"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."
Albert Pike
5th of October 2011
The Day My Life Changed Forever
On the 5th of October 2011, my life changed entirely.
I woke up to the news that Steve Jobs had died because of cancer. I was only 14 years old back then.
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When I went to school, all my teachers and friends talked about how he had changed the world. I read so much about him that day.
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But there was one video where he talked about the meaning of life that completely changed my life. Since then, I have had an inner compass; a purpose.
"Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again."
Steve Jobs
9th of June 2013
I Built My Own Things That Other People Used
After buying my first Mac mini, I looked for creative ways to create my own things that other people could use.​
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My passion for Apple led me to meet with a couple of friends. Together, we created a product that we wanted to use, but that did not exist - a widget that would automatically count down to Apple’s next event.​
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Using the coding experience I had learned during computer science lessons at high school, we developed a Mac widget, built a website, and just pasted the link on some Facebook groups.​
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However, I will never forget the day we had our first ten downloads. Other people I had never met, and probably will never meet, were using something we had created during nights and weekends. Whoa.​..
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Three years later, we had tens of thousands of organic downloads. People from Japan, South Korea, and the US all covered AppleNextEvent.
24th of October 2015
It's All About Problems, Not Solutions
When I pitched AppleNextEvent to a friend of a friend who was a Product Manager, that was also the first time I had heard about Product Management. He also said he liked our passion and would be happy to help.
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Nir Horesh, one of the most influential people in my life and my professional father, joined us as a mentor and gave us a purpose.​
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Two days later, he sent the following message - “You did something exceptional - you created a team with real capabilities to do something fascinating. But - the widget is a solution without a problem. So, if you’re up for it - find a real-world problem, and let’s solve it.”
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One of our teammates is a surfer. He said that deciding when to go to the beach can be really challenging, as there is no way of knowing the weather condition besides asking people on WhatsApp.​
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So, we went to different beaches, interviewed visitors, understood what was important for them to know before coming to the beach, went back home to develop a mobile app, returned to the beach to collect feedback, improved the app, and so forth. That is when I fell in love with Product Management without realizing that I am a Product Manager.
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The organic growth then started, and the rest is history. Beaches.App became Israel’s #1 app to find the best beach experience, resulting in a 400% user growth annually, 20k+ active users, 4.3-star store rating, 60% store conversion, and 40k downloads for the 2019 summer, all done with a $0 marketing budget.
1st of December 2019
Protecting Children From Cyberbullying
After a year of working on Beaches.App, I found Keepers Child Safety, a startup founded with the mission of protecting children from cyberbullying.​
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Before the interview, I read the book “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek and wrote a paper describing why such a company was needed. Then, during the first interview with the CEO, I presented the document and my vision for the company. As a result, the CEO offered me the position by the end of the interview.​
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Together with Keepers, I led a complete redesign of the B2C mobile app and the first B2B mobile SDK integration to launch with Vodafone in Italy, Three in Austria, and a major telco in Japan. In addition, I hired three team members, interviewed 100+ customers, and increased the critical KPIs significantly.​​
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However, the most meaningful moment was when a mother called me to thank us for saving her child’s life. It showed me the tremendous impact we can achieve through the intersection of technology and liberal arts.
10th of September 2020
COVID-19 Unlocked A New Chapter Of Education
When the lockdowns started as COVID-19 became a pandemic, I remember sitting on the couch and promising myself that I would make the most out of this chapter.
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I always dreamt about learning at UC Berkeley, so I looked for “UC Berkeley online programs” and found a Certificate Program in Leadership and Management. I also noted that all programs had moved to Zoom because of COVID.​
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So, I signed up for the first program out of seven. Two weeks before the program started, I realized that because of the time differences (PST VS Israel Time), the live sessions would take place from 4 am to 7 am. Challenge accepted.​
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Furthermore, the Berkeley staff told me that I had ten months to complete the entire certificate (which usually takes two years) as the programs planned to go back to the in-person model. So, I did it by waking up three times a week at 3:40 am for ten months.​
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This journey taught me that I could take online courses, so I signed up for Product Management programs with Stanford, Kellogg, UC Berkeley, and a remote Bachelor’s Degree at the University of London (LSE).
