Real Life Superpowers

In this episode, we speak with Liron Azrielant, a Founding Managing Partner at Meron Capital - a VC at the forefront of investing in technology companies in Israel.

Her track record speaks volumes as she's led investments in tech successes such as Loom Systems, Clear Genetics, Testim, and many others which were subsequently acquired.

Prior to Founding Meron, she was a Principal at Blumberg Capital, where she led early-stage deals that also turned into successful exits.

Before her venture capital career, she honed her skills as a Strategy and M&A consultant at top-tier firms like Bain & Co. and PwC's PE group in New York. She’s also a fellow of the Kauffman Fellowship, a highly sought-after two-year program for leading venture capitalists.

Her list of accolades is long.

We discuss:

• Entrepreneurship and mental preparation during turbulent times

• Resilience, and investment strategies in challenging times

• Motivation, and Career Paths

• Focusing on solving a specific problem, rather than pursuing fame or money

• Developing a business partnership language to argue passionately but constructively

• Building skills through practice and repetition

• And much more

Enjoy your listen!

In this episode, we speak with Asaf Yanai, a visionary entrepreneur and the Co-founder & CEO of Alison.ai.

With a track record of turning ideas into reality, Asaf has left a lasting mark on the tech landscape, with Alison.ai being the third company Asaf founded after successfully selling two tech startups he’s built in previous years.

We discuss:

• Managing a startup during a crisis

• Analyzing video content for fake news and intelligence

• Growing up as the son of two entrepreneurs and co-founders

• Entrepreneurship, family, and motivation

• Learning from mistakes, and starting a business

• Self-management, and post-mortem analysis

• Personal growth

• And much more!

Enjoy your listen

In this special wartime episode, we speak with Asaf Shamly, a visionary entrepreneur and thought leader in the AdTech space, who co-founded Browsi, an AdTech AI startup back in 2017, with a mission to create a world where content and ads blend harmoniously.

He’s been at the forefront of innovation in the AdTech industry for over 8 years and has a wealth of experience which he’s gained from involvement in three startups.

He also takes a lead role in the open-source community, championing transparency.

And here's the kicker – despite all his achievements, he’s just 30 years old.

We discuss:

• Being an entrepreneur during a war

• Entrepreneurship struggles and emotional toll

• The difference between selling to investors vs. clients

• Emotional intelligence, EQ, and managing a team

• The lonely road of entrepreneurship

• Dealing with failure and learning from mistakes

Have a good listen

In this special episode, we’re pleased to have Andy Ram as our guest.

Andy made history by becoming the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam event. He achieved this feat at Wimbledon in 2006.

His winning streak includes the French Open mixed doubles title and the men's doubles title at the Australian Open.

He achieved a World No. 5 doubles ranking in July 2008.

Throughout his career, he represented Israel at multiple Summer Olympics, and competed in 36 doubles finals, triumphing in 20 of them, often partnering with Jonathan Erlich, together known in Israel as "AndiYoni."

Andy's success on the court is just the beginning of his incredible story.

As a former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier, Andy used his platform as a tennis player to raise awareness and support for the IDF soldiers and their families.

He's also dedicated himself to promoting peace and coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians through tennis.

In these turbulent days, we discuss:

• Resilience and hope in Israel amidst conflict

• Overcoming obstacles to becoming a top tennis player despite not being a super talent (Andy’s words not ours!) or coming from a wealthy background.

• Resilience and failure in sports and life

• The importance of leaning on people for support during tough times

• Finding solutions to problems through conversations and maintaining a positive outlook.

• Positive thinking and energy management

• Passion, discipline, and belief in achieving success

• Overcoming challenges

• And much more

Enjoy your listen!

In this episode, we have the pleasure of interviewing Pamela Becker, a marketing executive for some of Israel's leading technology companies.

After she was widowed with three small children in 2008, Pamela co-founded and remains the active chairperson of the Israeli charity Jeremy's Circle, which supports children and teens coping with cancer or cancer loss in their young families.

We discuss:

• Coping with losing a husband to cancer, with 3 children at home, in need of community support

• Needing to be strong for everyone else, and the need to keep going no matter what

• The power of healing through helping others: “The way to lift yourself up is to bring someone else up with you”

• Mission-driven and powerful companies

• The importance of being allowed to screw up

• Preparation and proportions as key factors of success

We hope you enjoy this profound episode!

In this episode, we're traveling to the crossroads of cybersecurity and blockchain technology, where our guest has been a prominent figure and an influential force.

Our guest is Idan Ofrat, CPO and co-founder of Fireblocks, a groundbreaking platform dedicated to securing digital assets, with over 600 employees and a large global customer base.

When it comes to defending the cyber frontiers, Idan's track record speaks for itself. Prior to Fireblocks, Idan was a key player at C4 Security, which was acquired by Elbit Systems.

His expertise isn't confined to the realm of cybersecurity alone. He's also an expert in decentralized technologies. He was the co-founder and CTO at Yeloha, a disruptive platform aiming to decentralize energy trading, and VP of Product at Orbs, a public blockchain designed for high-scale apps.

In our conversation, we discuss:

- Balancing parenthood and entrepreneurship

- How to decide whether or not to become an entrepreneur

- The importance of market validation

- Breaking up with Co-founders

- The inherent challenges that arise once you raise money

- Shutting down a startup

- Bootstrapping vs raising money

- The valley of death

- Conducting difficult conversations

We hope you enjoy your listen

In this episode, we speak with Yair Snir, he’s the managing partner of Dell Technologies Capital.

With over a decade of experience in building companies, Yair has a keen eye for investing in innovative startups.

His firm has backed over 145 startups, including some of the most successful companies in the tech industry such as DocuSign, JFrog, Netskope, Redis, and Zscaler.

Prior to his role at Dell Technologies Capital, Yair held corporate leadership roles at ECI Telecom and Microsoft, where he gained valuable experience in managing teams and developing successful strategies.

He's also founded and worked in various biotech companies, showcasing his versatility as a business leader.

We discuss:

• As a mindset, diving into deep waters and learning to swim

• Along Yair’s career so far, what led him to choose his next steps

• How navigating your career can be like riding a bicycle - keeping your balance and looking forward “If you look downwards at the wheel, you're most likely to fall“

• Overcoming naysayers (who will always be there)

• The investment approval process in Dell Technologies Capital

• What Yair looks for in a team

• The revolution that is AI, and where data plays in

• ..and more!

Enjoy your listen!

And if you want to contact Yair his email is: [email protected], his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yairsnir

Welcome to our podcast, where we interview trailblazers who have made a significant impact by being human beings performing at their best.

Today, we're excited to have Gur Shatz as our guest.

Gur is an accomplished entrepreneur, having founded Incapsula, a cloud-based web application security and acceleration company that was later acquired by Imperva.

In 2015, he co-founded Cato Networks with Shlomo Kramer, a leading all-in-one enterprise networking and security solution delivered from the cloud.

Gur and Shlomo's vision for Cato Networks has been a resounding success. In just five years, they have raised an impressive $532M at a $2.5B valuation, and as of 2022, have surpassed $100M ARR. This makes Cato the fastest-growing networking and security startup, outperforming even industry giants like LinkedIn. In fact, Cato's growth rate is faster than many consumer-oriented brands, such as Wix, Zapier, Canva, and Shopify.

We discuss:

• How Cato Networks came to be and how experience in a field plays an advantage

• How the team went about acquiring market acceptance

• Selling to customers before you have a solution that’s 100% functional

• The need to convey confidence while experiencing constant paranoia and concern

• How past success can also be an impediment to future success

• The fear of growing into a large non-agile organization

• What happens when leaders lose touch with what’s actually going on in “the trenches”

• Gur’s leadership formula for time management

• The importance of blocking time eternal learning

• And much more!

We hope you enjoy your listen!

In this episode we speak with Jason Feifer, the Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur magazine, host of two popular podcasts, and the author of "Build for Tomorrow: How to Thrive in Today's Challenging World of Work".

With over a decade of experience in the media industry, Jason has become a thought leader in entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership.

He’s interviewed countless successful entrepreneurs and innovators, gaining invaluable insights into the mindsets and strategies that have enabled them to achieve their goals.

We discuss:

• The path to mastery, and what it has to do with “gripping the wheel”

• Using what Jason calls “the ZigZag payoff” to break the glass ceiling many of us create by limiting ourselves to a specific skill set. In a nutshell, it’s about tapping into the core interest that drove you to develop the skills that enable you to do what you’re currently doing (and are maybe feeling trapped in)

• The power in asking yourself “What do I have? What do I need? What's available?”

• Evaluating the cost of action vs. the cost of inaction

• Framing new things we do as experiments rather than long-term commitments

• What people afraid to lose their job/venture in an era of generative AI can do

• And much more!

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned professional, or simply interested in becoming the best version of yourself - this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Useful resources:

• Jason’s newsletter https://jasons-newsletter-e2c0e6.beehiiv.com/subscribe

• His book Build for Tomorrow: How to Thrive in Today's Challenging World of Work http://jasonfeifer.com/book

• His podcasts Help Wanted https://link.chtbl.com/LsYdERXQ

• and Build for Tomorrow https://www.jasonfeifer.com/build-for-tomorrow/

Welcome to another episode of the Real Life Superpowers podcast.

Today, we have a guest who is a true pioneer in the world of AI and intelligence platforms. He’s currently the CEO of Aiola, a company on a mission to connect the promise of AI to the masses.

With his extensive experience in commercial strategy and execution, our guest has driven over $1 billion in impact, for some of the world's leading Fortune 500 companies, across more than 20 industries.

He’s held key positions at cybersecurity and digital marketing companies that have been involved in several notable acquisitions by giants such as Microsoft and Facebook.

We discuss:

• The moment in Amir’s life, after which everything was different, and he realized how fragile life is, and decided to make the most of his short time on earth.

• The danger of becoming too comfortable.

• The power of partnerships.

• Predicting vs. reacting - what dots are you failing to connect?

• The impact and potential of storytelling in business and in everyday life.

• The threat that AI poses, if not handled ethically and responsibly.

• ..and much more!

Enjoy your listen!