Y\Tech Runway's Tipping Point Corner
14.05.2018
Welcome to YTech Runway's Tipping Point corner!
This page is YTech's attempt at making The Tipping Point, a podcast for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs, aiming at helping entrepreneurs and innovators overcome obstacles that get in their way by sharing their knowledge with one another – available to you! We, here at YTech Runway, identify with The Tipping Point's vision and hope you will enjoy its content.
One caveat: while YTech Runway's content is predominantly provided in English, The Tipping Point is a Hebrew podcast.
Episode 1 (Asaf Shweki) - MVP, Automation and Why Ask Why
Asaf Shweki served in the elite military technology unit "Mamram", after which he established, with several of his unit-mates, a company called "For-Each" and was among the first to develop mobile applications, until his company was acquired by AutoDesk. In this episode Asaf shares some invaluable tips on "MVP" (Minimum Viable Product), automation and his thoughts on the simple question "why"?
Listen to Asaf here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6AxWdcnh0gC3m6VcxQdST5
Episode 2 (Eliezer Shkedi) - Leadership, Belief and How to Really Listen
This episode's guest is Eliezer Shkedi, the former Israeli Air Force Commander and former CEO of EL-AL, Israel's national airline. Today he serves in different board roles in several startup companies with a social character, or an extraordinary business purpose. As someone who has been in many managerial positions and is now serving on the board of some of the most interesting startups in the industry, Shkedi did not choose to give tips on issues such as working with the board and how to manage people on the practical level, rather his tips were much more substantial in the sense that he talked about the soft issues in the leading of people, how to differentiate between an excellent organization and an ordinary one, the belief in the team, how to criticize, and that one thing managers are always mistaken about: how to listen to your team, a topic on which he conveys a very powerful message.
Listen to Shkedi here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5fN6BigZvBKkyFsDzFh3Oa
For more insight from Noa Matz on the human factor in a startup's success, click here:
https://founderrunway.com/pro/1002
Episode 3 (Leah Goldberger) – Managing and Researching Your Product
Leah Goldberger is one of the leading figures in the local community in the field of product management. She has led some of the most interesting products we have in the market today and established the "Queens Community" that brings together hundreds of companies that share, help and support the product-world. Today she advises startups and teaches at Tel Aviv University. In the podcast, Leah shares some tips that relate mainly to research and its quality, the sin of arrogance and falling in love with the product. In the second part, she talks about an interesting methodology for the distinction of user's emotion when the user meets your product.
Listen to Leah here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/55axrhxGYMRKzxxz9iSBBH
For more insight from Ido Yablonka on product management click here:
https://founderrunway.com/pro/1000
Episode 4 (Nimrod Cohen) – How the Investor Looks at You
This episode's guest is Nimrod Cohen, the current manager of TAU Ventures, Tel Aviv University's investment fund, who worked at "Plus Ventures & Explore Venture" funds, and also sold a startup at the beginning of his career. In the podcast he talks about entrepreneurship and whether it suits everyone, what the first thing he looks for in a startup as an investor is, when is it recommended to raise funds, and what kind of homework should be done before meeting an investor. He also talks about valuation in early stages and how to identify whether a deal with an investor is good or not - you want to listen to this before you meet an investor.
Listen to Nimrod Cohen:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Xw7xZiXo2cDzq1sQCwWSL
Episode 5 (Ophir Paldi) – Organization, Culture and People
Ophir Paldi founded the company "Shamayim", a very unusual company as it tries to change the organizational learning culture of the society to which it comes. Ophir talks about the gap he sees in most companies in the area of learning, the difficulty he identifies in almost every organization he meets. He speaks about the principles for the creation of effective learning and progress in organizations and companies. Ofir shares what he has learned along the way why he thinks it's right to pivot to places that are not necessarily the trivial playground of your venture or in short "Fail Fast", and why his company's DNA will kbow how to handle the failures. To create such a culture, Ophir emphasizes the importance of people and how he sees all the workers next to him. He also talks about that moment in which they realized that although they got to the "Mass Challenge" it could be worth for them to give up, yes there are also such companies.
Listen to Ophir here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1sEtsThMTSxvjJhI7DulTw
Episode 6 (Ori Arbel) – Working with Lawyers and Partners
This episode's guest is Ori Arbel, a founding partner in a law firm that specializes in business and entrepreneurship. Among his daily activities he also hosts a radio show in which he meets entrepreneurs and hears their stories, as well as lectures in several conferences and courses in the entrepreneurship field. In the podcast, he talks about the failures and the mental state of an "Entrepreneur", about why, in his experience, the most important thing between partners is coordinating expectations, when is the best time to write a partners agreement, about small hacks that startups need to know about legal counseling fields, choosing partners, granting stock options, and one of the more important things in his opinion - communities.
Listen to Ori here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Kl5xic20tlREKaYBHK1LO
Episode 7 (Gilad Shani) – Investors - Who are They and What They are Seeking
Gilad Shani worked at the Baron Capital investment fund for a decade, during which time he was responsible for early investments in companies such as Better Place, Tesla and others. In this podcast Gilad talks about how to prepare for a meeting with an investor, what the investor needs to bring to the startup, choosing an investor according to the maturity of the startup, how to conduct a due diligence, and the ongoing work with the investor. In short, this episode will give you a different perspective on investors.
Listen to Gilad here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2c0ZFeydcS39gUGNSObT7s
Episode 8 (Roy Galitz) – Bootstrapping and failing
The guest in this episode is Roy Galitz, the manager and founder of the largest photography school in Israel and of the leading travel company in the world "Photo Teva", the entrepreneur of "Gear Eye", the entrepreneur of the school for lecturers "TalkMaster", one of the world's most renowned and decorated photographers, and was recently chosen for the "The Markers' 40 under 40" list. Roy talks about the process of bootstraping and how it is done, about the decision-making process that he has improved and brought to a crazy level (and has also caused him to eliminate some of his favorite projects). Roy also talks about how he recruits people, what the only thing is that he is looking for in the people he recruits, why he doesn't care about what they did before, and what he does when he realizes that the job he gave them does not suit them. Roy also shared why he has never formed a business plan and what plan he forms when he gets a "No".
Listen to Roy here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2MRTIk2BxW7BCaYI5BtcQC
Episode 9 (Nimrod Vromen) – Founders, Finders and all that's in Between
This episode hosts Nimrod Vromen, the founder of Ytech Runway, and an experienced hi-tech attorney from Yigal Arnon & Co., one of Israel's leading law firms, specifically in the business field. Nimrod was an entrepreneur himself and has been accompanying and counseling well-established startup companies, investors, and acquirers for over 10 years, and just recently was a part of the team that represented Intel in the acquisition of Mobileye. Nimrod speaks about structuring a team, distribution of percentages, reverse vesting, how to cover yourselves for future cases that catch almost 50% of the entrepreneurs unprepared, finders agreements, the tip he received from the founder of Cisco, and why an attorney is like a paramedic for startups. A constructive conversation with an attorney that you'll probably want to hear more than once.
Listen to Nimrod here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ONvy00yMYNMp21ZXXx48e
To read more about what Nimrod has to say regarding finders agreements click here:
https://founderrunway.com/pro/1001
Episode 10 (Gal Bar-Dea) – Prototyping - from Products to People
Gal Bar-Dea is the VP Product of "Pepper Pay" and has a slightly odd hobby - he likes to create products that people want to hate in the first place. In his past, Gal founded "BINK", the first internet bank, and today he is revolutionizing the digital banking world. Gal talks about how to make your audience love the product and why he chose a completely different KPI from the other recognized indices in the digital banking world. He also talks about the change he made after receiving countless "No's" that caused him to receive an instant "Yes", and about heavy and old-fashioned industries that need innovation and refreshment and how to do it. In the second part, he talks about recruitment and its complexity, identifying "Smart-Creative" people, why he doesn't care if a candidate worked in Google or Facebook, why he tends to recruit the "Under-Qualified" and how he keeps them from leaving even after 5 years. A conversation with a product manager who thinks in totally different way.
Listen to Gal here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3UXOnpvLFlpZ1sZVQUh4UZ
Episode 11 (Yahav Levy) – Your Customer that You Didn't Know About
This episode's guest is Yahav Levy, the founder and manager of "Fresh Blue", a consulting firm in the field of client research, head of Shenkar's accelerator and a lecturer at Tel Aviv University. In the past, Yahav managed the customer research department of "888" for a decade during its significant growth years. It can be said that he is a social psychologist by profession who has found himself on the technological side of the human-computer relationship. In the podcast, Yahav talks about clients, motivations and manipulations, about when to go on a "Client Safari" and how to do it right, and what is the journey the client undergoes. He also talks about prejudice and the definition of real responsibility, and how it feels to ask the question "Why?" 4 times, why an entrepreneur must understand the user empathy map and how it helps him to create a whole new perspective on the customer and especially to "Cross the Chasm". Yahav also tells about that time that quick market research he did caused a change in a product that resulted in a 62% increase in the "Conversion Rate". This is actually a podcast with a psychologist who wants to help you research your clients, so if you have customers, this episode is for you.
Listen to Yahav here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/08YxkvqrfM6otzDgOWQ8L9
Episode 12 (Boaz Omanti) – Pricing as a Feature
Boaz Omanti is the CEO and founder of "Reps AI", a "product" person and a serial entrepreneur. After leaving Liveperson he founded his first venture and was even chosen for the "100 people to be followed by" list of Venture Beat magazine for 2016, and was chosen for the "10 startups in the Chat-Bot field" list of Gizmodo. Despite all of this, he found himself closing his startup in a little less than a year, and after doing some thinking and understanding a few things Boaz met Shahar, his current partner, and they both founded Reps AI, which has customers such as Rackspace, Monday.com, EasyJet, Fiverr and others, but there were other companies like Uniliver and Vodafone, to whom he said no, exactly because of what he had learned. Boaz realized that instead of measuring success according to what customers say, he had to measure success by profits and that he must achieve monthly sales of over 10K to get to the next level. Boaz discusses why good pricing requires as much effort as a good product, how to determine pricing and how to do conduct an "A/B Test" on it. Boaz talks about how it all started, the realization he had at a DLD Innovation conference, why a product manager should set a KPI with the programmers, and a robot that makes pancakes, really. Boaz emphasizes profits and correct pricing, talks about the "Unit of Economics" and the equation that kills most startups which is related to the life expectancy of a startup and a deal with a corporation. A real conversation about how to measure your startup.
Listen to Boaz here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ks694kl7jIF3w9M3GFPiC
Episode 13 (Osnat Livnat) – Brainstorming and Braindumping
The guest in this episode is Osnat Livnat, one of the first employees at Whiteboard, who advises companies like Amdocs, Nice, Medtronic and others in the field of "Design Thinking". Osnat is one of the senior consultants in Whiteboard and led a number of classes in the field of design strategy which has led to significant changes in the companies which she advised, so you can say that companies turn to her when they run out of ideas and need a boost of innovation. Osnat speaks about the importance of a brainstorming process, why this process is usually not done correctly, why it can save companies whether they are large or small startups and how to do it right. Osnat explains how to get into the customers' shoes and understand their point of view, how Waze understood the customer and surpassed iGO, and why Kodak could not understand the customer even though they made the first digital camera in the world. She talks about how to differentiate your company from its competitors, about customer research that is based on interviews, observations and the construction of personas based on needs, motivations and barriers. Osnat also talks about how to conduct a correct and unbiased brainstorming session that will surely bring new ideas based on qualitative information, and why the brainstorming process based on an Excel file and some people sitting in a conference room is a waste of time. She also talks about what to do when the ideas run out, how to empty the mind, why you should finish a brainstorming session on a prototype and how it all relates to a shower at the end of the day. If you need new ideas, you're going to be closer after you hear this conversation.
Listen to Osant here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/13qS3KrAFngwpibTs8msBL
Episode 14 (Maayan Freund) – Your Brand - All Over Again
Maayan Freund is the CEO and entrepreneur of "Awesome TLV", a design, branding and strategy house with over 7 years of experience in diverse industries, ranging from retail through technology to security, with projects in companies such as CelloPark, Pepper, Carbyne, Moburst, GETT, etc. He talks about branding and its strong connection with user experience, the voice and the tone of the narrator, and about creating a brand and its connection to the relevant clientele, why it is important to build a story and distill it so that the customer understands it quickly and easily. He explains about the difference between marketing language and business language, how to look at your competitors and how to determine the values of the brand. Maayan gets down to the smallest things that were done by CelloPark, Pepper and Israir, which completely changed customer experience and dramatically increased the percentage of subscribers and orders. He also takes Lemonade, the new insurance company that amazed the insurance market and talks about what it did in its branding and in the experience that caused it to break the forecasts by 700%.
Listen to Maayan here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1TsxQs5W6y7QqZgYcXIFHD
Episode 15 (Noa Ganot) – Road Map and the Great Unknown
The guest in this episode is Noa Ganot, a veteran product manager with over 10 years' experience in which she established the product group in eBay Israel and in Twiggle, In addition, she teaches product management and advises in the field to a variety of companies. Noa talks about David's riddle against Goliath or, if you will, how a small startup can succeed against a giant corporation. And where is the Achilles heel of the corporate? Hint - it's about your intuition. Later she talks about "product market fit" and why such a process is essential to a venture at its outset. Noa also gives an example from Twiggle, why they decided to develop an API even though they had an excellent technology that stands on its own as a search engine. She also talks about the importance of building a roadmap, even if you are working in agile [?] or in a startup that does not have time to deal with the future and do not know what will happen tomorrow morning, and also about one client who promised Noa that he was going to break her product, why he did it and what her reaction was. This is a conversation that might make you change your product.
Listen to Noa here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0kWiiWRYzkjt90VlWlidHa
Episode 16 (Uri Gabbay) – The First Thing You Should Know if You Live in Israel
Uri Gabbay is the VP Strategy at the Innovation Authority, which invested more than NIS 1.5 billion in various projects in Israel last year. Uri talks about the transformation that the Innovation Authority has undergone and why it is no longer right to call them "The Chief Scientist", he continues to explain the different options available with the Innovation Authority, and what suits each one, and why it is recommended for entrepreneurs, at any stage, even if you started developing something in your garage or you want to enter the Indian market with a well-established company, to contact the Innovation Authority. Uri explains the main thing that one needs to know about investments from the Innovation Authority and what is behind it, and how they solved the cat-and-mouse problem with ventures looking for investors to invest together with the Innovation Authority. Uri talks about why he will not invest in the next Whatsapp, and why he does not care how well you present the elevator pitch. This is an episode that will clarify what you think the Innovation Authority wants and can do to help you.
Listen to Uri here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3PQisBb4t0MFSZ12qfrIXZ
Episode 17 (Iris Shoor) - Productivity - How to Really Do It
This episode's guest is Iris Shoor, an experienced entrepreneur and today the CEO and founder of "Oribi", a startup in the field of analytics. Iris gives some tips that are on the spectrum of productivity, from how to give meaning to the smallest things you do, through the importance of processes, to the advantages of data-based decision making. She talks about finding meaning in every little task that you do, why it's important and how it leaves you at the end of the day with a sense of learning and, more importantly, prevents the feeling of a wasted day. Iris explains about processes in a small startup, how she got from a point in which she really didn't want to hear about organized processes which could be replaced by a practical coffee conversation, to a point in which she appreciates processes and pushes towards them even in teams of 3 people. She also discusses the data-driven approach they adopted that helps them make quick decisions and saves them a lot of time wondering and checking ideas. This is an episode about productivity from all aspects.
Listen to Iris here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/42FGJFCWMDCQRCRMFevHpe
Episode 18 (Yair Shoham) - The Basics in Meeting a Major VC
This Episode's guest is Yair Shoham, the Manager of Intel's investment fund and a former partner in Genesis investment fund. In recent years, Yair has encountered countless startups in all stages - from the seed stage to advanced recruitment stages. He talks about his recent investments in Replay and Orcam, and about the difference between a VC of a corporation and a private VC. Yair describes the first things he examines in a venture before diving into the business model, and what is the first question he asks entrepreneurs he meets. Why he thinks that entrepreneurs should aim high and set a vision for themselves that they want to realize, why he makes sure they are "All-in" with the venture and whether they meet the 3 basic criteria that an investor is looking for. A Conversation about what the investor thinks when he meets you.
This page is YTech's attempt at making The Tipping Point, a podcast for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs, aiming at helping entrepreneurs and innovators overcome obstacles that get in their way by sharing their knowledge with one another – available to you! We, here at YTech Runway, identify with The Tipping Point's vision and hope you will enjoy its content.
One caveat: while YTech Runway's content is predominantly provided in English, The Tipping Point is a Hebrew podcast.
Episode 1 (Asaf Shweki) - MVP, Automation and Why Ask Why
Asaf Shweki served in the elite military technology unit "Mamram", after which he established, with several of his unit-mates, a company called "For-Each" and was among the first to develop mobile applications, until his company was acquired by AutoDesk. In this episode Asaf shares some invaluable tips on "MVP" (Minimum Viable Product), automation and his thoughts on the simple question "why"?
Listen to Asaf here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6AxWdcnh0gC3m6VcxQdST5
Episode 2 (Eliezer Shkedi) - Leadership, Belief and How to Really Listen
This episode's guest is Eliezer Shkedi, the former Israeli Air Force Commander and former CEO of EL-AL, Israel's national airline. Today he serves in different board roles in several startup companies with a social character, or an extraordinary business purpose. As someone who has been in many managerial positions and is now serving on the board of some of the most interesting startups in the industry, Shkedi did not choose to give tips on issues such as working with the board and how to manage people on the practical level, rather his tips were much more substantial in the sense that he talked about the soft issues in the leading of people, how to differentiate between an excellent organization and an ordinary one, the belief in the team, how to criticize, and that one thing managers are always mistaken about: how to listen to your team, a topic on which he conveys a very powerful message.
Listen to Shkedi here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5fN6BigZvBKkyFsDzFh3Oa
For more insight from Noa Matz on the human factor in a startup's success, click here:
https://founderrunway.com/pro/1002
Episode 3 (Leah Goldberger) – Managing and Researching Your Product
Leah Goldberger is one of the leading figures in the local community in the field of product management. She has led some of the most interesting products we have in the market today and established the "Queens Community" that brings together hundreds of companies that share, help and support the product-world. Today she advises startups and teaches at Tel Aviv University. In the podcast, Leah shares some tips that relate mainly to research and its quality, the sin of arrogance and falling in love with the product. In the second part, she talks about an interesting methodology for the distinction of user's emotion when the user meets your product.
Listen to Leah here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/55axrhxGYMRKzxxz9iSBBH
For more insight from Ido Yablonka on product management click here:
https://founderrunway.com/pro/1000
Episode 4 (Nimrod Cohen) – How the Investor Looks at You
This episode's guest is Nimrod Cohen, the current manager of TAU Ventures, Tel Aviv University's investment fund, who worked at "Plus Ventures & Explore Venture" funds, and also sold a startup at the beginning of his career. In the podcast he talks about entrepreneurship and whether it suits everyone, what the first thing he looks for in a startup as an investor is, when is it recommended to raise funds, and what kind of homework should be done before meeting an investor. He also talks about valuation in early stages and how to identify whether a deal with an investor is good or not - you want to listen to this before you meet an investor.
Listen to Nimrod Cohen:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Xw7xZiXo2cDzq1sQCwWSL
Episode 5 (Ophir Paldi) – Organization, Culture and People
Ophir Paldi founded the company "Shamayim", a very unusual company as it tries to change the organizational learning culture of the society to which it comes. Ophir talks about the gap he sees in most companies in the area of learning, the difficulty he identifies in almost every organization he meets. He speaks about the principles for the creation of effective learning and progress in organizations and companies. Ofir shares what he has learned along the way why he thinks it's right to pivot to places that are not necessarily the trivial playground of your venture or in short "Fail Fast", and why his company's DNA will kbow how to handle the failures. To create such a culture, Ophir emphasizes the importance of people and how he sees all the workers next to him. He also talks about that moment in which they realized that although they got to the "Mass Challenge" it could be worth for them to give up, yes there are also such companies.
Listen to Ophir here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1sEtsThMTSxvjJhI7DulTw
Episode 6 (Ori Arbel) – Working with Lawyers and Partners
This episode's guest is Ori Arbel, a founding partner in a law firm that specializes in business and entrepreneurship. Among his daily activities he also hosts a radio show in which he meets entrepreneurs and hears their stories, as well as lectures in several conferences and courses in the entrepreneurship field. In the podcast, he talks about the failures and the mental state of an "Entrepreneur", about why, in his experience, the most important thing between partners is coordinating expectations, when is the best time to write a partners agreement, about small hacks that startups need to know about legal counseling fields, choosing partners, granting stock options, and one of the more important things in his opinion - communities.
Listen to Ori here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Kl5xic20tlREKaYBHK1LO
Episode 7 (Gilad Shani) – Investors - Who are They and What They are Seeking
Gilad Shani worked at the Baron Capital investment fund for a decade, during which time he was responsible for early investments in companies such as Better Place, Tesla and others. In this podcast Gilad talks about how to prepare for a meeting with an investor, what the investor needs to bring to the startup, choosing an investor according to the maturity of the startup, how to conduct a due diligence, and the ongoing work with the investor. In short, this episode will give you a different perspective on investors.
Listen to Gilad here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2c0ZFeydcS39gUGNSObT7s
Episode 8 (Roy Galitz) – Bootstrapping and failing
The guest in this episode is Roy Galitz, the manager and founder of the largest photography school in Israel and of the leading travel company in the world "Photo Teva", the entrepreneur of "Gear Eye", the entrepreneur of the school for lecturers "TalkMaster", one of the world's most renowned and decorated photographers, and was recently chosen for the "The Markers' 40 under 40" list. Roy talks about the process of bootstraping and how it is done, about the decision-making process that he has improved and brought to a crazy level (and has also caused him to eliminate some of his favorite projects). Roy also talks about how he recruits people, what the only thing is that he is looking for in the people he recruits, why he doesn't care about what they did before, and what he does when he realizes that the job he gave them does not suit them. Roy also shared why he has never formed a business plan and what plan he forms when he gets a "No".
Listen to Roy here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2MRTIk2BxW7BCaYI5BtcQC
Episode 9 (Nimrod Vromen) – Founders, Finders and all that's in Between
This episode hosts Nimrod Vromen, the founder of Ytech Runway, and an experienced hi-tech attorney from Yigal Arnon & Co., one of Israel's leading law firms, specifically in the business field. Nimrod was an entrepreneur himself and has been accompanying and counseling well-established startup companies, investors, and acquirers for over 10 years, and just recently was a part of the team that represented Intel in the acquisition of Mobileye. Nimrod speaks about structuring a team, distribution of percentages, reverse vesting, how to cover yourselves for future cases that catch almost 50% of the entrepreneurs unprepared, finders agreements, the tip he received from the founder of Cisco, and why an attorney is like a paramedic for startups. A constructive conversation with an attorney that you'll probably want to hear more than once.
Listen to Nimrod here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ONvy00yMYNMp21ZXXx48e
To read more about what Nimrod has to say regarding finders agreements click here:
https://founderrunway.com/pro/1001
Episode 10 (Gal Bar-Dea) – Prototyping - from Products to People
Gal Bar-Dea is the VP Product of "Pepper Pay" and has a slightly odd hobby - he likes to create products that people want to hate in the first place. In his past, Gal founded "BINK", the first internet bank, and today he is revolutionizing the digital banking world. Gal talks about how to make your audience love the product and why he chose a completely different KPI from the other recognized indices in the digital banking world. He also talks about the change he made after receiving countless "No's" that caused him to receive an instant "Yes", and about heavy and old-fashioned industries that need innovation and refreshment and how to do it. In the second part, he talks about recruitment and its complexity, identifying "Smart-Creative" people, why he doesn't care if a candidate worked in Google or Facebook, why he tends to recruit the "Under-Qualified" and how he keeps them from leaving even after 5 years. A conversation with a product manager who thinks in totally different way.
Listen to Gal here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3UXOnpvLFlpZ1sZVQUh4UZ
Episode 11 (Yahav Levy) – Your Customer that You Didn't Know About
This episode's guest is Yahav Levy, the founder and manager of "Fresh Blue", a consulting firm in the field of client research, head of Shenkar's accelerator and a lecturer at Tel Aviv University. In the past, Yahav managed the customer research department of "888" for a decade during its significant growth years. It can be said that he is a social psychologist by profession who has found himself on the technological side of the human-computer relationship. In the podcast, Yahav talks about clients, motivations and manipulations, about when to go on a "Client Safari" and how to do it right, and what is the journey the client undergoes. He also talks about prejudice and the definition of real responsibility, and how it feels to ask the question "Why?" 4 times, why an entrepreneur must understand the user empathy map and how it helps him to create a whole new perspective on the customer and especially to "Cross the Chasm". Yahav also tells about that time that quick market research he did caused a change in a product that resulted in a 62% increase in the "Conversion Rate". This is actually a podcast with a psychologist who wants to help you research your clients, so if you have customers, this episode is for you.
Listen to Yahav here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/08YxkvqrfM6otzDgOWQ8L9
Episode 12 (Boaz Omanti) – Pricing as a Feature
Boaz Omanti is the CEO and founder of "Reps AI", a "product" person and a serial entrepreneur. After leaving Liveperson he founded his first venture and was even chosen for the "100 people to be followed by" list of Venture Beat magazine for 2016, and was chosen for the "10 startups in the Chat-Bot field" list of Gizmodo. Despite all of this, he found himself closing his startup in a little less than a year, and after doing some thinking and understanding a few things Boaz met Shahar, his current partner, and they both founded Reps AI, which has customers such as Rackspace, Monday.com, EasyJet, Fiverr and others, but there were other companies like Uniliver and Vodafone, to whom he said no, exactly because of what he had learned. Boaz realized that instead of measuring success according to what customers say, he had to measure success by profits and that he must achieve monthly sales of over 10K to get to the next level. Boaz discusses why good pricing requires as much effort as a good product, how to determine pricing and how to do conduct an "A/B Test" on it. Boaz talks about how it all started, the realization he had at a DLD Innovation conference, why a product manager should set a KPI with the programmers, and a robot that makes pancakes, really. Boaz emphasizes profits and correct pricing, talks about the "Unit of Economics" and the equation that kills most startups which is related to the life expectancy of a startup and a deal with a corporation. A real conversation about how to measure your startup.
Listen to Boaz here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ks694kl7jIF3w9M3GFPiC
Episode 13 (Osnat Livnat) – Brainstorming and Braindumping
The guest in this episode is Osnat Livnat, one of the first employees at Whiteboard, who advises companies like Amdocs, Nice, Medtronic and others in the field of "Design Thinking". Osnat is one of the senior consultants in Whiteboard and led a number of classes in the field of design strategy which has led to significant changes in the companies which she advised, so you can say that companies turn to her when they run out of ideas and need a boost of innovation. Osnat speaks about the importance of a brainstorming process, why this process is usually not done correctly, why it can save companies whether they are large or small startups and how to do it right. Osnat explains how to get into the customers' shoes and understand their point of view, how Waze understood the customer and surpassed iGO, and why Kodak could not understand the customer even though they made the first digital camera in the world. She talks about how to differentiate your company from its competitors, about customer research that is based on interviews, observations and the construction of personas based on needs, motivations and barriers. Osnat also talks about how to conduct a correct and unbiased brainstorming session that will surely bring new ideas based on qualitative information, and why the brainstorming process based on an Excel file and some people sitting in a conference room is a waste of time. She also talks about what to do when the ideas run out, how to empty the mind, why you should finish a brainstorming session on a prototype and how it all relates to a shower at the end of the day. If you need new ideas, you're going to be closer after you hear this conversation.
Listen to Osant here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/13qS3KrAFngwpibTs8msBL
Episode 14 (Maayan Freund) – Your Brand - All Over Again
Maayan Freund is the CEO and entrepreneur of "Awesome TLV", a design, branding and strategy house with over 7 years of experience in diverse industries, ranging from retail through technology to security, with projects in companies such as CelloPark, Pepper, Carbyne, Moburst, GETT, etc. He talks about branding and its strong connection with user experience, the voice and the tone of the narrator, and about creating a brand and its connection to the relevant clientele, why it is important to build a story and distill it so that the customer understands it quickly and easily. He explains about the difference between marketing language and business language, how to look at your competitors and how to determine the values of the brand. Maayan gets down to the smallest things that were done by CelloPark, Pepper and Israir, which completely changed customer experience and dramatically increased the percentage of subscribers and orders. He also takes Lemonade, the new insurance company that amazed the insurance market and talks about what it did in its branding and in the experience that caused it to break the forecasts by 700%.
Listen to Maayan here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1TsxQs5W6y7QqZgYcXIFHD
Episode 15 (Noa Ganot) – Road Map and the Great Unknown
The guest in this episode is Noa Ganot, a veteran product manager with over 10 years' experience in which she established the product group in eBay Israel and in Twiggle, In addition, she teaches product management and advises in the field to a variety of companies. Noa talks about David's riddle against Goliath or, if you will, how a small startup can succeed against a giant corporation. And where is the Achilles heel of the corporate? Hint - it's about your intuition. Later she talks about "product market fit" and why such a process is essential to a venture at its outset. Noa also gives an example from Twiggle, why they decided to develop an API even though they had an excellent technology that stands on its own as a search engine. She also talks about the importance of building a roadmap, even if you are working in agile [?] or in a startup that does not have time to deal with the future and do not know what will happen tomorrow morning, and also about one client who promised Noa that he was going to break her product, why he did it and what her reaction was. This is a conversation that might make you change your product.
Listen to Noa here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0kWiiWRYzkjt90VlWlidHa
Episode 16 (Uri Gabbay) – The First Thing You Should Know if You Live in Israel
Uri Gabbay is the VP Strategy at the Innovation Authority, which invested more than NIS 1.5 billion in various projects in Israel last year. Uri talks about the transformation that the Innovation Authority has undergone and why it is no longer right to call them "The Chief Scientist", he continues to explain the different options available with the Innovation Authority, and what suits each one, and why it is recommended for entrepreneurs, at any stage, even if you started developing something in your garage or you want to enter the Indian market with a well-established company, to contact the Innovation Authority. Uri explains the main thing that one needs to know about investments from the Innovation Authority and what is behind it, and how they solved the cat-and-mouse problem with ventures looking for investors to invest together with the Innovation Authority. Uri talks about why he will not invest in the next Whatsapp, and why he does not care how well you present the elevator pitch. This is an episode that will clarify what you think the Innovation Authority wants and can do to help you.
Listen to Uri here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3PQisBb4t0MFSZ12qfrIXZ
Episode 17 (Iris Shoor) - Productivity - How to Really Do It
This episode's guest is Iris Shoor, an experienced entrepreneur and today the CEO and founder of "Oribi", a startup in the field of analytics. Iris gives some tips that are on the spectrum of productivity, from how to give meaning to the smallest things you do, through the importance of processes, to the advantages of data-based decision making. She talks about finding meaning in every little task that you do, why it's important and how it leaves you at the end of the day with a sense of learning and, more importantly, prevents the feeling of a wasted day. Iris explains about processes in a small startup, how she got from a point in which she really didn't want to hear about organized processes which could be replaced by a practical coffee conversation, to a point in which she appreciates processes and pushes towards them even in teams of 3 people. She also discusses the data-driven approach they adopted that helps them make quick decisions and saves them a lot of time wondering and checking ideas. This is an episode about productivity from all aspects.
Listen to Iris here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/42FGJFCWMDCQRCRMFevHpe
Episode 18 (Yair Shoham) - The Basics in Meeting a Major VC
This Episode's guest is Yair Shoham, the Manager of Intel's investment fund and a former partner in Genesis investment fund. In recent years, Yair has encountered countless startups in all stages - from the seed stage to advanced recruitment stages. He talks about his recent investments in Replay and Orcam, and about the difference between a VC of a corporation and a private VC. Yair describes the first things he examines in a venture before diving into the business model, and what is the first question he asks entrepreneurs he meets. Why he thinks that entrepreneurs should aim high and set a vision for themselves that they want to realize, why he makes sure they are "All-in" with the venture and whether they meet the 3 basic criteria that an investor is looking for. A Conversation about what the investor thinks when he meets you.
