing the book "Indistractable" to help people learn how to control their attention and become more successful in life,“but it took me so long because I kept getting distracted! I wrote this book for me, more than anyone else, cause I needed it”.

He wanted to provide a tech positive approach that doesn't moralize or medicalize the problem, but instead looks at the root cause of why we get distracted in the first place.

Diving into the fascinating world of the psychology behind trends in The Human Founder podcast episode 92 with Nir Eyal, Author: Indistractable, Hooked; Investor; Consultant; and a Public Speaker

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How to build 7 tech companies in 15 years whilst finding your center as an entrepreneur?

“I think entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to hit those walls more than other people are, because of the difficulties of building a startup, failing, and doing it again - it makes you question yourself much more than other professions will afford you to do.”

Sometimes, as much as we might hate it, doubt can be a good thing. It’s not about knowing everything right from the beginning, but having the ability to ask the tough and important questions, to be willing to change and be surprised.

This ability is a must, especially as a founder.

I think one of the big secrets that no one tells founders in the beginning of the way, is that the real challenging part of this journey won’t be raising the funds, but will come from inside yourself. The highest walls you must break come from within.

It might sound gloomy, but as Jonathan said: “Once you turn that switch of knowing you can do it - it’s turned for life, and that’s the key.”

Diving into everything in The Human Founder podcast episode 89 with Jonathan Ellman, Co-Founder & Chairman of Flip, קו-פאונדר ומנכ״ל Seekers 

This episode is in loving memory of Micha.

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The incredible journey of the young CEO

• What leads a 17-year-old boy to found a startup?

• What are the key points as a founder for success in the first meeting with an investor?

• What are the unique values ​​that a young CEO brings to the table?

• Why is it important to know your type of leadership as CEO?

Diving into everything in The Human Founder podcast episode 87 with Iddo Gino, Founder and CEO of RapidAPI

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What can we do as investors to be the CEOs’ first call?

• What is the balance that should be maintained when experiencing a big change in your professional and personal life?

• What is our blind spot within the Israeli ecosystem that is getting in our way?

• What is the real pride that investors should strive for on a daily basis?

• What do founders really need to hear from their investors to succeed?

Diving into everything in The Human Founder podcast episode 86, With Gal Gitter, Partner and Managing Director at Ibex Investors - part 7 in the investors series

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From a childhood in Nigeria to a seasoned investor - how your life experiences & inner strengths build the entrepreneur & investor you are? 

• Is it possible to learn skills as a child that will make you a good entrepreneur in the future?

• How do you deal with the uncertainty in the investment world?

• What are the challenges in turning from entrepreneur into an investor and how can they be overcome?

• How can we build trust as investors with founders and CEOs?

Diving into everything in The Human Founder podcast episode 85 With Eden Shochat, Equal Partner at Aleph - part 6 in the investors series

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What are the stepping stones to become a better investor and leader?

• How to learn to be an investor who really listens to entrepreneurs??

• What is leadership without masks and how can we be like that and give up the facade?

• What is the connection between being an investor and being a father?

• What is the part of the emotional side in the choices you make as an investor?

Diving into everything in @The Human Founder podcast episode 84 with Guy Yamen, Managing Partner at TPY Capital - Part 5 in the investors series

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The journey of a seasoned B2C investor

episode 83 with Daniel Cohen, General Partner at Viola Ventures

• What does the world of B2C investments in Israel look like?

• What's it like transitioning from one VC to another?

• How to find the right founders to invest in?

• Does being a father of daughters affect your investment strategy?

Diving into everything in #The Human Founder podcast episode 83 with Daniel Cohen, General Partner at Viola Ventures

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What’s between being a professional basketball player and a leading healthcare investor? - Part 3 in the investors series

In an interesting and fun conversation, we talked about the beginning of Assaf's journey as a professional basketball player who absorbed the values ​​and principles from the world of competitive sports, about the reasons that led him to do 3 different degrees during his career as an athlete and why he believes that going to therapy was the best course he ever did.

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What happens when you let your gut instinct lead your entrepreneurial way & become a ClimaTech investor? - Part II in the investors series

“It was an epic moment in my life - not because of the decision, but because it was the first time in my life that I remember feeling intuition. I felt it in my gut, this confidence that I didn’t know where it came from - and this voice inside of me said - you can always come back, just try this.”

In a fun & inspiring conversation, we talked about what it’s like to relocate to other countries for your career, about the compromises and the prices that come when following your passion, and the process of connecting all the dots from your past to find your most authentic and fulfilling career.

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Why Should Every VC Prioritize Its Founders’ Mental & Emotional Wellness?

- Part I in the investors series

In a fascinating conversation we discussed how as investors they can assess founders when meeting them for the first time and what’s important to them as potential investors, what happens when suddenly you’re not completely aligned with the founders you work with, how they can tell from their perspective which founding teams will make it and which won’t, and the keys to being successful as partners.

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Why Is Working On Our Mental Muscles the Most Important Job as Startup Founders?

In our intimate conversation, we talked about coping with PTSD and other disorders , the importance of having a support system, and how your disorders can contribute to your success as a leader. Nadav shares his insights about leadership, the importance of taking care of your mental health, the value of YPO to his journey and what it really means to lead a company at scale.

Learn:

• Why it’s important to diagnose mental disorders

• How mental tools can help you leverage your disorders 

• Why it’s important to have a support system (personal & professional)

• How to become a great leader

• How to turn your vision into reality and build a safer & open internet

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The power of mindfulness in your entrepreneurial journey - Part 2 In The HR And Mindfulness In Business Series

In our intimate conversation, we discussed how Keren rose up from a low point in her life, and how through listening to herself she found her own authentic path, about the power of mindfulness in the workplace and in our personal life, and what being mindful actually means in our day to day life.

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Navigating your life as a startup - part 1 of HR and Mindfulness in Business series

In an intimate conversation, we talked about the shock that can hit you after stepping out from the education system to the world in the beginning of your career, and what it takes to keep your mental state healthy through that faze and out of it, about the wisdom of navigating your life as if it’s a startup, and why it holds the key for unlocking our full potential.

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The power of ‘Chutzpah’ in your entrepreneurial journey

In our intimate conversation, we talked about Inbal's fascinating life path, about the exact ingredients in her childhood and career who made her the person she is today, about having a lot of responsibility at a young age, what her great mentors taught her along the way, and what was the point where she realized she is finally ready to fly on her own and become independent.

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How can you maintain and balance between different passions/identities to reach your full potential?

In an intimate conversation we talked about Yoni’s fascinating journey - from a teenager who was a geek before it was considered ‘cool’, to a beloved musician, who later on also became an amazing co-founder & CEO of Eko, which he founded with his bandmates. We talked about the pros and cons of working together as entrepreneurs vs. musicians from his unique point of view, about navigating between the different parts of your identity to feel fulfillment in your life as a whole, and the sacrifices you need to make when you're dedicated to make it all work.

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How can you maintain and balance between different passions/identities to reach your full potential?

In an intimate conversation we talked about Yoni’s fascinating journey - from a teenager who was a geek before it was considered ‘cool’, to a beloved musician, who later on also became an amazing co-founder & CEO of Eko, which he founded with his bandmates. We talked about the pros and cons of working together as entrepreneurs vs. musicians from his unique point of view, about navigating between the different parts of your identity to feel fulfillment in your life as a whole, and the sacrifices you need to make when you're dedicated to make it all work.

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Curing others (and yourself) from the loneliness epidemic

In our intimate conversation, we talked about what it’s like being part of a very well known family of high achievers in Israel, with the constant expectation from you to leave your mark in the world, about the power of storytelling and how it connects to the world of founders, and about his mission to cure the loneliness epidemic with his innovative company, Wisdo.

“Loneliness is simply a gap between the human relationships that you have in your life, and the human relationships you would like to have in your life. The larger the gap, the more lonely you feel. It’s not a matter of - if you're married or have co-founders or a lot of friends. If you are living a life where you're surrounded with people you don’t feel you can be close to and vulnerable with in an open and authentic way - that gap is not going to be closed by itself.”

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How can we spot the social signals we send and accept, and improve our communication as founders & dealmakers?

“It all starts from pain.” Ori admits being shy and sensitive as a child. That same sensitivity is still rooted into his character and personality. Oddly, Ori believes it serves as a key component in some of his recent achievements (successful exits) and an effective “fuel” for future ones. His journey was and still is all about accepting yourself and your weaknesses, and sometimes understanding that your ‘weaknesses’ ARE  your strengths.

In our intimate and fascinating conversation, we talked about learning from your mistakes as a young entrepreneur, about the hidden nonverbal channels behind  every social interaction, who shed a light on the mystery of human communication, and why knowing this is crucial to your success in every field in your life.

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How does the connection to our own body affect the way we lead in the world?

In an intimate and insightful conversation we talked about how Narkis experienced her eureka moment that changed her whole perspective and fueled her to forge a new personal and professional path, about the way women are taught to treat their bodies and how it reflects later in their workplace, about the price that we all pay when were controlled by gender roles and what we can do to create a safe space in the workplace, that is not just based on what no to do, but also knows and communicates what we want and can.

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How seeing everything as a ‘learning opportunity for personal & professional growth’ is a mindset that  can change your life as a serial entrepreneur?

In an intimate and fascinating conversation we talked about how Nevo discovered his purpose by coincidence, about managing a balanced family life as a busy parent, the roller coaster of founding Visualead, and how after a surprising success in China he and his family packed everything and moved on to a challenging and amazing year. How after a big success he got the courage to jump into the deep water again and found Acumen together with Itamar and Daniel, and how to stay balanced in a world full of ups and downs, while still keeping the inner fire of a serial entrepreneur.

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How can we as parents-founders help better our own Teenagers’ mental health?

From psychologist to entrepreneur

Just a few years ago, Alex was all in as a clinical psychologist, having two clinics, teaching about psychology - when by accident, he found himself diving into the Tech world. It was something he didn’t know had existed before, and he felt like ‘Alice in wonderland’ as he discovered the full power and potential that lies within that world. He decided to found his first company, and poured his energy into it.

When I asked Alex about this big switch, he shared that from his perspective - it wasn't a big shift, because companies are all about people. As a psychologist, his activity has changed but the essence is still about people. He uses his empathy and wisdom as a psychologist to connect and understand his usersand their needs.

When it came to Kai, it started when the time was right. Alex and Netanel reached out to Ziv, who built an earlier version of Kai. They weren't sure about it in the beginning - they didn’t think people would cooperate and use AI, but after weeks of convincing, he decided to go for it - not because he was sure about the idea, but because he was ready to build a company with amazing co-founders to explore with. He said yes to this unique combination between psychological background and technological expertise.

The alarming data

1 out of 3 teenagers will experience severe sadness, the percentage is even higher for teenage girls. Suicide rate grew by 40%, and Covid only accelerated it. Why is that?

Well, the last two years were very hectic - teenagers stayed an enormous amount of time at home without having any certainty about the next day, they were more exposed to the stress in their home life and had nowhere to escape to. Add the absence of time outside in the sunlight and in nature, and the twisted mirror of social media, which filled all their time with watching the illusion of the perfect lives of others - it’s a ticking time bomb.

Although it’s scary and hard to admit as parents - we don't necessarily always know what happens to our children, and what’s going on inside their heads. And when we do know eventually, it’s often too late.

How can we as parents be there for our kids?

• Spending quality time with them - there's no way around it

• Creating space where parents bring more vulnerability

• Normalize sharing about emotions through asking how they’re feeling, letting them know that it's super normal to feel pain and difficult feelings - everyone goes through them in their lifetime

• Address their questions, even and especially when they’re difficult or uncomfortable to talk about

• Nonjudgmental attitude

• Modeling - we often don’t teach our kids tools to handle their emotions, and then they find unhelpful and even harmful ways of coping. It’s our responsibility to teach them about the most powerful and basic part of being human - expressing our emotions.

• Talk with other parents to know you are not alone dealing with those things, and also learn from others about the tools they give to their kids.

Reacting to Kai

Alex found that the different age groups react differently to Kai. Adults tend to use technology in different ways and for different reasons than teenagers, and had a resistance to Kai - they expected it could replace a human, and tried to find the holes that will trick the platform. They were very skeptical.

The younger Kaiers on the other hand, didn't expect it to be like a human at all. They trusted the tech more, and it allowed them to share without feeling shame, and have a safe space.

We might have a hard time understanding this, but teenagers have new ways of interacting - they’re used to interacting through apps like Discord - a platform for managing conversations. It started for connecting while playing online games and expanded to servers that are building huge communities for a lot of interests like anima and music - they use more group chats, messaging and sending voice messages, they’re use to interacting through gaming with avatars that are not even humans, and have the shield of anonymity. Teenagers don’t use one app anymore for interaction, but are constantly on a different conversation experience - that’s where the future is heading .

Tech as the problem and the cure

Technology is a big part of the problem and the solution together. It’s the channel we can harness to reach out to teens. Just like Duolingo is making learning languages accessible, the goal is that Kai will make emotional tools accessible for everyone.

I asked Alex to demonstrate Kai’s work, and we chose the example of a girl named Amanda who's struggling with body image. The first and surprising thing that Alex mentioned, is that many times, she won’t know she's struggling, anxious or depressed.

They found that the first thing that helps a teen like Amanda is to ask her - how happy are you right now from 1-10? - This question is a very important trigger for them to gain awareness about themselves.

From there, the way Kai works is simple - daily short interactions where Kai allows them to pause, recognise what's good in their life through questions and be proactive about it, and describe their feelings.

As a user of Kai for almost 2 years now, as well as a coach to many founders, I know that for most of us, even stopping for a moment and verbally saying what we want in a coherent way and speaking our emotions is a very hard task, but so incredibly crucial.

Alex adds that paying attention to the good things is even harder from a neuroscience perspective, because of our brain’s negativity bias. We are all programmed to pay attention to the negative things, and don’t notice the good things naturally. This muscle of noticing the good things and feeling gratitude needs to be practiced every day to rewire our brain for happiness and joy in life.

Alex sees a future where everyone has an AI companion and the more they engage with it, it will get to know them and help them more. A big uniqueness of Kai is that their team is a combination between therapists, psychiatrists and psychologists that come from both research and clinical work, and create the best toolkit. They focus a lot on tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:

• Learning to control our breath

• Learning the ability of observing our thoughts and emotions and create healthy distance from them

• ACT - acceptance and Commitment Therapy - teaches not to fix challenging emotions, but allowing them to be

• Learning the skill of psychological flexibility

• Learning the skill of positive psychotherapy

And the amazing thing is that Kai also learns and improves itself through its users. A therapist will see 1K of patients on average through their entire career, but Kai will see more than 15k users every single day.

Machines on their own have many limitations, and humans on their own have many limitations - but the combination of humans with the machine is stronger than any human or machine on its own.

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How do you build 2 successful startups and how significant are the mindset and desire along the way?

Natan grew up next to his granddad's wood shop, always building things with his hands. At the same time, his dad, who was an engineer, taught him about programming, and he started doing that at an early age as well.

As a teenager, he was interested in getting stuff done with more people, so he started his first company at the age of 17, and caught the Entrepreneurship Bug. Still being a highschool student, he came to experience a totally different world of meetings and thinking as the COO of the company, the things he only saw in movies before.

After he graduated high school, he served in the Air Force Intelligence, where he did operational and technical roles, which meant a lot of responsibility on his hands. When he finished his service, he stepped out to a different world - it was the end game of the “.com” era, and he found himself writing a lot of code.

He was drawn mostly to embedded systems - he liked the combination of hardware and software.

One friend sent him to the IDC, because he was interested in their scholarship for entrepreneurship, tech and leadership and asked Natan to take the application forms for him. As he helped his friend he thought to himself - why wouldn’t I fill one for myself as well?

At the time Natan was studying political science at the Open University Of Israel - Jean-Jacques Rousseau was as exciting to him as c++, but at the end - he found himself getting the scholarship and reevaluating his direction. He decided to do his Bachelor Degree in computer science.

He met Eyal Toledano in this program - a good friend and his co-founder. Both of them were in love with mobile, and searched together for what was most interesting for them.

Natan managed to work during his studies full time. They were working on getting downloadable apps on mobile phones in the early 2000, when mobile phones mostly knew how to send text messages and do very simple things. Then came the 2008 crash, and while they had great ideas, they couldn’t raise money.

Samsung reached them, as they had no R&D in Israel at the time, and although they were dreaming of making a company of their own, Samsung managed to convince them to join.

And so, at the age of 23-25 - Natan found himself being the GM for the mobile division for Samsung in Israel, an experience which he describes as his Grad School.

Moving to the US

After 5 years in Samsung, Natan decided he wanted to try and build a company of his own.

He came to the conclusion that for that he needed to become a VC or work in a VC, which in retrospect he suggests not to do.

He met Harel Margalit. and joined JVP as EIR, where he had a lot of freedom to do what was interesting to him, when his wife was accepted to do her MBA in MIT - an opportunity of a lifetime.

It was a no brainer, and he decided to put his work aside and come with her.

That’s how he landed in Boston. At first, he was confused and didn’t quite know what to do after working in tech for a decade, but he knew this could be a fresh start for him. He thought he might try MIT as well, the Media lab specifically.

At the same time, he started working with Prof. Rodney Brooks, whose company is responsible for iRobot & rumba, and pioneering robotics in general. Meeting Prof. Rodney was like meeting Michael Jordan for a basketball fan, as he was a very impactful and known figure in the worlds of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Natan joined him in the new company he was building that signaled the dawn of collaborative robots, robots that would be safe to interact with humans and would be programmed by teaching.

He was 29 years old at the time, and after considering the tradeoffs he decided to join MIT, and his amazing journey there started, which ended with a PhD. He found new opportunities for himself from within the realm of the unknown. Natan explains that he appreciates the beauty in the dichotomy of the entrepreneur, of “organized chaos” - he didn’t have a solid plan, but he had his anchors. He came in with the mentality of - “we’ll figure it out. In the worst case - I’ll get a job in a big company. And I tell that to new employees as well - people have the wrong impression of how risk works - because in the worst case you'll go back to the market and get a normal job.”

This belief is crucial for entrepreneurs, because we need to navigate all the time within the unknown, we can't have it all planned out and go exactly according to plan. We need to have trust in ourselves and believe in our abilities, and know from that deep place that no matter what, we’ll figure it out.

Product-Market fit

Media lab is a very hands-on place at MIT where you can explore and have a lot of creative freedom, and also get sponsors who come from industry and interact with the students. Natan came to MIT after decades of experience in engineering, and shares that it’s difficult to unthink this way of doing things, so the entrepreneurial mindset never really left him.

He was working on projected augmented reality, and created Formlabs with two of his classmates.

Today, Formlabs is a decade old company with 700+ people, selling over 100,000 printers for design and engineering, but also for dental care. It became a Unicorn.

“You can’t really plan which company will hit its product market fit and when.” - Their decision to put their complex and expensive HW - SW product on Kickstarter was a risk, as the platform wasn’t really used to that type of product - but it turned out to be a huge success, with 3M$ of product orders - that was an early product-market fit for them.

“No regret decision”

Natan made the difficult decision to leave Formlabs and found Tulip, and shared that:” it was a moment that Jeff Bezos defines as a “no regret decision”, where you don’t evaluate your decision based on what you know now, but based on thinking how regretful would you be if you looked back as an 90 years old man at this choice.”

Formlabs was pretty stable, and Natan realized that this is the chance to build a very important second company, he couldn’t imagine a reality where someone else does this instead of him - so he went all in. “It doesn’t mean that you're comfortable and know exactly all the things about the decision, but the conviction that this is something worthwhile building was extremely clear.”

Managing it all

Having 2 companies, a wife who's also a very busy executive and kids - how do you manage all the stress of having so many balls in the air at the same time?

Natan shares that for him it didn't become so stressful overnight. He made the progress and the building of the company slowly and gradually on purpose - his bar for building a platform was very high, and he was preparing for the longhall.

As for the stress, he shares that for him there's only one thing that can give you balance, and that’s the people around you - the family, his teams, the investors. Even as for stepping down from an operational type of role in Formlabs, it wouldn’t have been possible without a great co-founder on the other hand.

When I asked Natan about navigating between his personal and professional life, he shared that he grew up with 4 siblings and 2 hardworking parents, so the idea of a demanding career and kids together was not foreign to him, it’s just life.

The practical reality is that as parents you take turns and cover for each other - there is no magic answer. Although they’re far from their close family, there are other parts of the family and a community that they’ve built over the years, and they make the best of it - there's always trade-offs. Still, he shares he’s living in a constant reality of wanting to be with his family more and spend more time with his kids, but having said that, the other side of the coin is that they’re being good role model for their kids, teaching them the value of work and the entrepreneurship mentality - “no matter what they’ll choose to do when they’ll grow up, it teaches them about life.”

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About the power of purpose, the skill of debate and building yourself all over from the ashes

A strong “why”

Sharon always wanted to do something of her own, but didn’t know what and how she’s going to do it in the beginning. What she did know is that it had to answer those criterias:

1) Be within her expertise areas - an arena where she knows that she's doing

2) Have a great impact for the world

She spent years as an employee, having a great career, learning a lot in her last job about the world of plastics - the good and the bad - and then all the dots connected. She knew that plastic is good, but it creates huge pollution at the end of its life. She was determined to find a solution for the planet. So she quit her job and became an entrepreneur.

Then came some turbulence at the age of 35. Her relationship at the time ended, she had no job, which means no money and no place to live. She hit rock bottom. But from that place, she realized what it means to be there for herself, truly. The power needs to come from within. She invested all of herself in her startup, living in her aunt’s and uncle’s apartment for a year, creating everything from the ashes.

From nothing to everything

How do you keep on going when there's no promise for achievement in the future?

1. Sharon had no plan B - there's no other way. She was passionate and believed in what she was doing.
2. She enjoyed what she was doing, and so she could live it and give it her all.
3. Having a good support system - she had her family, she met Maya who started the company with her and believed in her. Even as adults, we all need that one person who believes in us, that will help us take the next step.

Saron shares that in hindsight, she probably made every mistake in the book on her journey of founding her startup. She shares about trying to bring a person she admired for his knowledge in tech and business to be her co-founder, although he wasn’t really into it. In the process of making a contract, they couldn’t get into agreement and things turned ugly, to the point where they had to involve lawyers, which meant that the business was in a loss before it even started - it was a scary point for her.

She handled the situation through being very upfront with the investors, and luckily they were willing to take the risk. The second thing she did, is putting the lawyers aside and meeting with him in person. This made a huge difference, and allowed them to end things on friendly terms. That was a big lesson for her, teaching her about the importance of making a contract from the very beginning of working together - don’t just trust luck.

I (Gali) always tell the entrepreneurs I coach - if we’re not willing to speak about the major parts in the beginning, then later on they will find their way to come into the surface as much bigger issues. It’s crucial to know if we’re aligned before we choose to work together. Look the fear in the eyes, don’t avoid it.

Debate

In her 4th year at the university, Sharon had a big project to present in front of the entire chemical engineering department - and even the thought of that was terrifying to her. She was frustrated, thinking of what she can do, when a friend told her about the debate team - and she jumped on the opportunity.

The first few sessions were terrible. A couple of months later, she won first place in a debate competition - and completely fell in love with it. It taught her many lessons that served her later as an entrepreneur - the value of listening deeply to the other opponent, how to study and practice before the debate itself in order to plan the strategy for convincing, and of course - how to speak in front of an audience: “I don’t know how I would have done the startup without it.” Now when she needs to do a pitch, she can manage that with all the tools she learned.

The power of listening

As the founder of her startup managing her team, she found that what helps her employees shine and express their great ideas is simply - shut up, and listen. In meetings, she resists the urge to speak first and gives her team the space, and they come up with amazing ideas - that’s why she picked them, after all. She still makes her voice heard, but she allows others actively by waiting to do that as well. It's not easy, but it’s a learning muscle, and the benefits are enormous.

Bringing entrepreneurship into a traditional industry

Sharon definitely ‘stood out from the crowd’, and people didn’t really know how to handle her unique position, coming from such different worlds. When she went as part of the delegation of Weact of the wonderful Darya Henig Shaked to Silicon Valley, people didn't know what Water soluble Plastic is, and Sharon faced the challenge of raising money as a woman entrepreneur, as well as pitching something that doesn't have a “sexy” ring to it.

The turning point was when she realized words are not enough - they need to see it with their own eyes. So she showed them a plastic bag that can dissolve in contact with water - and indeed, it made a huge difference. Now she had them hooked, and managed to raise a few millions of dollars.

When I asked Sharon what she wishes for herself for her soon to come birthday, she shared about how lucky she feels with her life partner, 2 kids and her startup, and that she simply wishes for it to stay that way. Enjoying and maintaining the beautiful relationship with her supportive partner, raising her two sons, raising the next round for her company, and enjoying the great team she has built.

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Unless we have the freedom to fail - we don’t have the freedom to succeed. How to cope with failure and embrace it as an integral part of our lives?

For risk takers - failure is part of the journey. Although entrepreneurs are more confident in their personality - understanding that failure is inevitable - is a must. Otherwise - there’s a lot of suffering, self blame and frustration. Just like children learn how to walk by falling and learning - same goes for us. The more we are psychologically resilient - the quicker we will bounce back.

Why do people don’t want to cope with failure?

People want confidence. By coping with failure - it’s like putting a mirror of what didn’t work well which may lead to confusion, frustration and a sense of instability of how to act next. Instead of letting it affect our self-esteem and thinking how others will see us - we have to be realistic, to be able to meet it, and move away from it, like Tony Robbins said:

“A fantastic analogy for the power of focus is racing cars. When your car begins to skid, the natural reflex is to look at the wall in an attempt to avoid it. But if you keep focusing on what you fear, that's exactly where you'll end up. Professional racers know that we unconsciously steer in the direction of our focus, so with their lives on the line, they turn their focus away from the wall and towards the open track.”

Vulnerability is the name of the game. Embracing life as they are, and allowing ourselves to be human and navigate through the emotional sides of life. It’s a muscle we need to strengthen - leading with our vulnerability and not ignoring it.

Not everyone is up to it, as it involves taking risks. People feel safer to take risks in areas where they feel strong. For example, people who are confident in managing money - can take risks in financials. But being an entrepreneur - means also taking an emotional risk, and it may be hard.

Gen Z, for instance, brings a different mentality into the workforce, and there’s a shift towards being more emotionally connected, keeping their well-being in place, being more authentic, and bringing themselves in. Founders & employers that won’t embrace this mindset - will simply won’t win in the competition for the brightest talents.

When coping with failure - we need to identify between internal and external attribution and how it impacts us. E.g. - if the pitch didn't go well - is it because I wasn't prepared (internal), or the investors were extremely harsh (external).

If it’s internal but not stable - it’s OK,

but if it’s internal and stable - then we’re stuck.

With the help of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), we can re-evaluate it and change the way we feel towards failure, getting out from our “stuck” place.

When we deal with failure, it can affect our stress level, which will be reflected in:

• Physiological symptoms, like our increasing heart rate, blood pressure etc. Learning techniques that can actually help us reduce the stress levels - can be very beneficial. In stressful situations - the sympathetic system gets into action, and our adrenaline and cortisol levels can increase as we feel that “the lion is in the room”. By moving, doing exercises, practicing yoga, meditation, shaking our body, learning breathing techniques, eating in shorter intervals and drinking less coffee - we can help calm our sympathetic system. Furthermore, having social support increases the levels of the oxytocin spread in our body (the ‘love’ hormone), which also improves our feeling.
• Cognitive aspects - like negative thoughts we should transition into positive ones.
• Emotional aspects - we can feel unpleasant emotions and feelings.

Ask yourself - which feeling or emotion I don’t allow myself to feel/show enough? Being angry, jealous, hurt?

Dealing with emotions includes 2 stages:

1 - Validate it, naming it, acknowledging what we feel.

2 - Stay with it for a while and then move along. Don’t get stuck.

Entrepreneurs often move on, but without necessarily processing what happened to them.

As we volunteer to be part of society - we have to understand that loss, failure and pain are part of life. When we choose to connect with people - we take a risk, as we will also have to learn how to lose & mourn.

Elizabeth Kobler Ross defined in 1969 the different stages of the loss & mourning. When processing a failure within our entrepreneurial life - we are actually experiencing the loss of a hope/ effort/ belief/ relationship.

In the 1st stage - we are in denial and/or shock - “the company doesn't close ''/ “he is not leaving”/ “he hasn't died”.

Then we try to bargain - if XXX then YYY. We try “to close a deal” in order to change the verdict.

Then we feel a strong anger combined with anxiety - “how will I ever be OK?”/

And lastly, is the stage of the acceptance - “I’m not OK that it happened, but I’m OK with it”.

We’re not necessarily going through all those stages, and we can also get in and out from each stage several times.

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places”/ Ernest Hemingway.

This idea is what lies in the basis of AEDP, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy, developed by Dr. Diana Fosha. Crisis and suffering provide opportunities to awaken extraordinary capacities that otherwise might lie dormant, unknown and untapped. AEDP is about experientially making the most of these opportunities for both healing and transformation. Key to its therapeutic action is the undoing of aloneness and thus, the co-creation of a therapeutic relationship experienced as both safe haven and secure base. Then, working with emotional experience toward healing trauma and suffering, and toward expanding emergent positive transformational experiences.

Understanding that life is more complex than two axes of good-bad, right-wrong - we shall embrace the spectrum of experiences we are experiencing through life. Less labeling and categorizing, be less judgmental and more compassionate.

Showing empathy & vulnerability, make it much easier to live life to its fullest. There is a correlation between vulnerability and likeability.

Remember - learn how to empower yourself and not be awaiting external approvals of who and what you are.

Failure is our way to learn how to walk.

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How superwomen investors navigate together investments & motherhood?

In light of International Women Day, I chose to share my conversation with two inspiring women.

Shelly & Mor have been close friends from New-York for years. They often discussed the challenges that they saw with investing in Israel, until they decided to pick up the glove and said:” We have to do it”. From their point of view, working in a big organization at the time, where there's a lot of discipline and many practices, the ecosystem seemed to them like a Jungle. Mor was working for Amdocs, and Shelly was working at

Goldman Sachs - and they both loved it, being able to do big things and having that corporate back. But on the other hand, Mor felt that her job was too narrow - she wanted to do more and expand.

She started dreaming about building something from scratch, and bringing an innovative approach for investing. So instead of taking her maternity leave - she took a risk.

It took a lot of discipline to make the time for their work, both Shelly & Mor, especially as mothers to very young babies. It was a true test to their commitment, and they passed it successfully, armed by new confidence in what they can bring to the table.

Shelly always wanted to do something of her own. After the 1st child - she knew she couldn’t delay it any longer, she wanted a change.

She was thinking about connecting between investors & founders and creating a professional way to invest. Her background in financing & investing allowed her to experience the finance system from many different angles.

Together, with their complementary skill set, Shelly knew they could be a good team.

They met in a meeting of young Israeli professionals in New York. Shelly was very impressed by Mor and came up to her. They became friends. The partners. Now they’re family.

The superpowers that were the base for their partnership - Trust & Open Communication

Shelly shared about Mor’s talents - her strong sense of self, optimistic, crazy original logical way of thinking, analyzing, good dialog that sharpens her thinking, teaching her things about herself and the world. Mostly, she felt that their relationship has created a lot of personal & mutual growth for both of them.

As for Shelly’s abilities, Mor shares that Shelly is very smart, a crazy work ethic that pushed her to work at Goldman for 22 hours a day. ”She is my superpower”. Their different enough backgrounds were complementing without them stepping on each other’s toes.

“I totally respect the fact that Shelly can have her own opinion, and sometimes it won’t be my opinion, but we have so much mutual respect, admiration, love and values that allows us to engage in probably anything. We can talk about things openly, we can decide to disagree and still love each other.” Their early employees were shocked by their chemistry, one of them told them that their communication was on a completely different wavelength so that they didn’t even have to talk to know what the other one is thinking, and another one was floored by seeing them completely disagree about something in a meeting and being seemingly very upset, and then grab lunch together like nothing happened.

Their baseline of communication is trust - Know the other person has your best interest at heart - it took a lot of training to build that.

While choosing how to react in a situation - one should ask him.herself:

How would you act differently if the transaction only happened one time or if this was a repeated transaction? If you know that this is the partnership you want for life, it’s no longer a transaction, it’s continuous. They both understood that this is what they want in life. What they will build together, is what they will share. Shelly compared it to marriage - it only works if you’re thinking of the other person.

She stopped nitpicking in her close relationships.

In negotiation, Mor shared - “when you have a hand that’s dealt - we are never satisfied, because we feel we can pull another card and change the entire situation = we're good with seeing new opportunities”

Do your best.

How to fight

Shelly knows when Mor is upset - “she needs a breather, so Ineed to let go”.

Shelly has a mindset of executing, getting a resolution, while Mor needs to take the time to analyze the situations and not react when she’s too emotional - how can I act differently? She wants to come back to the conversation with solutions.

They know how the other one operates, and so they can have patience with each other during the process.

Shelly shares that the key to Not get into a fight - is to not get insulted. Don’t let the ego take the wheel, don't take it personally. You can have different angels on the same situation.

They don’t shout or yell at each other, a rule that they’re implementing at home as well.

They speak firmly without intimidating.

We spoke about the 4 understandings to live by, by Don Luis Miguel, and how to implement it within our lives:

1. Don’t gossip
2. Don’t take things personally
3. Don’t assume - keep it simple, don’t tell yourself stories
4. Do your best

Flexibility to live your life both as a mother and a businesswoman

How to manage career & life?

They know that they’re both career driven, and it’s a part of who they are.

Their family knows - mommy is working, there's respect to that at home.

It’s not either/or - they do things in parallel, both the personal and career life are important, knowing that it’s not easy.

How do you manage the tradeoffs mentally, as a parent?

Shelly answers: “I forgive myself. I’m great, my kids love me, I’m doing my best, and it’s fine - they got love and everything they need.” She makes sure that as part of the logistics schedule is to spend time with her kids, and be there when she’s needed.

Shelly shared with us insights she took from the book “The one thing”:

If you want to be successful in life or career, 9-5pm isn’t really the right framework.

Adjust everything - You need to understand that you have many balls in the air - health, career, friends, family. All the balls, except from career, are made of glass. Career is rubber. So when you're juggling this, it’s very important that you won’t drop the ball. Within the career domain, you can have more flexibility.

Work-life balance - it’s ok to have periods of time when you need to work more than usual, and have counter balance for periods, but when you're with a friend/ children - as long as you are present, dedicate your whole self to the situation.

How can you adopt that mindset in your day to day life?

For Mor, it’s having ‘date time’ with each kid per week - one on one quality time.

Figuring it out with the kids, each has different kids and different needs.

Shelly agrees and emphasizes how much things changed for her, when she decided to take a babysitter for the rest of the kids, in order for her to take one kid every time.

Same method is used with all of their employees, even a short talk when you're fully present and listening can make a huge difference. If they get less in the amount of the time, the value needs to be there.

“We’re not going anywhere - this is our life - incredible ride. We embrace the challenges, trying to be in our element, have fun, enjoy, create meaningful partnerships while running an investment arm of $400M nowadays”.

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The angel investor you’d like to have

Amir was asked to join Google back in 1999 and to pay for his flight to SV, so he refused. Years later - he was one of the first Israeli Google’rs, in charge of the developers relations, building chrome, android etc. He joined Yossi Matias and launched its first Campus in Israel. From Google he moved to Slack. It was a very early stage and he thought it’s going to be awesome. It felt great being part of something big, when all startup companies are going to be using your product.

Amir worked a lot, being very passionate about what he does. Working was the criteria for success, for identifying yourself. Amir describes the San Francisco people - how everyone measures themselves according to “what’s your startup”.

He used to commute 2.5 hours to work daily. Although super fulfilled and successful - he started to ask himself - “What do I want to be?” The answer was simple: “happy, thoughtful, create an impact, be centered.”

After years in SV, he moved to Austin, with a great atmosphere and community, making sure to keep up his daily sports routine, be mindful about what he eats, having dinner together with his family and mitigating the pressure in his life.

From a Tech Superstar to an angel investor

Last year, Amir saw 500 startups, made 13 investments and joined @Innovation Endeavors. He sees amazing companies, 99% of the deal flow is through warm referrals from other VCs/angels, and he also made 1 investment that began with a cold reach. He likes to see himself as paying forward the value of experience and network, and not just money.

“As an angel investor, you try not to do the DD - but rely on the big VCs that do it. You try to find the right deals and get the conviction from the founder. While the VC does the process and decides about the size of the check, as an angel investor - you don’t negotiate.”

Amir is very mindful of his time. The day time is dedicated to Twitter, the evening - for investments.

Amir doesn't believe in zero inbox or tools alike - tools need to serve us and not us serving them. “You like the calendar to be with meetings you want to have, and not with meetings that others want.”

When I asked him about the choice of becoming an angel investor - he emphasized that one should have a strategy. In the beginning, his investments were random, nowadays he invests in Dev tools & SaaS. When he talks with the founders - he asks them: “what will be a good outcome of this meeting?”

So far, he never took out the money for secondary investment. On the other hand - he tries to do pro-rata and increase his investment. Amir says “we’re all ‘work in process’, and in 5 years from now - he’s going to be a VC. I’d definitely like him to be my future investor.

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Join me for the Productivity mini-series - Part II:

How to master our time, and make tools for time accessible for everyone?

We all feel the challenge of managing our time in an effective way. So much content to consume, so many things to learn in order to optimize and grow in our various life aspects. As a founder that needs to manage so many projects at the same time - below are few hacks that you should consider implementing:

1. Time boxing is a very efficient way to manage our calendar.

We begin with dividing our work into 2 buckets - (1) Deep work, which requires deep concentration (e.g - prep a board PPT). It requires a higher cognitive intent. The rule of thumb for this kind of work is a 2-hours block. (2) Shallow work - a work that doesn’t require too much concentration, like posting on SM. The idea - is to block our calendar in order to avoid a situation where the shallow work is minimizing our deep work time.

How can we avoid it? By designing the next week at the end of the previous week, and block 2 hours every day, usually at the same time (9-11am) to work on the 1 meaningful task that we have defined. That’s exactly how the Eisenhower Matrix Method is designed. All meetings can take place after lunch time, and that way the mornings are free for creative & deep work time. Make sure to close your email, and spend 20 min, 3 times a day, on your inbox processing. Try to avoid task switching - it takes our mind 16-23 minutes to recover from distractions. If you really need external help - Simplify helps you put constraints on your email and FB lite does the same for FB. The idea is not to delete the services - but to modify them to your own needs.

Remember - being a founder/ employer/ parent/ single - you are the same human being, personally and professionally wise. Hence, your calendars need to be synced, so that you will have a holistic reflection of the way you invest your time.

1. Matt Mochary, a CEO Coach and the author of The Great CEO Within, speaks about Calender Audit. At the end of the year - you go to your calendar and print 52 weeks of the last year and take a few markers. You mark and circle in green (e.g) the events that boosted your energy. Then, you try to put in buckets all the other events that you didn't circle - as they didn’t raise your energy, according to certain patterns. First of all - you see the % of the events that weren't in a green circle - try to minimize that percentage. Then, you check what kind of substitutes you can offer to those tasks - that won’t take your energy. E.g - commuting doesn't serve you well - so you work remotely >> more time in your calendar for things you love.

You have to see that you create the right categories that are shown in your calendar: family, network, IR, hirings, inbox processing, health… Each one and what is important to them.

1. Our brain can’t remember it all, and we can’t do everything we want in 24 hours minus sleeping. That's why we need to create an artificial brain - a second brain that documents information and helps us make decisions and save us precious time. Tools like Notion, clay, Roam Research (a note-taking tool for networked thought, easy to use as a document & as powerful as a graph database), mailbrew (create beautiful, automated newsletters with content from the sites and apps you love), readwise (grow wiser and retain books better: Readwise sends you a daily email resurfacing your best highlights from Kindle, Instapaper, iBooks, and more) and others - help in managing and saving our time by capturing, containing, indexing and pulling the right data/info we need for a specific task/decision. It works on the same logic of compound interest - the interest on interest. It is the result of reinvesting interest, rather than paying it out, so that interest in the next period is then earned on the principal sum plus previously accumulated interest. The same goes for the time you save and the knowledge you gain.

Learning and implementing methods like Space Repetition can help boost our productivity and ability to remember.

Well, there are so many productivity and time management tools, and that is exactly the problem. How can we reduce the noise? Is there a one tool that syncs everything together? How can we create this ONE tool that is bettering our own productivity methods and techniques?

That was one of the reasons why Tommy founded Supertools - a community that aims to expose its members to various tools with the purpose of extending & optimizing their time. Just like we have superfood - we all need a supertool. That brings another major question - how much technology should we consume? Are we managing the technology, or it manages us? Technology is not good or bad - it’s neutral. It simplifies our life - providing us with measurements (like apple watch), or stress and readiness levels (like Oura Ring) - but that’s not enough. We need the insights, the recommendations, in order to deal with decision fatigue. It’s a question of how we manage the relationship with technology tools. We need to care about our time.

The problem with calendars is that they are broken. Their purpose is being our RSVP platform - but what we actually need, is a gatekeeper, not a bookkeeper - to minimize our bad time-decisions. The only way to become time billionaires, is to change our mindsets, put systems in place and become our own Chief of Time. In order to create a huge impact - there is a need to create software - and that’s what Tommy is working on now at Magical.

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Join me for the Productivity mini-series - Part I:

How to master our time, and make tools for time accessible for everyone?

Tommy began his career at Rimon Music School, where he learned one of his first lessons - you need to work hard to be creative. There is no muse waiting out there to get the job done. He graduated from the Zell Entrepreneurship Program, where he also met @Liat Aronson, who was and is still a great mentor for him.

At Zell, he was part of the founding team of @Argus - who were pioneering automotive cyber security, but all he felt was stress. 3 years later he left. It was a very difficult decision - but the right one for him, his health and his spirit. He chose to prioritize himself.

In a deep & fun conversation - Tommy and I dived deep into the secrets of productivity & effectiveness, and how to master our time.

Reflecting on self

Tommy did the Level 10 Life assessment - a productivity method created by Hal Elrod that helps you get a better understanding of how you feel about the current state of your life. The method allows you to step back and reevaluate your current life status, which will help you to take the right steps to improve.

I myself use this technique with the founders & investors I coach, and that helps me and them to map out immediately where we need to begin in our coaching process. It’s a wonderful reflection of one's reality, and you are welcome to pause, dive deep with yourself and try it here - in Hebrew or in English.

Another essential book is Essentialism, by Greg McKeown. It talks about our undisciplined pursuit of more - which at the end, leads to less - less focus and less time, and our need in creating balance in what really matters.

In my clinic - I ask the founders I coach a very simple question - “Does it move the needle?”/ “Is it vital that YOU PRIORITIZE THIS task NOW?”. It immediately helps to create clarity in what matters and where the time & energy should go.

Another way to check where we are - is to have a weekly review at the end of every week - as an event in our calendar, and (1) create a list of questions that helps us estimate and review our focus and progress. Another way (2) is to have our Future Self talk to our Present Self - and ask him.her about his.her progress and what really moves the needle for him or (3) create personal OKRs that we can measure.

Creating systems & rituals

Tommy believes that we should create systems rather than goals. Goals can be changed, but the systems help us create and internalize the rituals that are true for us - both personally & professionally.

Tommy has created himself a checklist of the DOs and DONTs of his life. That way - he doesn't question himself. It’s as simple as it is - either it’s in the list or not. Every morning - he goes through his list and follows the things that are important to him. The book Atomic Habits by James Clear helps in mapping our constructive habits and how to make sure they are present in our life. For example - drinking lemon water, red wine and sharing a daily productivity hack with my team in slack - are things that make me a better person and help me create the culture I want for my company, at the same time. That’s why they’ll be on my list. Also in the DOs list - sleep for 7 hours, make sure I have time for the things I want to read, the things I want to write and the things I want to shape. In the list of DON’Ts: don't eat sugar, don’t go to sleep too late, don't be too apologetic. The idea is to be 1% better every day.

Part of the secret of being productive - is not to get caught in our loop of thoughts.

As founders, and human beings, we often find ourselves with so many thoughts and so many “sides”/considerations prior to making a decision. Don’t try to ignore it. True leadership comes from being vulnerable. When we communicate how we feel, it is simply contagious. The transparency is doing good for the team around you. Of course - don’t share everything and have boundaries, but make sure you are a mindful leader.

Here are 3 hacks to “break” the loop of thoughts:

1. Contain the feelings - Do you remember the flight attendant in the air planes explaining how we should first wear our own oxygen masks and only after we help our children with that? Only if we help ourselves - we can help others. Allow yourself a daily meditation - use any favorable app (Sam Harris who also has a great podcast series, calm, Kai, HeadSpace and many others) - Between a few minutes to an hour a day.
2. Cold showers - The Wim Hof Method includes cold showers and breathing practice. Although it may seem counterintuitive, these showers are actually beneficial for both your mind and your body and he recommends incorporating cold showers into your daily routine, as it reduces stress levels, enables higher levels of alertness, more robust immune response, Increased willpower and supports weight loss.
3. Gratitude - Practicing Gratitude is known to increase our sense of happiness. One way to do it - is to practice daily- 3 things that we feel thankful and grateful for. Another way is creating an ‘appreciation block' in our calendar, in which we send ‘thank you’ notes to our team, stakeholders, and people that helped us along the way. It helps strengthen the relationships and our own sense of feeling appreciation and happiness. Making it a ritual - to really show gratitude for the little efforts that others do for us, and not taking it for granted - also makes wonders in the way we engage people into our life. ‘Firgun’ - means showing appreciation to others in front of everyone, and that’s also a great ritual to implement in your startup culture.

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About success & failures, and why perspective is a crucial mindset for the entrepreneurial journey

Ran is a multi-talent serial entrepreneur. He sold his company 5min to AOL back in 2016 for $65M, creating their dependency on their platform - that it was hard to get rid of them…

He had 150 employees, and his attitude was as he didn’t care if they would fire him every day. That enabled him to pursue his way, not to ‘kiss asses’ and to lead the company from $10M to $450M. He had a CEO & CFO who backed him, respected his Israeli attitude and saw his business leadership. It was then the rise of Google & Facebook, he saw that AOL is not on the same path and decided to leave at its pick.

He & @Hanan (Lashover) have been working together for 15 years. It’s a crazy ride, but they have a great relationship and handle things together. “We had so many wins together, much thanks to a very low overlap of responsibilities. He’s on tech, I’m on product & business. We had a great founder-founder fit…”

He was always passionate about content - from Hollywood productions with Steve Buscemi & Sarah Jessica Parker, to AOL & writing his own publications.

Then came Bkstg, creating music tools for customers. They brought Justin Bieber & Ariana Grande. It was a red flag for him when they chose as a strategy to go top-tier to bottom and not bottom to top. It was dangerous.

Ran understood he wants to control the DNA of the company. Living in NYC for several years now - he saw first hand the nature of immigrants' communities which led to founding Homies. FB Groups was a small product within FB. They raised $12M, and then FB changed their strategy - groups are suddenly the future. It decreased the need for their product. “Startup has 2 phases - to find the market-fit, and then to increase it to maximum valuation.” That’s when they’ve understood they need to raise a white flag, as they didn't have enough velocity and organic growth.

Closing the company

They approached 30-35 top VCs in the US, thinking of raising additional $20M. NY was Covidised, and Ran remembers his snow walks. They were very transparent with the management about the direction it goes, as Ran never saw himself as a cheerleader. The board strategized a plan. It took 4 more months and they closed. “…There’s a moment, when you need to be very analytical, mature & honest with yourself, and decide not to raise more funds just to keep the company going, if you feel that it’s not good enough anymore.”

How does it feel to fail others?

They didn't deliver the ROI. 85% of the investors were there in their previous companies, so it was a bit easier to digest and they were sensitive about it. “It’s all part of the game. In the game you sometimes lose. You know the game and you still go for it. It’s mentally hard to disappoint, which makes the choice of the right people to run alongside you even more important.”

Ran is considering his new opportunities. “The money is cheaper than the next 3 years of your life. The opportunity cost is crazy.”

Ran speaks warmly about NYC. He doesn't like SV. since 2008 when he first arrived till today - there are more than 400 Israeli startups operating in the city - “The Israeli Mafia”.

With his growing children, he felt this is the time to bring them back home. His daughter has a neurological syndrome, and it has impacted a lot on his journey as an entrepreneur and a father.

For some years, Ran, who is full of charisma, felt unbeatable. Till he got bitten. That gave him a new perspective, a crucial understanding also of how much luck is needed. He nowadays knows that things are not as dramatic as they seem to be at a certain point of time.

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Orna is a significant figure in the Israeli high tech ecosystem - the first woman to serve as Chief Scientist and Head of the Industrial R&D operation of the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. She was Vice President of Dell EMC & General Manager of Israel Center of Excellence, and an entrepreneur & business figure in Israeli companies like PrimeSense, Aladdin & Alvarion. Nowadays, she is the Director of Technology at Google Cloud CTO’s Office. The American technology magazine Red Herring ranked her as "one of the 25 most influential and important women in the world of technology for 2005".

Orna is the daughter of Yoash Tzidon, former IAF pilot, her mom was a nurse and she has 2 brothers - one is a professor of Economy and the other - a lawyer. Her family was always her source for strength, decency and commitment, and it led her through her career to a meaningful contribution by creating diverse opportunities. Technology was always in their house.

Orna received MA and BA degrees in Statistics and Mathematics from Tel Aviv University and Haifa University, respectively. In 1980, she joined the University of Southern California (USC) in the United States and earned a PhD in Computer Science in 1986.

After a career in several tech companies, in 1993 she co-founded ORNET - Data Communication Technologies, in Carmiel - she wanted to bring the business into the periphery of Israel. Already then, Orna wanted to recruit diverse employees & talents. Orna took part in growing the VC sector in Israel, and for her - it was always about creating great partnerships with great people and being curious.

“I’ll die from curiosity. I’m always trying new stuff. I could not envision the technological developments. I could not envision the market's development. I could not envision leaving the academy and I could not envision that I’ll become Chief Scientist.”

Orna sold Ornet to Siemens in 1995.

They approached her to become Chief Scientist twice and she said no - then they pulled the Zionism card, and it worked. She got divorced that year, getting out of a domestic violence relationship. She asked her children for their opinion, and her daughter Yael said: “In this house everyone does what she wants”. And that paved the way for a personal and professional change. With her children, the rules were part of the “enablement game” - allowing each other to grow and develop through a strong partnership - as they are in it together.

Orna remembers she took a day off to celebrate her daughter’s birthday, but then there was an emergency call from Sheba hospital’s COO - Zeev Rotstein. So she brought her daughter with her and it ended in forming new initiatives for Rambam & Sheba.

She then spent 10 years at Gemini VC working with outstanding people. She learned she only loves working with people who want to work with her and accept who she is.

In her recent 72nd b-day, her son, Amit, reflected to her -”you never try to please anyone”. That is a meaningful reflection that has led Orna throughout her career. She always believed equality comes from people who work shoulder to shoulder.

She made another change - when she was 61+1 day - Leading the EMC excellence center in Israel. Couple of months ago - she stepped into her new position at Google Cloud.

It was 2015, when she discovered she had cancer, and it was a “death sign on the wall”. She understood she’s going to face a difficult time and many struggles. Her HMO did not want to approve the drug she needed, and later - although they say “the patient is in the center '' - it doesn't seem nor feel that way. As a scientist - she understands how crucial it is to make the data accessible and draw a holistic view of the patient. Every struggle she wins - she teaches the voluntary bodies the tricks - so they can help others.

When I asked her - what would the mature Orna say to the young one - she smiled, thought of her teenage grandchildren and said: “focus on your capabilities, desires and in each step also think of the society to create a greater good”.

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Ohad decided to pursue his dream at the age of 28 and go for an MBA at an Ivy League. He didn't have all the answers about his path and where it would lead him, but he believed in himself, and had the grit to pursue it. He understood back then that one shouldn’t fear going outside their comfort zone - that’s where growth happens and where people thrive.

Team Building

Ohad shares his 5-years of experience at Google in Silicon Valley and what he learned about team building. He shares the various initiatives he led that helped him see how much intrapreneurship is vital to a company's growth.

We spoke about key elements in nurturing teams and making them move fast:

1. Ownership. That should be a key-value in startups. Leaders should provide their teams with an arch and a goal, and let them figure it out while guiding them. Once you put timelines in place and expected key results - then the checks and balances work well, and as a leader - you have enough opportunities to make sure the team is moving in the right way.

Feedback is a critical part of it, and when giving feedback - it’s better for it to be direct, focused, and conveyed as a question so that your team members will reflect on their work, such as what they learned from it or what was challenging for them.

1. Situational Leadership - people are different. Therefore, as leaders, we should personalize how we coach them. We have to identify the level of each team member and address them in a suitable manner. Of course, that in various life cycles of the employee/ the company - those levels of need leadership can vary, and as leaders, we have to keep our hand on the pulse:
2. Entry level/ less experienced employees need their leader to direct them. That’s why as managers, we should provide him with guidance.
3. More experienced employees - need coaching>> we should be questioning them questions that will help them evolve and grow.
4. Senior managers need support. As their leaders - we should be there for them when needed.

5. Executives need their leaders to delegate things to them and let them lead.

6. Pause. Leaders need to pause often and ask themselves, ‘what do you do to build your credibility & inspire others?’. Credibility is based on value and not necessarily on the things you’ve done in the past.

Decision Making

Ohad left Google to be an executive in a startup. The question is, WHY?

We have two pillars guiding us in life - the emotional axis and the logical one.

While the mental axis reflected that he was too much in his comfort zone, the logical one made him do an in-depth risk assessment for where the new startup will be in the next few years.

By gaining information over several months, he helped himself bridge the gap between the emotional and logical axis and make the move.

We spoke about how it feels being an executive employee in a startup - which involves holding the truth that it’s not yours. This led him to a new startup, after which he built one of his own.

Holacracy

Holacracy is a managerial method that moves the hierarchy and power, and empowers the employees. It is a much more flexible method that puts the employees in the center, as it’s built-in circles, and the employees can have a few roles within the organization. The employees need to reflect that they need some assistance/mentoring in various fields, which leads to a governance where everyone has a voice. This method does not fit all kinds of CEOs and usually applies to slightly more mature startups - once they have +100 employees. On the employees’ side - it requires them to be super proactive about what will enable their growth.

We spoke about the new venture Ohad is pursuing and how to choose the right co-founder for you - which means that first of all , one should do a clear assessment of their skills. Then comes trust, then the “working day” - you should work together for a few days and see how it feels; after which, ask for referrals. At last - try to find a ‘Founders-Market Fit’ - and check, if you are as co-founders, can really differentiate yourself in the specific market, and if the idea will change (which it probably will) - you will survive and evolve.

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From a Founder to an Angel Investor - Being Brave to Pivot, Part Ways from Your Co-Founders & Sell Your Company

Sagi found himself asking several times in his career - “What Can I Be The Best At?”

He was always into computers and psychology, figuring out how to combine those dual inherent skills & passions of his.

He founded several ventures in the sports arena that were the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey.

Every Year There is a December

Sagi created for himself a very useful ritual - a Yearly December Mental Notes Routine - which in fact - he was considering whether to rehire himself to the same position - not only professionally wise. He was going over various aspects of his personal & professional life and checking the pulse, then making decisions whether or not he should continue in the same path. Sometimes - decisions were too complex to be taken in the coming December - so he would add a mental note for the future, and reconsider with himself in the following year.

When he had to choose between several good job opportunities, which was not an easy decision, one driven by ego-money-title - he cut a deal with himself - and “signed tentatively” - which enabled him to review his decision,reassess where it brings him to in the future, and to keep a space open to choose the other path, if needed.

0-1

Sagi is a zero-one person. He knows how to build things from scratch and grow them.

He joined @IDIT in the InsurTech sector, and worked with the biggest Insurance corporations in the world. He was there for 7 years (In the Jewish religion 7 is a special number with a deeper meaning - a typology number. Same goes to Sagi’s journey, and we’ll get to that number again). Moving on to @Sapiens - Sagi led amazing operations also for 7 years, but along the way - he felt that his soul needed to be nourished with something else. So he went to his boss, who saw him, and allowed him to start working on a side project that would nurture Sagi’s creativity. Guy, his future Co-founder - joined him. And they started again - 0-1.

Sagi always wrote a lot. So at the age of 35 - instead of just writing to the drawer - he also published his children’s book - dedicated to his daughter - “HighTech Dad”. He wrote about his passion for what he does, with the trade-offs it contains in it. His smart daughter who saw through him told him - “keep on doing what you love - just come home a bit earlier”.

His “side project” got bigger, and he felt he had to cut the cord and go all in - in his startup. That’s when TabTable became a key player in the gaming industry.

I asked Sagi, as a dad who leads a gaming company - how does he feel about what he does with nowadays children’s addiction to screens, tech & gaming. “There's hypocrisy in many of the things we do. We solve the problem of being bored. At the end, or actually the beginning - it’s on us, the parents, to educate and be a role-model. Kids like to imitate - and they see us with the mobiles all day long - they simply do the same”.

And I add - maybe boredom is not the problem we should solve? Adults & children need to learn how to contain boredom and feel comfy with themselves & with being uncomfortable sometimes as well, instead of resisting it and feeling an urge to fill it with screen time.

Pivoting & splitting

TabTable was a gaming company, focusing on games for children. 7 years - and they felt a change had to happen. That’s when they pivot to @Crazy Labs, focusing on adult games. “We constantly change. Change structure, products. The market changes, the users - we have to adapt and be constantly ready to see what comes.”

That’s also when it hit him, that change is not for everyone. When you’re more of a conservative person - change can be hard. People evolve differently, and Sagi felt that he and his partner were seeing things in a different way. The company was profitable, but Sagi didn't want just to optimize things - he wanted to continue to grow. That’s how the chaos began. From working together every night - to not communicating at all. It was too emotional and draining - they understood they had to split.

Sagi speaks about founders' relationships and how important it is to understand who is the owner. CEOs need to make hard decisions and that can cause a dispute in the leadership. That year, he didn't do his December Routine. He also got divorced and altogether - things were hard.

Sagi grew Crazy Labs, leading it to a great deal, selling the company to a Sweden corporation. The market was hot, 2 co-founders left, there was momentum, the shareholders thought it’s a good play. The new company manages everything in a very transparent way, and as you can guess - they built together a 7-year plan in which Sagi leads Crazy Labs in a full autonomy.

From a Founder to an Angel Investor

Sagi invests in a diverse portfolio of companies - bringing his extensive experience in startups into the companies he chooses to invest in. He looks at the team & the product - to clearly understand its needs. The chemistry with the team is priceless - it needs to be a good fit. He was one of the 1st angel investors in @Jfrog and @safeDK, so - so far, there are great instincts involved.

Sagi is a very dedicated entrepreneur, founder, leader and dad. He saw a lot.

He speaks frankly about how to part ways with your co-founder, and if necessary - how to try and manage the process through mediation as opposed to lawyers. For him personally - it was already impossible to mediate at that point. He recommends very much to have someone at the board, that both of the co-founders feel comfortable with and trust - so that in case of a dispute - he.she can help mediate.

When I asked him if he believed the investors should take sides in a case of a major dispute - Sagi says it depends on how well they are involved in the company and familiar with what’s going on there. As a founder - he only wanted the investors to take side and be aligned- otherwise it’s a deadlock to the company.

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What does it mean to “Be Yourself” and shape your life journey accordingly?

Shira is a daughter to a father who is a pilot and a psychoanalyst mom.

She was born and raised in an atmosphere where freedem of choice is present and a message that everything is possible - sex doesn’t play a role.

When she was 10 years old - she remembers the first woman who graduated from the flight academy in the Israeli Air Force - and that was a meaningful moment for her.

Growing up - she did “Shnat Sherut '' in a “Mechina” at Kanot - another milestone that emphasizes her values and some of the choices she'll make later on in life. Volunteering was something she had to do, and during the Mechina - the bubble exploded. She saw many young boys and girls who were very talented - but didn't have a chance, due to the life circumstances they came from. The Mechina strengthened a few building blocks of her social activity path - to think of others, to volunteer and to be resilient.

Being a woman pilot at the IAF

@Alice Miller paved the way for women to serve as pilots in the israeli Air Force.

Back then, as an 18 years old girl - Shira wanted to prove that being a girl - she has the same skills and attributes for success just as the boys have. Over the years - she saw and felt first hand the gaps in the perception and reality - as women are a minority, there are logistical & operational gaps, soft skills gaps and there is a way to bridge those gaps.

So how did she cope as a woman?

1. She had a lot of support from her family and friends
2. She asked herself - “What does it take to succeed?” And the answer was - “I need to be more like a man. Men don’t cry, men are very assertive” - she wanted to be one of the guys.

The grown-up Shira, knows today that men are men, women are women, and instead of making us be like them as the rightful standard - both in the IDF and so does society - we need to enable women to be themselves, as long as we’re not compromising the end result.

Shira took a lot from her service as a helicopter pilot:

1. Her inner confidence which is rooted in her

Professionalism in everything she does

1. Accuracy - doing things all the way through and in the best way possible
2. Debriefing - both the good & bad results
3. Start with our strengths - the things we know we’re good at
4. Resilience and grit - Shira spent 8.5 years in the IAF

Out of her comfort zone

8.5 years of military service - and Shira had to choose whether to leave or stay. Leaving - meant letting go of her dream to be a commander, and moreover - she had no idea what she was leaving for. She had a lot of blindspots.

What helped her?

1. Going to therapy with a psychologist
2. Acknowledging her blind spots, something which some people who are driven by their ego don’t do, as they are blocked by their arrogance
3. Enabling herself not knowing and learning how to be humble about it
4. Shira has a metaphor she likes to use: I have a very strong right arm - now I have to strengthen my left arm

First step in strengthening her left arm - was going to learn sustainability at @Oxford. It was eye-opening. Everyone there was brilliant. Everyone had better English. Once again - Shira asked herself - “What do I need to do to be better than them?”

This ability to have a clear view on the situation, being able to reflect to ourselves on our deepest fears - is a virtue that shira has been caring for since her flight academy years.

She applied to McKinsey in London, but wasn't accepted. She came back to Israel.

She wanted to focus on sustainability - but understood she misses the economic angle. And the same question came to mind - “What do I need to do to be better at it?”

She went to @Milken Institute in Israel - to learn economics - but from a more mature perspective, where she knows she can’t know it all, yet she wants to be better. At this point, Shira emphasizes the risk of getting out of focus - when we're going too wide in our ‘not knowing' feeling, trying to grasp too much, instead of accepting the fact that we won’t know everything - and that’s totally OK.

Shira applied again - this time to @McKinsey Israel - again, strengthening her left arm.

She was there for 18 months and it was an amazing school for her.

The horrible disaster at Nahal Zafit happened, and Shira felt an urgent need to help. The stars aligned, her way to give back - Shira joined @Mechinat Bnei Zion as a CEO, to lead the organization, re-build the place, and bring methods from the IAF - all connected to her own experience as a younger woman at Mechinat Kanot.

But it was too early, too hurtful, and she understood she cannot bring her vision into these complex circumstances. As much as she wanted it to work - she could understand the pain of the others who didn't. With zero energy, she had to listen to herself. It's time to leave. Shira found out once again that she has the strength to make brave decisions.

Her picture on her phone - “be yourself” - was a clue to what will come next.

She then joined Vintage investment Partners - a $3b investment fund that invests in funds and companies. She needed to feel grounded, stable. Working in one of the largest funds in Israel - Shira makes investments in venture funds and companies, working with amazing people, focusing on health and sustainability. It’s a great school for her, and once again - she embraces her blind spots and sees it as a growth engine.

The “Be yourself” pic was vivid. Shira was single for 2 years, frustrated by her friends getting married and having children.

Then she met Shani.

She decided to listen to herself - and in a brave way - she shared it with her parents and friends.

Shira knew deep down inside her she was interested in women, since she was a young girl, but she didn't make room for those feelings. Being ‘part of the boys’ during flight academy, reaching the highest achievements - it was always convenient not to dive deeper with herself. Only when she hitted the lowest of lows - she found herself.

Shira and Shani are expecting a baby girl.

The mature Shira, who instructs future pilots and lectures to young entrepreneurs - focuses on the following, all are part of her own life journey:

1. Always believe in yourself - and have a vivid picture of how you can succeed
2. Debrief your actions - both good and bad results
3. Keep on your resilience in the path life takes you
4. Listen to your own voice and live according to it.

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How to find your place and keep up to your promise, as a 22-years-old woman founder?

Imagine taking the bus from Dimona, dreaming about helping people and establishing your own startup at the age of 22. That’s May’s story. A Cinderella one - and it ain't no easy to keep up the high expectations when everyone is watching.

May cut her hair and donated it when she was 13. That’s how early she understood that she’s gonna do things that not everyone will understand.

In her youth - she joined @First - an organization that promotes tech, science and social entrepreneurship, shortly after that - she led the whole operation in Israel with more than 10 millions volunteers.

She opened her 1st business when she was a teenager - an e-commerce platform for bathing suits, and a 2nd business for website creation within 24 hours - just after the army service.

So beyond the impact @Vee brings into this world - May, as its co-founder and CEO, needs to hold it all together at a very young age, and miss important milestones of her likewise friends.

To do so, therapy and supporting surroundings is a must for her.

May shares how difficult it is sometimes to stand in front of investors or talents that don’t believe that you can make it, and that you've got what it takes.

She speaks openly about her lack of managerial experience and decision making, how overwhelming it can be, and what she does in order to overcome those challenges.

Not being ashamed and believing in yourself is a must, so that when investors want to replace her - she simply asks - WHY?

Having strong, experienced and supporting co-founders, makes it all much more possible.

When she started - she didn't even speak English, and now - there are so many people that want her to win. All together - it’s not easy to live up to these expectations.

As all CEOs understand early down the road - in the good times - everyone is with you, but in the hard times - you are on your own. And it’s a very lonely place to be in. May understands many life truths in a very early stage - for example, that it’s OK not to be OK. She’s afraid to fail all the people that put their trust in her - so she is keeping a very practical mode.

May’s family has been through a lot. It’s part of what makes her determined to succeed. Earlier this year, when she participated in a panel in the @Peres Center for Peace and Innovation - her parents and friends were in the audience - that’s where she felt her worlds merged together - family, friends & Vee.

May has a very strong sense of people - or in her own words - “Moroccan sense” - to see people’s authentic intentions. It’s a very strong virtue that guides her in business.

She also understands the power of being a young CEO - as you understand inside-out your target audience.

May recently came back from the @WEACT delegation to @Silicon Valley, organized by @Darya Henning Shaked, and many more good things that we will hear about soon - are on the way.

So is it a Cinderella story? I don’t think there is a specific time-sensitive or financial milestone that will confirm or deny it - seeing May’s passion, commitment and efforts to succeed, grow Vee and bring value - is inspiring. She definitely has what it takes.

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Ron is a serial tech entrepreneur who has brought his love for developing empowering products to startups and major international corporations alike.

Ron’s family is intertwined into his entrepreneurial journey in various ways; He speaks admiribily about his mom and how it all began with her, and shares about his brother @Eyal Gura - his life-long role model. Eyal’s character, wisdom & friendship are a strong foundation for Ron’s path.

He remembers in a very vivid way when Eyal closed his 1st startup. He then understood that as an entrepreneur - there are uncomfortable parts you just have to embrace and push through, take care of your people and move on. They crafted a beautiful dynamic between them, where each one's success is driving the other forward.

Selling the 1st startup to eBay

“The Gift Project” was a pretty smooth ride. Ron describes it as a “rare thing of luck & timing”. His biggest win - was an amazing team of talented and wonderful people - who are nowadays leading founders in the tech arena. He was led by naivety & curiosity, asking himself “who are the smartest people we can bring along?”. An acquisition after only 18 months - he describes the eBay experience as ‘finesse’. eBay was an amazing school - all the process, methods, learning from the inside how corporations work. Ron also remembers clearly how an interaction with his Marketing Director - put a spotlight on how important it is to manage the relationships with your colleagues and keep a transparent and open communication channel in order to avoid the slippery slope of relationships clash - and what a lesson it was about leadership.

EIR in a VC

Leaving eBay, Ron joined @Eden Shochat & @Michael Eizenberg at @Aleph VC, a $550M early-stage venture capital fund. It was a very meaningful and transformational year in his journey. He learned the VC processes inside-out, saw the Board interactions first hand, hung out with amazing startups, listened to them and helped build a community of promising founders and companies. “Different is better than better” - his listening muscle grew stronger, and his eyes got wide open. Those days were the days when some of the most successful founders in the startups scene met each other and kicked off their ventures - @shai Wininger & Daniel Shreiber from @Lemondae, @Eran Shier that later on started @Nexar and many more.

From a startup to scale-up

WeWork was one of the companies Ron fell in love with those days at Aleph, when they still were a young startup. From few people to thousands of employees worldwide - Ron led the global R&D center of 250 team members, and was responsible for the tools and systems that helped the company scale operationally. Once again - he gathered around him an amazing team of talented people. Ron keeps his people close - his future co-founder at Empathy - Yan - worked with him in WeWork. They built an organization together.

The decision to leave was hard but needed. The company changed its approach to more of a real estate company than leading the future of work, and Ron had to learn to let go. Many great people have left, and he did whatever he could to help them outside of WeWork. He felt first hand the ride of a rapidly growing startup.

Disrupting the way families navigate loss

Fear of death is something most of us experience, but loss doesn’t skip anyone. Death is untouched. Yan & Ron wanted to offer “the friend you wish you had when you lose a loved one”, as confronting death involves overwhelming emotional stress & grief together with logistics. That's what drove them to Empathy.

Talking about Empathy made Ron open up and share about his own personal loss of his beloved brother. Amir’s death was very present in his life. It raised lot’s of questions as a young boy that came back again later on in his life.

He once again gathered a group of amazing and talented people who share his mission to offer empathy and comfort for people dealing with grief. I find it beautiful and touching when we build a company that helps us heal our very own wounds.

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The Power of Groups in Improving Startup Leaders’ Well-being. Remember - #strongpeopleshare

From living in the Kibbutz, surrounded by a circle of people, to a startup that creates circles of support for others - Irad is an extraordinary serial social & tech entrepreneur, named by the World Economic Forum’s “Social Entrepreneur of the Year”.

Irad’s mom coped with cancer for 7 years. He spent a lot of time with her during that period. But despite his help and efforts, his mom said that he couldn't understand what she’s going through, and she felt lonely. It was only when he overheard her speaking with a friend who is going through the same thing - she sounded happy as she finally felt understood.

When Irad coped with her loss - his siblings were the closest people to share it with.

It was then clear to him that people need to feel belonged.

Nowadays - loneliness is something that everyone is dealing with. Being part of a quality group of people, who share similar experiences - is the thing that fills the emptiness so many people are suffering from.

So what’s the story of groups?

Groups are all around us - in the family, with peers, through shared experiences (e.g - IDF units). Groups enable us to feel:

1. Belonging
2. Feeling normal
3. Helping others and by so - giving to others - which is something that makes us feel meaningful
4. Group symbolizes a micro-cosmos of life itself

Groups should enable a psychological safety and hence there are 3 main components for a group:

1. Its members:

A well-structured group optimizes the group members & balanced dynamics.

Few things that impact the group dynamic that you may never think about -

• The surrounding environment has a lot of impact on the group’s dynamics (e.g - think what happens when you're in a board meeting, and there are 5 empty chairs; or when you’re in a product session - and a bird flies into the room… Imagine how the surroundings impact the people in the situation).

• Your own place in your origin family - whether you are the oldest/ youngest/ somewhere in between. The sibling dynamics have a lot of impact on the way you’ll behave within groups.

• Facilitator:

A group can be moderated by a professional facilitator or by the members themselves. There's a difference between professional therapy groups and support groups. In therapy groups - it’s more about the personal progress each member is making. In a support group - it’s more about the reflections and progress the members are going through around a specific life event (similar also to FB groups or communities).

1. Setting:

The way you structure the group - weekly session, F2F or via zoom etc.

one should also take into consideration the privacy setting of a group (both physically and in-person or digitally).

Think of an early-stage startup as a group

When it grows - think of the various groups within the startup - leadership team, product group, marketing, finance, etc. Think of the support potential each startup has uniquely due to its specific characteristics, and use it as a growth engine.

Co-founders, which are in fact a group, have basic fundamental needs - to be seen & heard. And as we all know - it’s not always coming to fruition.

Irad shares the behind-the-scenes of his relationship with his co-founder - @Dan Landa, and how they have stopped listening to each other at one point. How afraid he was of the 'snowball effect’, as problems don’t go away by themself. “It was all too much… We started to go to a couple’s therapy… We started talking again. I suddenly felt relieved”.

Irad describes how he uses the method of sharing in groups for the Circles Team - every weekly meeting is opened with a question followed by the answers of the whole Team - a practice that enables an open & warm atmosphere and builds the company’s culture in the right direction.

One of the techniques I teach the founders I work with - is the Brief Communication method (G.B.L) (do you remember the briefs from the advertisement agencies?), that helps keep effective communication channels, effective meetings, and get things moving. It should include the following:

1. Strict title - provide the framing and gain the attention of others
2. High level mission/ task - make them listen
3. Details & dead-lines - be clear, specific, transparent, direct, accurate, measurable
4. Reflection - make sure the other side really understands what you are asking from him, that’s the only way to maximize mutual results

Strongpeopleshare

People avoid sharing when something is wrong with them. It’s hard to share when this is “bad news”, cause it makes people feel like they are broken. But, we see it the other way around. Strong people share. Strong people talk about it. And strong people care. Strong people know that sharing is an act of strength not weakness. And people who share - are not broken and there’s nothing to be fixed. On the contrary - they want to improve and grow. Here’s a good tip - next time you are coping with something - share it with just 4 people. Most of the possible reactions will happen then. That’s it - you did it, and nothing happened. Maybe, just maybe, you will also feel comforted by those reactions, stronger, more positive and with an open heart for what comes next.

So remember this hashtag, and share.

Prior to Circles, Irad founded and still serves as a board member at @“Shekulo Tov” - an NGO with the mission of including people with disabilities in organizations and making them feel they belong. He won the UN award for this amazing activity.

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@Yotam is a serial entrepreneur, the co-founder and CEO of @Daisy, and previously, he co-founded @Wibbitz as part of the @Zell entrepreneurship program where he still serves as a mentor.

Yotam, in fact, has experienced the full package of a life-of-an-entrepreneur - and shares with us from a bird’s eye view, and deep dives - the roller coaster of a serial entrepreneur.

100% trust, and always thinking what’s best for the company

He co-founded Wibbitz while he was a student at the IDC, as part of the Zell program. When reflecting back, on the beginning of the journey - he now sees how naive he was and with how much uncertainty he had to cope with. It’s a marathon composed of many small winns, expected to prove who you are at all times - “You’ve gotta show you can really do it”. At the Zell program - they started as 4 founders, soon became 2. The expectations were high.

When discussing how they have decided about their roles as CEO & COO - he answers that the key is 100% trust, and always thinking what’s best for the company. Co-founders relations are like marriage, and one should always think about the other side’s needs. Both parties should invest in it, and give priority to the relationship.

The dynamics changes when opening a US site

Most startups leave their R&D & product in Israel, and marketing & sales in the US. Opening the second site, when one co-founder stays in Israel and the other one relocates - makes things more complicated. The cultural differences appear and the communication gets less direct. Hence, it’s profoundly crucial to first implement a strong foundation and infrastructure, set expectations and keep the communication channels open and transparent all the time. Once again - trust & healthy communication are the key.

The company’s culture won’t develop on its own, and people have to practice how to work together as a team. First and foremost - culture is being built by leaders who lead by example.

Yotam reflects about the difference between founding his 1st startup to the 2nd one, and how nowadays, prior to launching Daisy, it was all based on common values and clear understanding of how they should operate.

How do you leave your “child”?

Leaving your own startup is a difficult choice. It’s a tough and emotional decision that you don’t make overnight. Things have to be deeply missfit to do so, and in his case, after a lot of self-reflection, he felt he was not himself anymore.

Yotam remembers clearly the silence when he was in the office with his 100 employees, sharing the news - so sad and so proud of what they’ve built together.

People don’t leave because they are afraid to deal with difficult questions. “What will I do now?” For Yotam it was clear - although many offers were made - from joining VCs to joining other ventures - he knew he was born to be an entrepreneur, and he wishes to do it all from the beginning - 0-1, new industry, new experience.

2nd time entrepreneur

Building your 2nd venture - you face the same problems and same challenges, but there is one big difference - you already have some more perspective; you know that if things are broken now, you will fix them later on. Or not. And move to the next feature. Being a second time entrepreneur - you feel more comfortable making decisions with only 60-70% assurance. You know that the key to success is in the iterative process, the fast learnings and the personal evolvement of the team.

Confidence comes from within (or: It’s all about family)

Yotam shares the strong foundation and confidence he got from his family: a father - former pilot at the IAF who was injured and got back to flight; a strong leader mother; 1 brother - @Yiftach - entrepreneur & CEO of @Zedes; 1 brother @Elad - a rocket scientist; and a successful sister, @Maya -Head of Company at @Lemonade, together with his wife @Michal that keep him and their 4 children all together. Yotam describes his family as the ‘safe zone’.

Talking about his recent relocation, Yotam shares the challenges and how important it is to have a supportive spouse, understanding the sacrifice the family is making - side by side with the amazing experiences.

To conclude, Yotam conveys a strong message of being confident in who you are, believe in who you are, and find out who you are in every stage of your life.

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How to Heal Your Brain & Save Your Own Life as an Entrepreneur?

Part II in the brain series – this time, from the real-life angle.

When you’re pushed to the edge - you can fight harder than your usual boundaries

Avi thought he had it all at the age of 26. 2 startups, working non-stop. A smart guy. An Electrical Engineer. Till the day his life went upside down - and the Dr. told him he has a brain tumor. He had a motorcycle accident, and the CT scan revealed the tumor. Avi thought his life was over. The Dr. recommended an immediate surgery but Avi refused. He started to teach himself Medicine. Biology. Physics. He tried all kinds of alternative medicine and changed the course of his life. He did an MRI every 3 months - checking the status of the tumor. As he describes - “I knew how bad the situation was according to the level of shoutings of the radiologists”. He had to be extra optimistic and to have a huge belief that he would defeat it - or else he would die.

There were 2 “Avis”: the one that was driven out of curiosity, with no fear, learning and trying everything out there, and the 2nd Avi, who was afraid for his life.

He understood that the brain tumor was a symptom, hence, something deep had to change.

He then found a neurosurgeon with a different approach - Dr. Patrick Kelly - and he was willing to put his life in his hands. Avi was part of the process.

1st-2nd of May 1995, was his new birth. The surgery went well.

He came back to Israel, determined to change his life - eat healthy, live without stress. He was a living miracle.

Drunk on life, a year and a half passes by, and an MRI shows that he has a residual tumor.

Dr. Patrick Kelly explains that the tumor is so deep, that he needs a 3D camera device to treat it, but there isn’t any existing. He suggests that Avi will wait 5 years for someone to invent it...

Avi broke all his savings, met with scientists all over the world and started to work on this development. Investors didn't want to invest in him, as he was a ticking bomb.

He then reached out to Dr. Hanoch Elran who performed the 4th surgery, which saved Avi’s life.

As a healthy person - Avi went back to the investors.

10 more years of R&D and development and living in the US - @VisionSense, Avis’ scientific deep tech company which developed minimally invasive surgery technology, was acquired by @Medtronic.

Avi reflects on his journey, that when it comes to adults - the root cause is usually emotional - “We should listen to the whisper of the disease and not wait for the shout”.

From innovator to investor

That’s what has led him to build Joy Ventures, with a very big vision of creating a new ecosystem to enhance resilience. He had to leave that dream, understanding that too many mistakes had been made and that this venture is not right for him anymore. That was another milestone in Avi’s entrepreneurial rollercoaster.

That gave Avi, again, another big life lesson, to begin a new journey. “We should always work on our dreams, maximize our days, and learn from our mistakes. We have 3 brains - the mind brain, the heart brain, the guts brain. They are all integrated in a neural connection. Decisions have to be aligned with all of them”.

Avi and his new partners founded @HealthYa, nurturing revolutionary health-tech solutions, investing in life saving technologies and helping build the ventures.

Avi guides and mentors dozens of entrepreneurs, as he sees his duty in serving others and helping people who need him. When talking about risk management - first and foremost - if you don’t have a huge dream to be an entrepreneur - don’t do it.

The Chinese people believe that one is always a bit deceased, hence, we need to fix and improve ourselves all the time. The mental flexibility is what matters - not to be led by ego, but by curiosity. To do things we never did before, go out of our comfort zone, and always ask ourselves - is what we’re doing now really meaningful?

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From Unit 81 to SPAC, With a Strong Purpose of Saving Life

Omer’s family was involved in a major car accident when he was a young boy. His mother, who was a ballet dancer and owned a studio, didn't get back to her barre, and his sister was seriously injured. It took them many years to overcome this experience.

Years later - Omer drove the motorcycle, and when finishing with this - he told himself that he was lucky enough to avoid the statistics of 1.3 million people dying in the roads every year and that 80% of the car accidents are caused by human mistakes.

With this significant purpose - he goes to sleep and wakes up to another day, bringing safety to mobility - trying to decrease the number of car accidents and save lives.

Omer shares how when establishing Innoviz, they faced a big challenge dealing with a technological gap they weren't aware of; They understood that the problem they thought they needed to solve initially was not at all the right one. 5.5 years later, in April 2021 - Innoviz went public through a SPAC merger in Wall Street, with a valuation of $1.4 billion.

Omer shares his path in Unit 81 of the IDF, and how his character was built along the 7 years he spent there. He took from there many lessons and attributes - commitment and creativity were few of them. In the beginning ,when he first thought about Innoviz - he had 26 ideas. Innoviz was only #18 on the list. He has decided to solve a problem that wasn't solvable, but if someone can do it - it’s his team.

In Unit 81 he spent 2 periods - the 1st one taught him how to be an amazing integrator - to challenge the experts under unbelievable pressure and tight deadlines, so that the only thing that pushes you forward is the strong passion that you derive from what you do, knowing how important it is. Their slogan was: Capability, Passion, Commitment - making the impossible-possible. The 2nd period - he was leading tech projects, the decision maker. What he learned from there - is the power of communication and transparency - a culture he brings into Innoviz, creating trust and making everyone approachable.

Omer shared the way he sees a 1st time experience - when your eyes are fresh, you feel confident, ask questions, make your voice heards and not necessarily take things as they are - that’s where you have an impact and can lead to a healthy change.

As team leaders - you have to educate and explain things - that’s where you learn as well. Omer earns his points when he is able to share something new he has learned. His job as a CEO is to learn new things>>see the blind spots>>solve problems and>>connect the dots. Not to spend time in meetings.

Omer, 2*Orens, and the whole Innoviz Team are on a very important mission, committed to save life. You can feel it from Omer’s vibes when he speaks about what they do and the problem they are solving. Omer shows honest, mindful, empowering and humble leadership, wrapped in a very calm and balanced personality.

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Meirav is the CEO & alongside 3 others, she is a co-founder of Versatile, a leading ConstructionTech company. She just shared with me the amazing news of closing their B round of $80M within 2 weeks and no deck, led by Insight Partners and Tiger Global.

Meirav shares how she grew up with a General Contractor father, who made her love construction, and a mother that didn't support her leaving the comfort zone at Intel. She talks a lot about being unemployed, and her brother, a real estate developer who lost a worker on his site. She remembers that evening clearly, including thinking to herself that there’s a gap in data within construction sites - it has to be closed and allow managers to make better decisions. That’s when Versatile was born. Meirav shares a lot of gratitude to those who accompanied her in the beginning - Tidhar group, Autodesk etc.

Embracing a Growth Mindset

Meirav sees Versatile’s job in changing the sequence of events, and controlling the processes within the construction site. When I asked her about being a woman entrepreneur - she said that if you know what you’re doing- gender is not an issue. From her point of view, you have to focus on your track, set goals, exceed them, and hit your targets.

Meirav shares that when COVID hit, they had no idea what would happen. She believes in complete transparency with the team, sticking to the facts and doing everything she could within her power. That way, she kept her internal focus while showing her vulnerability, which helped her team feel more secure and committed.

Failure is Only When we Fail to Learn

A superpower in days of uncertainty and always is to be aware of how you respond, communicate, and respond to failures. She believes in Nelson Mandella’s saying that “you either learn or win.” Meirav likes to see failures, as well-paid tuition. Her 1st ever project in Versatile was a complete failure - but it brought her the next investor. This failure made them understand exactly what they needed to improve - and the investor loved it.

A Table of 4 Legs

Meirav describes herself and her 3 co-founders like a 4 legged table - they too have a stable, synergistic, and harmonic relationship.

Each co-founder has a strict domain which he leads and manages, and the CEO makes the final decision. Meirav describes her transition from being a Founder to acting as a CEO -as the company grows, you have to bring really good people, and that means - you also need to listen to them. She believes in growing your staff - hear all the voices around the table, but eventually - as CEO, DECIDE. Then, the others can ‘disagree & commit’.

Meirav loves to checkmark ‘V’ - changing ‘impossible’ to ‘done’. That’s how she raised a series A of $28.5M within 8 weeks, and 6 months after - a Series B of $80M within 3 week, which all happened during COVID-19. A strong proof of her attitude & spirit is that her investors have already invested in Versatile for the 4th time, which conveys trust and confidence in the vision and team.

Meirav conveyed a strong message that “there is no better place to invest now than in a company in this area, aiming to disrupt the construction industry.”

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Eze & Kevin have known each other from their days in the Zell program at the IDC, through working at Wall Street, Google, a few more ventures & startups, and are now General Partners of an early-stage VC focusing on entertainment & consumers. Eze & Kevin are great friends and even better partners.

Kevin shares his entrepreneurial journey, including the day he had to let go of 30 employees, and chose to do the same for himself - since the company grew too fast and R&D couldn't keep up with sales. That difficult day threw him back to 2008, when the big crisis hit Wall St. and from big dreams and fancy cocktails - he found his work as an investment banker was no longer meaningful enough and shortly after he was fired.

Eze always loved computers - even back in Argentina, where he was born and raised until the age of 8 years old. After moving to Israel - it was always important to him to help put Israel on the global map through tech and create global bridges, so he founded VC cafe back in 2005. This venture is ongoing, and recently Eze added the ‘Firgun’ thread - as part of his abundance point of view.

Kevin says his biggest strengths are optimism & inner drive, something that was also nurtured from his years as a tennis player. Eze describes Kevin as a self-starter, so their dynamic is that Kevin draws the first draft & concepts, and Eze does the fine-tuning & finalizes the details. That’s how they gain a complete and comprehensive understanding based on trust and respect.

Eze says that his strongest strength is his curiosity, that he is wired to see the matrix and connect the dots. Kevin says that Eze is amazing in the way he gives feedback & criticism, and that he has this inner ML algorithm that learns and develops all the time.

Kevin shares that every 3-4 years, he feels like he’s too much in his comfort zone - so he has to disrupt himself and learn something new or go through some kind of personal development.

He recently graduated from the Hoffman-Kofman Conscious Leadership Program, where he gained a lot of experience and trained his listening & conflict resolution skills. Additionally, Kevin recently began studying mindfulness and has since implemented various techniques into his day-to-day life.

A few of the mindfulness techniques include:

• Conscious breathing techniques - focusing on the inhale & exhale
• Body scan - focusing on various parts of the body and directing the breathing into those areas
• Focusing on the Here & Now, more being over doing in an unproductive way

Eze spoke about giving back to society & shared his experiences with Tech-Bikers, which is a non-profit organization he established promoting long distance cycling challenges. The organization supports the establishment of new schools, libraries & scholarships in Nepal, Vietnam, Bangladesh and more.

Eze & Kevin discussed the high cost and trade-offs of the entrepreneurial journey and how perspective is crucial to success. They also shared advice about the importance of cash flow and high margins and how as an entrepreneur, you should always have a plan B.

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Gigi is one of the most appreciated, sharp and talented investors in the Israeli startup scene, but also abroad. He is a GP at NFX together with James Currier, Pete Flint, Omri Drori & Morgan Beller.

After being a pilot in the Israeli Air Force, Gigi founded several startups, such as Playtika (acquired for $4.4 billion), Ridge, Beach Bums and more. He used to be CEO of 888 Holdings, one of the world’s frontrunners in the gaming industry. Gigi invested in startups such as Komodor, Mammoth Biosciences, Kenshoo, MyHeritage and countless others. He also serves as an advisor on the board of several organizations, such as MEET - Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow.

Gigi candidly shared with me his personal journey.

The CEO Persona

We spoke about the complexity embedded in the CEO role - the costume you wear, and how that sometimes gets confused with the real you. We shared how as a young CEO - he was managed by his ego, with no compassion and forgiveness, and how important it is for a CEO to learn to put his ego aside and really listen to others. Being forgiving to himself and to others is something that he takes with him into the investor position.

In Silicon Valley - both the founders and investors use a language which nurtures a complex threshold of expectations - they are all “killing it”. They should not show weakness, which brings a lot of misery, and literally “killing it.” Now - it doesn't mean that you should share your weakness with everyone - but you should do it with your inner circle and close peers.

The Investor Persona

Gigi sees his role as the sounding board of the entrepreneurs he invests in. Once they share their truth - it’s a ‘Protected Zone,’ and they can rest assured that it stays there. Gigi and the other NFX GPs don’t insist on being on the board, but they insist on being the last conversation prior to the board.

Sometimes, it’s also ‘tough love’ - as this is what they need to hear at that moment.

Gigi believes that as investors - they should be grateful to have been chosen by the founders to join their journey. The founders are generally brilliant, hungry, energetic and sacrificing a lot in this path. It’s not ‘our’ company - it’s theirs. For him, the lowest of lows - is to find out he picked the wrong entrepreneur.

Founders’ Psychological Traits

Gigi has seen more than 10,000 entrepreneurs over the years. In different verticals - different traits are needed. But, there are psychological aspects that are true for entrepreneurs in general.

1. Founders are a mix of inherent contradictions
2. Optimism - they never believe they’ll fail
3. They must have an elastic and agile mind, so they can reconvene new directions when needed
4. Be open and transparent
5. Crystalize a clear vision & WHY
6. Be data-driven decision-makers
7. Entrepreneurs can be either arrogant & loud or insecure & quiet; the range is surprising. However, both types can be great entrepreneurs.
8. Decision Makers - “Move Fast and Break Things”
   1. Speed is one of the main character traits founders should have, whilst being willing to accept failure. If you make a mistake>>you fix>>iterate>>move.
   2. Speed needs to be balanced with the quality of decisions - especially when it comes to recruiting talents.
   3. Gigi shares his personal growth from being the smartest guy in the room, telling others what to do, to being the mentor that thinks together with them. He likes providing them with tools to make decisions and letting them make their own. That has a lot to do with the concept of parenting and how we educate & mentor our children and founders.

Gigi sees the cherry on top of his role as an investor in helping the entrepreneurs balance their psychological traits, is learning how to wear the various costumes when needed. More importantly, it is knowing when to leave them aside.

For Gigi, what helped him more than all in his personal growth journey - was learning from failures. Failure, the way he sees it, is a call to reach a higher level of consciousness. A “wake up call,” an opportunity to better ourselves.