Startup for Startup - Global ⚡ by monday.com: Recent Episodes
Startup for Startup - Global ⚡ by monday.com
Startup for Startup is a podcast in which we at monday.com openly share knowledge, experience, and actionable insights among startups. Each episode of the podcast highlights a different challenge we faced on our journey as a growing startup.
Deals with enterprise organizations and public sector entities almost always come wrapped in a formal package: the Request for Proposal (RFP). While early-stage startups often view RFPs as a daunting, bureaucratic hurdle, for growing B2B companies, they represent one of the most stable and lucrative revenue engines available. In this episode, Shaked Hershkovitz, Director of Solution Engineering at monday.com, sits down with Daria Wertheim to share how the company built its RFP muscle from 2019 to today, highlighting the core best practices and lessons learned along the way.
Shaked breaks down the strategic trade-offs inherent in RFP management, starting with the dilemma of whether to apply a high-volume approach or focus strictly on high-probability opportunities. He reflects on early missteps—specifically how prioritizing quantity over quality consumed heavy legal and technical bandwidth while yielding low win rates—and discusses navigating strict regulatory and security requirements. He also addresses the hard truth that missing even a single product capability can cost a six-figure deal, even when the client actively wants to partner with you.
The episode provides actionable frameworks for managing tenders effectively, from identifying opportunities at the RFI stage and influencing requirements early to tailoring solutions and accelerating the path to live demos. Shaked details how embedding AI tools and autonomous agents into their workflow allows teams to scan complex tender documents in seconds, score win probabilities, and save hundreds of engineering hours. Finally, he outlines the specific formula that drove monday.com's RFP win rate up to 35%.
Note: This episode is an AI translation of the original Hebrew version released in July 2026.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Note: This episode is an AI translation of the original Hebrew version released in February 2026.
At monday.com's 2025 kickoff event, we were sure we had hit on the next big product innovation to match the AI revolution. Looking back, Co-CEO Eran Zinman and CPTO Daniel Lereya realize that features like neat text summarization buttons or resume screeners were essentially just "AI Dust" sprinkled over the product, cool features that don't fundamentally change how users work.
In this week's episode, Darya Wertheim sits down with them to discuss the gap between recognizing that the world is changing and translating that into what it means for a product built over many years. Eran and Daniel share the product evolutions currently happening at monday.com, from new AI products to shifts in core offerings—along with the insights, challenges, and mistakes that shaped the path forward.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jeff Bezos' famous quote, "The stock is not the company, and the company is not the stock," has never been more relevant for the software sector. After years where SaaS companies were considered islands of stability and guaranteed growth, the AI revolution has injected market uncertainty that slashed valuations by tens of percent overnight for many companies.
In this episode of "Version Update", Darya Wertheim hosts Eran Zinman, Co-CEO of monday.com, and Eliran Glazer, the company's CFO, to discuss the dissonance between actual business performance and negative investor sentiment.
We dive into perspectives on the current crisis based on past market downturns—from the dot-com crash and the subprime crisis to the post-COVID correction and monday’s own stock drop from $400 to $70—and what we can learn from these cycles. We also cover why monday.com chose to initiate a share buyback program, how it affects value for both investors and employees, and how they navigate the public and private markets as they intersect during the AI revolution.
Note: This episode has been translated from Hebrew to English using AI voice technology. The Original episode first aired in March 2026.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Are we really facing the end of SaaS? Is it actually possible to rebuild monday.com in just two hours? And will we all be out of a job in a few years? In this episode of "Version Update"—the series where we unpack how AI is reshaping and rebuilding monday.com from the inside out—we dive into the most talked-about doom prophecies of recent months to separate fact from fiction and see what has been blown completely out of proportion.
monday.com founders Roy Mann and Eran Zinman bring their boots-on-the-ground perspective to these industry anxieties. They address the rise of "vibe coding" and its true impact on established software companies, the fear that users will bypass traditional applications entirely in favor of raw LLM interfaces, and the impending takeover of AI agents in the workplace.
The discussion cuts through the panic to find the actual core of truth behind the headlines. By examining these shifts realistically, Roy and Eran map out what these macro-changes mean for the future of software development, how existing platforms must adapt, and what the practical implications are for the tech ecosystem as a whole.
Note: This episode is an AI translation of the original Hebrew version released in March 2026.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What happens when successful companies face a game-changing technology that rewrites the rules? This is the third episode in our series on how AI is reshaping and rebuilding monday from the inside out. In this episode, monday co-CEOs Roy Mann and Eran Zinman join Darya Wertheim to talk about the practical challenges of managing organizational change when the technological landscape shifts.
Drawing on frameworks from the book "The Innovator's Dilemma," Eran and Roy break down why the strongest, best-managed companies are actually at the highest risk of being disrupted during the AI revolution. They dive into the friction of balancing the urgent demands of existing customers and current product commitments with the strategic necessity of betting on an unmapped future.
The discussion unpacks why it is so difficult for software companies to let go of legacy paradigms, why market dynamics always win in the end, what makes AI fundamentally different from any technological wave we have seen before and, of course, exactly where all of this meets monday.
Note: This episode is an AI translation of the original Hebrew version released in February 2026.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the second episode of our series on how AI is reshaping monday.com, Darya Wertheim hosts Roy Mann and Eran Zinman, the company’s co-founders and co-CEOs. They discuss the most dramatic turning point in software since the invention of the personal computer. While software over the last 20 years primarily served as a tool to document work done elsewhere, today AI allows software to take center stage and execute the work itself—moving "from managing the work to doing the work."
In this episode, we break down what it actually means to deeply embed AI into a company based on three key pillars: replacing human tasks, empowering employees with 10x capabilities, and democratizing tasks and expertise that were previously out of reach—enabling anyone to code, design, or create music without prior knowledge.
We also discuss what AI is not, and why sprinkling "AI dust" on top of a product without changing its core value is simply not enough. Roy and Eran explain how customer expectations have fundamentally shifted, to the point where anything less than eliminating cognitive load and execution steps is no longer enough.
A quick heads-up: Since we’re on the subject of AI, we used it to translate this episode. These are Darya, Eran and Roy's AI-generated voices, bringing the Hebrew conversation to life in English. The episode first aired in Hebrew on February 2026.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The impact of AI is unfolding in real-time, and no one has all the answers yet. At monday.com, the transition didn't happen overnight; It began with early excitement, moved through a period of learning and adjustment, and led to the realization that our previous frameworks required a fundamental shift.
This episode marks the beginning of a series where we share the internal changes happening at monday.com right now, documenting the process while it is still "in the making" to provide a transparent look at a company in transition.
Darya Wertheim sits down with Eran Zinman, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of monday.com, to discuss how he realized the company needed a fundamental shift in perspective. Eran shares the difficult reality of abandoning a successful strategy to climb a much steeper mountain. They dive into the specific dilemmas of leading a global organization through a period where the endgame isn't yet visible.
Rather than a retrospective on success, this discussion focuses on managing through the unknown. We cover the initial impact of AI on the organization, and the leadership required to keep 3,000 employees engaged when their core environment is being reshaped.
A quick heads-up: Since we’re on the subject of AI, we used it to translate this episode. These are Darya and Eran's AI-generated voices, bringing the Hebrew conversation to life in English. The episode first aired in Hebrew on February 2026.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Every startup wants attention, but most struggle to create content that actually drives business growth (not just likes). So how do you make content work for your startup? Adva Shisgal sat down with Nuseir Yassin AKA Nas Daily — the creator behind 68M+ followers and two successful companies—to break it all down.
You can also watch a video version of the episode on Youtube
In this episode, we cover:
- How to create content that sells (without being salesy)
- The biggest mistakes startups make with content – and how to fix them
- How AI is changing the content game (and how to use it)
- Why losing followers can actually be a good thing
Nas has worked with top brands, governments, and startups to help them stand out—and in this episode, he shares part of his strategy.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The current geopolitical situation in Israel brings quite a few challenges for startups wishing to raise money. These challenges become even more significant when they involve foreign VCs who may need help understanding the situation, making the way startups communicate with them even more critical.
In mid-November, we held an event where Daria Wertheim interviewed Shuli Galili from the UpWest Fund, Jacques Benkoski from U.S. Venture Partners, and Aaron Jacobson from NEA about the way investors in the U.S. perceive the current situation, how they would like founders to communicate with them, And how they see raising money for Israeli startups today.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Why is it important for CS & AM to work together? What can this cooperation allow us as a company?Customer retention is one of the most, if not the most, important abilities for a company. It becomes even more important in a time when markets are changing, and companies are re-evaluating their expenses and making sure every service they use is at the core of their business - not a nice to have, but a must-have.
There for, it’s crucial for the CS and AMs (account managers) to be on top of their metrics, and make sure they can identify any potential risk or churn in advance.
In this episode, Adva Shisgal speaks with George Graham, Enterprise Account Manager, and Lauren Knowles, Customer Success Manager at monday.com, about the way their two functions work together.
George and Lauren discuss the changes their departments made in order to make sure they work closer together, what led to these changes, and how have they impacted the entire company.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Let's talk about SaaS metrics in 2023.
The last few years have turned the tables for many startups, and have also changed the way the market, and investors in particular, have evaluated startups. As part of this, many of the metrics we have worked with until then - such as ARR or CAC, have become much less relevant. The market wanted to focus on profitability and efficiency and had to find new metrics to support this.
In this week's episode, Darya Wertheim spoke with Jason Lemkin, SaaStr founder & CEO, and with Eran Zinman and Roy Mann, the Co-Founders and Co-CEO of monday.com about SaaS metrics in 2023. They've discussed what has changed in the SaaS business model in recent years, how to look at ARR, CAC, and NDR today, and why it is not certain that these metrics serve us as well as they did in the past, and on many more topics that arise when we put three SaaS geeks in the same room (or in the same virtual conversation).
The episode dives deep into the business model of SaaS companies, so it is aimed at those who are familiar with and discuss concepts such as ARR, CAC and NDR.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A discovery call is fundamental to any successful sales cycle. Looking at the more simple definition of it, a discovery call is the first conversation with a potential customer after they’ve shown initial interest in our product. It’s basically our chance to get to know the customer and see if we're a good fit for them, and, in return, if they're a good fit for us.
But there’s is a lot more to a successful discovery call than calling and asking questions for 30 minutes. Making sure you’re asking the right set of questions is a skill you must obtain as well as many other practices that will optimize the impact you could create while on the call.
On this episode of Startup for Startup, Nathan Newman, Senior Account Executive at monday.com, takes us through the intricacies of discovery calls, offering valuable insights and strategies to help you master this crucial element of business growth.
Nathan shares his insights about the purpose of the call, finding relevant leads, preparing for the call, and the questions that will allow you to get a lot more from your discovery calls.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How do you build a product that people will want to share with each other? What do you do when you have two weeks left until your runway ends? How do you know that pivot is the right thing for your startup? Back in 2015, Joe Thomas and his fellow co-founders held a meeting where they each pitched three startup ideas. They spent the next eight months striving to develop a video-based product for customer feedback but unfortunately, their startup wasn't growing as quickly as they hoped, and they found themselves with only two weeks until their runway ended.
But they didn't give up, and taking everything they learned from their journey up until then, they managed to pivot just in time to save the company from going under.
On this week's episode of 'Startup for Startup - Global', Darya Wertheim sits down with Joe to discuss Loom's inspiring journey from crisis to success. Joe candidly shares the mistakes they made when founding Loom, the questions that guided them to make the right pivot, and the obstacles they encountered along the way.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Why have we decided to build a startup within monday.com? What makes a founder that closed their company want to start a new one within an existing company? And how does the integration between the two companies work?
How many of the big companies you know have started within other companies? Gmail started within Google, Atlassian has companies with a different brand like confluence, and most other examples related to companies acquired by more prominent brands and kept their autonomy.
In this episode, Darya Wertheim spoke with Roy Mann, monday.com Co-CEO and Co-Founder, and Noam Ackerman, who leads ‘monday canvas’, about how we built a new startup within monday. Roy and Noam shared the experience of starting a new, separate startup - one that is led by its own founder doesn’t use any of monday’s resources and hires slowly - like any other startup in its first stages.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
There is a number of important points in an employee’s life at a company. The most crucial one is probably the onboarding. a good onboarding experience can improve the employees’ retention by 82%, and their performance by 70%. It puts a lot of weight on this process - that many companies struggle with.
By working right with a few tools, you can improve dramatically the onboarding to your team. In this episode, we’ll understand what makes a great onboarding assignment, how to make the onboarding less theoretical, what’s the value of a team member that walks the new joiner hand in hand through the first few months, and how to shape the onboarding based on the recruitment process.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the age of technology, careers shift all the time. A programmer can wind up in product management. A content writer can find their passion for design and become a graphic designer. More and more, we’re becoming comfortable switching career paths, and like any new practice, there’s a name for it: job crafting. Though job crafting is all the rage at the moment, not every company - or manager - embraces the idea—and we get it. This kind of change is complex, not only for the one switching careers, but for management, who now needs to fill the role. For managers, is it worth giving an employee the chance to make this kind of change? And if management gives employees the green light on "job crafting", what does the employee need to smoothly make the switch? Tune in as we discuss one of startup’s latest habits.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
“Well done!” “Err, good job.” “It’s sufficient.” For both the giver and receiver, feedback can feel daunting. As a manager, you face quite a few challenges: you don’t want to be so slight-handed that the team member doesn’t know what to improve or how, but you also don’t want to come across as cold and demotivate the person, or equally as undesirable, causing an argument leading nowhere.
Thankfully, there’s a scheme - and an attitude - that allows us to get the most out of feedback, helping us navigate a conversation so no one feels defensive. If you’re wondering what this conversation looks like, what you can do to prepare yourself for this talk, the wrong way to raise an issue, and more, you’re in for a treat this week as we answer all that and more.
Wanna hear more about feedback and ask Joe Hirsch YOUR questions? Register now and join us on March 24th: https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/feedback-event/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Having a bunch of great team members doesn’t guarantee team success. Your team needs to be able to run smoothly and independently, effectively collaborating with each other without needing constant reassurance. Vitali Margolin learned this lesson the hard way when he realized that as a CTO of a small startup, his team wasn’t capable of making decisions and moving forward without asking for his permission on every single step. He found himself micromanaging, and wanted to know how he could build their confidence to solve minor issues on their own.
Along with Vitali, monday customer success managers share the lessons they’ve learned about building a strong team. What routines are important for improving communication and alignment? How can you create a work environment that supports innovation? And how can you combine a team member’s personal ambitions and goals with the team’s goals? We answer all that and more in this week’s episode!
On March 24th, 10:00 AM EST, we'll have an online event focusing on feedback. We'll discuss some of our top principles regarding giving constructive feedback. Register now and join us on zoom!
https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/feedback-event/
If you want to get updates on related articles, events and more insightful surprises - subscribe to our newsletter. We never spam! https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/newsletter_ww/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The hiring manager has a lot of responsibility: they define their precise hiring requirements, take part in interviews, and most likely - create a home assignment for candidates. After this whole process, they provide a retro look to improve the hiring process.
Absurdly, most hiring managers lack this expertise. We answer a few questions around how hiring managers can become stronger at one of the most crucial aspects of their role: hiring the right person. Our guests today identify the best questions to ask in interviews and likens defining the company’s needs in the early stages to buying furniture.
On March 24th, 10:00 AM EST, we'll have an online event focusing on feedback. We'll discuss some of our top principles regarding giving constructive feedback. Register now and join us on zoom!
https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/feedback-event/
If you want to get updates on related articles, events, and more insightful surprises - subscribe to our newsletter. We never spam! https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/newsletter_ww/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ask five Heads of CS the following questions and you may end up with five different answers: how do you define KPIs for CS teams? How can we make sure the KPIs cover all of our goals?
In CS, a well-defined KPI can boost revenues, while inaccurate metrics can shift the focus from what’s important.
This week Darya Wertheim spoke with Head of High Touch Customer Success, Tom Ronen, and Head of Client Services, Nir Fogel, about why setting KPIs for Customer Success teams is often a road stricken with potholes. They discuss three main dilemmas related to the topic – Is it better to define individual or team KPIs? Should you connect the KPIs to compensations? And what encourages more growth – Leading or Lagging KPIs?
*A short clarification – we know that the term CS can relate to different teams in different companies. At monday.com, CS refers to the teams who help the client implement and scale with the product, not technical support teams.
On March 24th, 10:00 AM EST, we'll have an online event focusing on feedback. We'll discuss some of our top principles regarding giving constructive feedback. Register now and join us on zoom!
https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/feedback-event/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Quick, describe your company culture in six words. Got it? We’ll go next: ownership, inclusion, product-centric, customer-centric, impactful, and speed. When starting the company, monday.com’s founders, Eran Zinman and Roy Mann, chose these attributes to guide their company culture. Well, it definitely sounds good - but does that still stand today?
Creating company culture is one hell of a challenge, and in this SFS Talks episode, we broke it all down. We’ll cover some of the ways values change as a company grows and evolves, whether a company should try to preserve its culture or embrace the changes that occur along the way, and the price it pays for choosing one approach over another.
In this week’s episode, our founders team up with Head of “Startup for Startup”, Lior Krengel, to divulge the six cultural attributes that lie at the core of monday.com’s culture. They share their insights into how to form a company culture, the impact culture has on the hiring process, and why we don’t believe in hanging ‘culture posters’ on the wall.
On March 24th, 10:00 AM EST, we'll have an online event focusing on feedback. We'll discuss some of our top principles regarding giving constructive feedback. Register now and join us on zoom!
https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/feedback-event/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What does ‘making an impact’ really mean? In this episode, we explore how to make a meaningful impact, analysis paralysis, and why making mistakes can be a good thing. Tune in for one of our most exploratory episodes yet!
"Impact" is a startup buzzword, but it’s harder to know what that looks like in practice. We define impact as using our technology, talent, and teamwork to improve a situation or solve an issue. This is all important, worthy stuff, but how do we actually apply this principle in our day-to-day work?
In this episode, we spoke with monday.com’s Co-Founder and Co-CEO, a CX team lead, and CX advocate, to understand what it means to be impact-driven and what it looks like when we’re not.
Lior and Eran's talk: https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/impact-driven-leadership/
On March 24th, 10:00 AM EST, we'll have an online event focusing on feedback. We'll discuss some of our top principles regarding giving constructive feedback. Register now and join us on zoom!
https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/feedback-event/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What are the challenges in keeping things in-house? How to decide which project should be outsourced, and which shouldn’t be? And how can we choose a vendor wisely?
At monday, we kept everything in-house since the very early days of the company. Developers, designers, customer experience representatives, marketing associates and managers, video creators - everything. This policy proved itself, but as the company grew, maintaining it became more complex.
In this episode we talk with people who share different angles about this dilemma - from a CEO that solely believes in keeping things in-house, to the founder of an outsourcing company.
On March 24th, 10:00 AM EST, we'll have an online event focusing on feedback. We'll discuss some of our top principles regarding giving constructive feedback. Register now and join us on zoom!
https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/feedback-event/
If you want to get updates on related articles, events and more insightful surprises - subscribe to our newsletter. We never spam! https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/newsletter_ww/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
IC - Individual Contributor - is a development path companies can offer for those of us who want to move forward, but managing is just not our thing. Many companies promote great employees, only to find out that they don't get the most out of them as managers. It happened to us at monday as well. In this episode, we dived into this issue with the help of two ICs, an HR VP and an organizational psychologist.
What does this IC path include? How can you create one in your company? Why would a company even want to invest resources in creating this kind of path? And what does it all have to do with a Canadian teacher born in 1919?
On March 24th, 10:00 AM EST, we'll have an online event focusing on feedback. We'll discuss some of our top principles regarding giving constructive feedback. Register now and join us on zoom!
https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/feedback-event/
If you want to get updates on related articles, events, and more insightful surprises - subscribe to our newsletter. We never spam! https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/newsletter_ww/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Working on a product with a team can easily be frustrating. The product manager has his own vision, but the designer rather go in a different direction - and it ends up getting to the developer who just doesn't understand why they think this UI fits the code. This separation between each profession along the process creates misunderstandings, frustration, and often limits every single person to his own field without understanding the whole picture. Luckily, there's a model that helps deal with these issues - but obviously it has downsides as well.
On March 24th, 10:00 AM EST, we'll have an online event focusing on feedback. We'll discuss some of our top principles regarding giving constructive feedback. Register now and join us on zoom!
https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/feedback-event/
If you want to get updates on related articles, events, and more insightful surprises - subscribe to our newsletter. We never spam! https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/newsletter_ww/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When thinking about salespeople's salary - we know that it comes with commissions aside. For years we’ve known that this is the way to get the most out of your salespeople. Lately, this assumption has been undermined. The rise of behavioral economics’ studies, alongside companies that reconsidered their incentives, led to different approaches that can change dramatically not only the way we think about compensation in the sales world, but also about incentives in general.
The full TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_the_puzzle_of_motivation?language=en
On March 24th, 10:00 AM EST, we'll have an online event focusing on feedback. We'll discuss some of our top principles regarding giving constructive feedback. Register now and join us on zoom!
https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/feedback-event/
If you want to get updates on related articles, events, and more insightful surprises - subscribe to our newsletter. We never spam! https://www.startupforstartup.com/ww/newsletter_ww/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A new podcast is coming soon.
It doesn't matter if you're a founder, a salesperson, an experienced marketing manager, or a junior developer - this podcast is for you. It's all about sharing our insights from different fields - fields that every startup deals with.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.