I spoke with Matias about:

- How he learned about CrossFit and how it led him to invent a special kind of jump rope that is designed to help you get more from your work out.

- How he manufactured and delivered this jump rope which he first sold via his Facebook page and then expanded to the local CrossFit community (groups and gyms).

- When he decided to leave his full time job as an acoustics engineer and pursue building this fitness brand full time

- What led him to stop manufacturing by himself and delegating that to a manufacturer in Asia?

- What other types of products they currently sell at Velites? and what sets them apart from the competition?

- What is their main go-to-market strategy and what other types of sports they are expanding to beyond CrossFit?

- What are his biggest challenges right now and what is his biggest tip for any entrepreneur looking to start a new physical goods brand ?

I had a blast.

שוחחתי עם אלון על:

- המותג שהקים ומכר אונליין לאחר השירות הצבאי הארוך בחיל הים ואיך מכר אותו לסיטונאי אחרי שנתיים ואיך זה לימד אותו על ההזדמנויות ליעול התקשורת המסחרית בין סיטונאים לקמעונאים בארה״ב

- המוצר הראשוני שהם הקימו כדי לעזור לקמעונאים לחזות אילו מוצרים כדאי להם להזמין מסיטונאים, איך הם גילו שזו לא היתה בכלל הבעיה שלהם, ואיך הם גילו מה הם כן רוצים?

- המוצר החדש שהם בנו שעוזר לקמעונאים למצוא את הסיטונאי הנכון בשבילם ואת המוצר שהכי מתאים להם לרכוש מהם, והכל בעזרת בינה מלאכותית שמקצרת את התהליך שהיה לוקח פעם חודשים לדקות בודדות

- איך הם משיגים לקוחות היום ומה המודל העסקי שהם כרגע מנסים?

- מהם האתגרים הכי גדולים שלהם היום? ואיך הם חושבים על להתגבר עליהם?

- ואיך הוא שכלל גישה מעניינת לגייס כסף מאנג׳לים מסיליקון ואלי דרך פניות קרות לחלוטין?

היה סופר מעניין. האזנה נעימה!

I spoke with Eli about:

- His early years as a CX & Retention manager in eCom companies such as OLIPOP and John's Road Beauty and what he learned there about himself, what he likes to do and what he's good at.

- The existential crisis and conversations with the CEO of Yotpo that got him working there and why his job description changes completely about twice per quarter

- What it exactly means being a generalist and how do you use that to your advantage in large organizations?

- What exactly does he do at Yotpo? What are his most & least favorite parts of the job and why his high EQ has a large part in his success getting people to like the brand again?

- What are his biggest challenges right now and what he thinks people should do if they want an autonomous position like his?

I think people will agree with me when I say this - Eli is the man.

I spoke with Oren about:

- His first years in sales which. led to him founding his first company, Mashery, which created the infrastructure for using and managing APIs in large enterprises (which was later sold to Intel)

- The years advising and investing in startups, including producing award winning Broadway shows, and why he chose to found a new startup after all these years?

- The story around Barndoor AI, how they got the idea, why in many ways it was similar to his first company, and what exact problem they are solving for large enterprises that want AI agents but just don't have the right infrastructure to safely manage and deploy them within the organization.

- How AI Agents work? How do you tell them apart from humans? and how do you create guardrails for both humans and agents working together effectively to create work that could have never been done before?

- What types of customers they are currently targeting and how do they reach their attention?

- What are their biggest challenge right now?

- How building a company and being a Broadway producer are very similar?

- And what are his tips for founders looking to build companies in this space?

Oren is an OG, and I learned a lot from him.

I spoke with Brad about:

- His early years as one of the largest toy distributers in Canada.

- His decision to become a toy manufacturer himself, how being a toy distributer gave them an unfair advantage over the competition, and how they used licensing to use brands kids already know (e.g. Spiderman) on their toys and sell more toys.

- How they merged this company with another large toy manufacturer from the US which eventually led to him being fired from the new company and why this was one of the best things that ever happened to him?

- The founding stories behind Pela & Lomi, why these brands align more with his values today and what he does as active Chairman?

- The 'Full Spectrum' program he is running for entrepreneurs with the intention to create wealth in more areas of life other than financially

- His book 'Startup Santa', why he wrote it, and what impact it created in his life?

Brad is one of the good ones, I really enjoyed our conversation.

I spoke with Jake about:

- His first attempts at entrepreneurship, why they failed, and what he learned about himself in the process

- The story of how he joined his sister and her husband to found Mid-Day Squares, a brand that sells a functional chocolate bar as an afternoon snack, and what he was entrusted to do in the first few months to grow the brand as a CMO?

- How he learned that he is not an 'operator' and more of a 'Rainmaker', someone who is great at building long term relationships with people, and do storytelling in various channels (social media, live events etc).

- What exactly this type of role entails? and why he spends a lot of his waking time flying all over the country and working hard on building authentic relationships with lots of people (that he might do business with someday, but not immediately).

- How he keeps his energy levels up? ("I'm fired up!") and what does he do on off-days?

- What does he think about competition and how he treats everything (even failures) as an opportunity to learn and tell a good story?

- And what are his biggest challenges today and what he is working on to improve himself?

I rarely relate to a person like I did with Jake, and I wish more people would have his awesome philosophy.

I spoke with Cherene about:

- Her early years in the industry on the Agency side, doing marketing.

- Her transition to the Brand side, working at Bobbie to grow the infant formula, while dealing with major supply shortages.

- Her decision to move on to ILIA Beauty and grow them to a 9 figure business, and exactly what she does every day to make that happen

- What types of marketing strategies and tactics work best today and which do not anymore?

- How she works with other teams at the company to make sure they are aligned and in sync?

- What is her biggest challenge right now?

- And what is still on her bucket list professionally?

I really enjoyed our conversation. Cherene is an absolute gem.

שוחחתי עם ליעד על:

- השנים שלו בתור מתכנת מובייל ו- ML ועל המחקר שעשה בתואר בטריניטי קולג׳ בדבלין, ואיך הרקע הזה הוביל אותו להקים חברה עם הפרופסור שלו לתואר?

- סיפור ההקמה של Milestone, ואיזו בעיה הם ניסו לפתור בהתחלה?

- איך הם גייסו סיד ממש מכובד בתקופת השפל של התעשייה?

- הפיבוט הגורלי שהם עשו לניתוח שימוש בכלי GenAI בארגונים גדולים ע״י מתכנתים, איך המוצר שלהם בדיוק עובד, ואיזה אימפקט הם ראו שזה עושה עבור הארגונים האלה?

- לאן המוצר שלהם הולך להתפתח, מה האתגרים הכי גדולים בעולמות האלה? ולמה הוא הרבה יותר מורכב ממה שהוא נראה?

רציתי לשאול את ליעד עוד הרבה יותר שאלות אבל היו לנו כמה תקלות טכניות, אז פעם הבאה :)

Will and I talked about:

- His first few years doing sales and marketing at a SaaS company and his brave decision to go part time and work on something new on his own.

- Why he chose to create & sell foods that focus on wellness and brain health and how he tinkered in his kitchen to create his first protein bar?

- When did he expand to additional product lines like instant coffee and hydration mixes? And why?

- Why he puts so much emphasis on experimentation and customer support and why bigger companies can't compete with him on those fronts?

- What was his go-to-market strategy and when did he start selling on Amazon and large retail brands? (i.e. multi channel approach)

- What were his biggest challenges throughout his almost 8 year journey (hint - it wasn't lack of demand), and what he focuses his energy mostly today?

If you're into CPG or building a brand in the space, this is a must listen for you.

שוחחתי עם דור על:

- השנים הראשונות שלו בתור איש מכירות בסייבר ועל החברות הראשונות שהקים שהובילו בסופו של דבר להבנת הבעיה שעליה הוקמה חברת Samplead

- שוחחנו על האתגר המרכזי במכירות Outbound עבור ארגונים, שהוא למצוא את האנשים הנכונים, את המסרים הכי נכונים עבורם ואת המדיום הכי יעיל כדי להשיג את תשומת ליבם

- הפיצוח שלהם בעולם הזה - לעשות מחקר על הלקוח הפוטנציאלי ולמצוא את הטריגר הנכון עבורו (״שמעתי אותך מדבר בפודקאסט של אור ומאוד התחברתי״) ולפנות אליו בסביבה שהוא כבר מבלה בה (למשל רדיט).

- איך הם נמנעים מלגרום נזק בעולמות האלה? (נותנים ללקוח שלהם את האישור הסופי לפני שליחת ההודעה)

- מה משקיעים חשבו עליהם בתחילת הדרך ולמה הם תמיד שיחקו בשוק קשה?

-איך ה7 לאוקטובר כמעט הרג אותם בתור חברה ואיך הם יצאו אפילו חזקים יותר מהצד השני?

- ומה האתגרים הכי גדולים עבורם כרגע?

היה סופר מעניין ורלוונטי עבורי.