The Human Founder - Global

Hasan Abasi, Co-Founder and CEO of HAAT

“I felt like I had no control, not knowing what’s going on in my life, but I kept fighting, and no one felt anything - in fact, the company doubled itself.” 

He felt great responsibility to succeed for his family at home, and for his family of employees in HAAT - his community. 

Part of the capacity of responsibility that you choose to take on yourself when you become a founder is exactly this; accepting that even in the most stressful, difficult, and challenging moments, you will still be there, because you see it’s serving something bigger than yourself.

“Generally speaking, the journey is super difficult. We usually see the success, but we don’t see the suffering and patience behind it. Physically, I’m really tired, but mentally, I’m super excited. It’s the happiest and the hardest time in my life at the same time.”

Diving into everything in episode 102 of The Human Founder podcast, with Hasan Abasi, CEO at HAAT Delivery.

Eyal Gura, Entrepreneur & Venture Investor (Taboola , Appsflyer , Formlabs Medisafe, PayZen , Imagene , Theator , Taranis , Talon and more)

Our childhoods had immense power in shaping the adults we are. The events that occurred to us early in life taught us what to expect from life in the future; they created our whole perspective. 

Eyal shared about the insights he now has on the effects of his childhood: “Being the first son of a family when both your father leaves the house and you lose one of your role models in a sense, and in addition, losing our brother to cancer in those exact ages, which now I know are considered the time of personality development, were pretty traumatic. And so, in the future, I had to create a certain personality to deal with uncertainty in life.”

 

Stress is definitely very prevalent this year, both for us as people and as a part of the ecosystem as a whole. Many investors and founders who were used to success in the past few years are now experiencing a first crisis in their “algorithms”. For the first time, everything they knew and were sure about isn’t enough - new data is coming, and it’s very different from what they expected and were prepared for. It’s difficult to contain it all - for all of us. 

With all of that in mind, Eyal emphasized - “If we want to maximize the chances of a certain company being successful and have the founders and their team maintain a sense of sanity and wellbeing (especially in this time), we need to put a lot of emphasis on addressing our personalities, communication, and awareness expansion…”

 

Diving into everything in episode 99 of The Human Founder podcast, With Eyal Gura, Entrepreneur & Venture Investor. 

Eliav Alaluf, Marketing Expert and Author

The power of authentic storytelling for founders.

 

“I do appreciate what I have achieved so far, but I think that my best projects are ahead of me. I believe in continuous learning - the more you know, the more you can give. And I think meaning doesn’t come from what you have or receive but from what you give to others. You are not the story - you’re the storyteller. It’s not about you, people only care about what you can give them - an idea, a way to think about things, a methodology, a message, or a powerful principle - if you give me that, that’s what’s interesting.”

 

Diving into the fascinating world of branding and storytelling in The Human Founder podcast episode 96 with Eliav Alaluf, Marketing Expert and Author.

Natalie Refuah, General Partner at Viola Growth

In honor of International Women's Day, I'm excited and happy to share with you a special episode with Natalie Refuah, who shared in our intimate conversation about the insights she gathered during two decades of her career in the worlds of investments and entrepreneurship. Hearing and learning from her sensitive and wise take on the ecosystem has definitely made this day special and inspiring for me, and I hope it can do the same for you. 

 

“I like looking at things at a macro level - looking from the side of the investors, the LPs that invest in funds, gives you the macro perspective. When I started this journey two decades ago, there were barely women who were Partners, General Partners or analysts, and I think that today it’s about 15-20% of women at the top of VCs, so it’s definitely better, but I don’t see any reason for why it won’t be 50%.”

 

Diving into everything in ep 95 of The Human Founder podcast, with Natalie Refuah, General Partner at Viola Growth.

Rabea Zioud, Co-Founder & CEO at Hasoub

How to dream big and make an impact on your community?

 

Rabea grew up as the oldest out of five siblings with two amazing parents. Despite the fact that his parents didn’t have the opportunity to finish school, they believed in and supported all of their children in completing their education and reaching their full potential. 

Because two of his siblings were diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture) and required care, Rabea developed a strong sense of responsibility from a young age, knowing it was his responsibility to care for them with the family for the rest of their lives.

“I always knew I wanted to do big things that affected people at the macro level, and I also wanted to study something in the medical field," something that was heavily influenced by him growing up with his brother and sister and wanting to help them.

And so, he ended up choosing physical therapy. That year he also started what he called his “entrepreneurial adventure” - and opened together with a good friend a study center for pupils in elementary school in the Arabic society  who came from a tough background and had no one to help them with their studying. 

“We were 20 years old, and knew nothing about business and how to start things," but still, they managed to help many kids complete their education. And that was just the beginning.

Diving into everything in episode 93 With Rabea Zioud, Co-Founder & CEO at Hasoub

Nir Eyal, Author: Indistractable, Hooked; Investor; Consultant; and a Public Speaker

How can we become indistractable?

 

Nir’s research on personal productivity and distraction came from a specific moment in his life, when he and his daughter a quality afternoon together, reading an activity book for parents and their kids, and one of the suggestions there was to ask each other - ‘If you could have any superpower, what superpower would you want?’

Unfortunately, Nir shared that he didn’t hear his daughter’s answer because he was too busy checking his phone. “When I looked up, she was already gone, because I was sending a very clear message that my phone was more important than she was.” 

At that point, he realized he needed to reassess his approach to distractions because he could see how it affected every single part of his life.

The superpower he now wanted to cultivate was the power to be undistracted.

 

He spent five years researching and writing the book "Indistractable" to help people learn how to control their attention and become more successful in life,“but it took me so long because I kept getting distracted! I wrote this book for me, more than anyone else, cause I needed it”.

He wanted to provide a tech positive approach that doesn't moralize or medicalize the problem, but instead looks at the root cause of why we get distracted in the first place. 

Diving into the fascinating world of the psychology behind trends in The Human Founder podcast episode 92 with Nir Eyal, Author: Indistractable, Hooked; Investor; Consultant; and a Public Speaker

Jonathan Ellman, Co-Founder & Chairman, Flip, Co-founder & CEO, Seekers

How to build 7 tech companies in 15 years whilst finding your center as an entrepreneur?

 

“I think entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to hit those walls more than other people are, because of the difficulties of building a startup, failing, and doing it again - it makes you question yourself much more than other professions will afford you to do.”

 

Sometimes, as much as we might hate it, doubt can be a good thing. It’s not about knowing everything right from the beginning, but having the ability to ask the tough and important questions, to be willing to change and be surprised.

This ability is a must, especially as a founder.

 

I think one of the big secrets that no one tells founders in the beginning of the way, is that the real challenging part of this journey won’t be raising the funds, but will come from inside yourself. The highest walls you must break come from within.

It might sound gloomy, but as Jonathan said: “Once you turn that switch of knowing you can do it - it’s turned for life, and that’s the key.”

 

Diving into everything in The Human Founder podcast episode 89 with Jonathan Ellman, Co-Founder & Chairman of Flip, קו-פאונדר ומנכ״ל Seekers 

 

This episode is in loving memory of Micha.

Iddo Gino, Founder and CEO of Rapid

The incredible journey of the young CEO

 

- What leads a 17-year-old boy to found a startup?

- What are the key points as a founder for success in the first meeting with an investor?

- What are the unique values ​​that a young CEO brings to the table?

- Why is it important to know your type of leadership as CEO?

Diving into everything in The Human Founder podcast episode 87 with Iddo Gino, Founder and CEO of RapidAPI

Gal Gitter, Partner and Managing Director at Ibex Investors

What can we do as investors to be the CEOs’ first call?

 

- What is the balance that should be maintained when experiencing a big change in your professional and personal life?

- What is our blind spot within the Israeli ecosystem that is getting in our way?

- What is the real pride that investors should strive for on a daily basis?

- What do founders really need to hear from their investors to succeed?

Diving into everything in The Human Founder podcast episode 86, With Gal Gitter, Partner and Managing Director at Ibex Investors - part 7 in the investors series

Eden Shochat, Equal Partner at Aleph - Part 6 in the investors series

From a childhood in Nigeria to a seasoned investor - how your life experiences & inner strengths build the entrepreneur & investor you are? 

 

- Is it possible to learn skills as a child that will make you a good entrepreneur in the future?

- How do you deal with the uncertainty in the investment world?

- What are the challenges in turning from entrepreneur into an investor and how can they be overcome?

- How can we build trust as investors with founders and CEOs?

Diving into everything in The Human Founder podcast episode 85 With Eden Shochat, Equal Partner at Aleph - part 6 in the investors series