Having a laser eye on a single goal can ensure you more chances of success. But what if conquering many things in a lifetime is your definition of fulfillment? In today’s episode, startup legend Dr. Giora Yaron tells us about the many things that he’s willingly taken on in his search for enjoyment and, ultimately, contentment.

“I’m gonna work my way into the grave.” - Dr. Giora Yaron

Three Things We Learned

Personal fulfillment is never about the money

If you take a peek into Dr. Yaron’s entrepreneurial career, you’ll find out pretty quickly that it’s all about taking several leaps of faith. On top of founding several businesses, he is involved in boards and university, among other things. After a while, doing what you do solely for the money can get redundant and boring, and contentment can always be derived from other things that you’re genuinely interested in.

Success in life isn’t all about perfection, it's about balance

Dr. Yaron currently considers his life to be very balanced, unlike when he was working only on his entrepreneurship. His bucket is divided into three sections. They add to his inner stability, a true upgrade from his once perfection-driven approach to success.

Business is a war

There’s no literal bloodshed in business, but in many ways, it’s similar to a war. You fight tooth and nail to keep a bank account running, to anticipate the unknown, and to sally into battle with the sensibilities of a leader. And in order to win both, one must come up with a strategy that can adapt to any situation that arises.

Life is so short that limiting oneself to a single aspiration is too much of a waste. Success is self-determined, and even if starting projects and getting into lots of things is what you become known for, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, it’s your life you’re living.

Bio

Dr. Giora Yaron serves as Chairman of Tel Aviv University (Executive Council), and on the board of Amdocs (DOX). Dr. Yaron serves on the advisory board of the Ministry of Defense.

Dr. Yaron is an active Founding Investor and Founder of a group of high-tech and med-tech companies; P-cube, (acquired by Cisco), PentaCom (acquired by Cisco), Qumranet (acquired by Redhat), Comsys (acquired by Conexant, Texas Instruments), Exanet (acquired by Dell) Hyperwise Security (acquired by Checkpoint) Qwilt, Itamar Medical, Excelero, Equalum, Aqua Security and vEye Security. Dr. Yaron has been serving as board member and/or Chairman of the Boards of these companies since their inception. Dr. Yaron served as Chairman of the Board of Mercury Interactive (acquired by HP).

From 1992-1995 Dr. Yaron has served as President of Indigo NV, leading the company to a NASDAQ IPO. Prior to joining Indigo served as corporate Vice President of National Semiconductor and was the Founder of the National Wafer Fab in Israel (today Tower-Jazz Semiconductors).

In 2008 Dr. Yaron presented at the Computer History Museum* the revolutionary microprocessor development work he leads with his team at NCS which provides the foundation for the microprocessors as we know them today.

In 2009 Dr. Yaron was granted Honorary Fellowships by The Hebrew University. Dr. Yaron holds a Ph.D. in Device Physics from the Hebrew University has published numerous scientific papers and holds numerous patents.