Last month, our CEO, Adam Singolda, sat down with Shahar (Dave) Waiser, CEO of Gett to discuss how to do the impossible—build ‘unicorn’ companies, one billion dollar companies, from scratch.
They sat on a panel moderated by legendary entrepreneur Yossi Vardi at VivaTech Paris 2017, a rendezvous for startups and innovation, gathering this year more than 68,000 attendees, 6,000 startups, 1,400 investors, and over 500 speakers.
Company culture is key to success.
Both CEOs talked about the importance of people on their journey, and how company culture and making the right hires was key to their success.
“The only way to success is to build a culture that allows for execution—ninja type execution,” Singolda said. “You have to be fast to market and have people that want to be a part of your story forever.
“If I had to take a bet, I would take a bet on three things—a big market, because you’re going to change, so pick a market where you can change five to ten times and still have the potential to be big; build a culture that allows you to mess up and continue to the next iteration; and work with people that can make you better and will make you better forever.”
“You have to be fast to market, and have people that want to be a part of your story forever.” – Adam Singolda, CEO, Taboola
Dave Waiser, CEO of the six-year-old company Gett, expressed the importance of the people around him and how they shape your role as a CEO:
“Your own company is changing every year, but as a CEO, no one tells you about it,” Waiser said. “If you don’t have a good mentor to tell you about it, and you’re too blind to see it, you’ll fail. Don’t be blind, be surrounded by mentors who can help change your role.”
The two spoke about defining culture, and how building cultural pillars will ultimately shape a company’s future.
“Don’t be blind, be surrounded by mentors who can help change your role.” – Dave Waiser, CEO, Gett
“We’ve had a lot of success with inexperience,” Singolda said. “Passion, intelligence, and kindness are what we look for. When you find this, people stick around with you and grow with you. They learn what experienced people already know. Experienced people are sometimes afraid to make mistakes, so for us, this has been a better path.”
For the full video, and to hear Adam and David’s commentary on where they got started, and the partnerships that built the companies they have today, check out the video.
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