WEBVTT - Waze Creator Empowers Entrepreneurs

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<v Speaker 1>These sees Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim

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<v Speaker 1>Stentovic on Bloomberg Radio. The companies that we talked about

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<v Speaker 1>each and every day, you know, they begin as ideas,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe in a garage and Silicon Valley, or perhaps in

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<v Speaker 1>a rented office space in Alburquerque. But from that idea

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<v Speaker 1>to an actual functioning business can be a rocky road. Tim, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you got a big investors for money. You've got to

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<v Speaker 1>manage growing workforce, youve got to figure out how to scale,

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<v Speaker 1>and ultimately, if you're lucky, you'll get to a successful exit,

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<v Speaker 1>whether it's an I p O or an acquisition. But

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<v Speaker 1>it is a tough slog. If only there were a

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<v Speaker 1>handbook for entrepreneurs, there actually are. Next guest says he

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<v Speaker 1>has written one, Ory Levine, he knows a thing or

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<v Speaker 1>two about building a company. Co founder of Ways, which,

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<v Speaker 1>as you know, sold to Google for one and one

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<v Speaker 1>point fifteen billion back in he was an investor and

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<v Speaker 1>move It, which Intel bought for one billion back in. Tim,

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<v Speaker 1>He's got a brand new book out. It's called fall

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<v Speaker 1>in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution, a handbook

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<v Speaker 1>for entrepreneurs. He joins us on the phone, from New

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<v Speaker 1>York City? Or how are you good? Good to have

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<v Speaker 1>you with us, Thank you, I'm excellent in yourself, We're

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<v Speaker 1>doing well. Thanks, We're very pleased. Congratulations on the book

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<v Speaker 1>as well. Or right, um, I'm wondering about, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>starting starting this idea in terms of, like, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>thinking about not just this handbook, but about your own

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<v Speaker 1>journey as an entrepreneur. What does it mean to to

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<v Speaker 1>fall in love with a problem. So essentially, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>when you fall in love with the problem, the problem

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<v Speaker 1>remains your north star of your journey, right, And when

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<v Speaker 1>you have a north start and at the end stay,

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<v Speaker 1>you're less likely to do deviations from it and more

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<v Speaker 1>likely to actually get to your destination. But there is

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<v Speaker 1>another major part of it, right, because the story that

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<v Speaker 1>you're going to tell when it's associated with the problem

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<v Speaker 1>is way better than the story that's associated with the solution.

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<v Speaker 1>If we will be hearing too souven and seven, I

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<v Speaker 1>will tell you that I'm going to build an ai

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<v Speaker 1>A scroutsource navigation system. Then you would say, yeah, right,

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<v Speaker 1>but you don't really care, well what was the problem.

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<v Speaker 1>What was the problem though, that you were trying to

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<v Speaker 1>solve In two thousand seven. I'm going to help people

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<v Speaker 1>avoid traffic gims. All right, that's it worked, and then

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<v Speaker 1>you do care, you know, every time, and I am

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<v Speaker 1>an all in fan on it, and you know, um,

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<v Speaker 1>I will say, my husband's like kind of laughs at

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<v Speaker 1>me because when it's like there's a car on the road,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm like, I hit it and I you know, could

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<v Speaker 1>you read it? You've got in the world to buy

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<v Speaker 1>in and help you in this process process. Is there

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<v Speaker 1>something that in society um or that you think though

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<v Speaker 1>has changed. We talked so much about the sharing economy,

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<v Speaker 1>the sharing society. Is there something different that enabled ways

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<v Speaker 1>to be created that could have been created maybe years

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<v Speaker 1>ago beyond the technology component of it. You know, I

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<v Speaker 1>think that in general people are um like to help

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<v Speaker 1>each other, right, and so we are. In general people

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<v Speaker 1>are good and if you create them the opportunity, then

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<v Speaker 1>they will be happy to share. They will behaving to

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<v Speaker 1>great value for others. And the magic of ways is

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<v Speaker 1>that we the drivers are helping the rest of the

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<v Speaker 1>drivers to avoid traffic chams and to know what's going

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<v Speaker 1>on on the road. And essentially it's sort of a

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<v Speaker 1>social network of drivers that we are helping the rest

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<v Speaker 1>of the drivers. What's a problem in today's world that

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<v Speaker 1>needs to be solved. Besides that, my puppy needs to

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<v Speaker 1>be trained. I wish there's probably an app for that.

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<v Speaker 1>At the end of the day, there are a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of problems, right because when we think of different issues.

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<v Speaker 1>And by the way, when we started ways, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>traffic jams today are more severe than they were when

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<v Speaker 1>we started ways and we actually were scheduled or we

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<v Speaker 1>our mission was to help drivers to avoid traffic chams

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<v Speaker 1>and traffic chers. They are even more severe, right, and

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<v Speaker 1>so we are done. We are not done with's addressing

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<v Speaker 1>mobility um and movies actually did a better job in

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<v Speaker 1>addressing mobility by making public transportation easier. Um, but we're

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<v Speaker 1>still not done. And you know, one of my startups

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<v Speaker 1>is trying to address parking because it's some major issues.

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<v Speaker 1>And many of my startups, which one of them, is

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<v Speaker 1>trying to address a different problem. I am curious how

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<v Speaker 1>you look at some of the companies that were once

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<v Speaker 1>startups but are now behemous in the technology space but

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<v Speaker 1>are having a tough time a K, Facebook, now Meta, Tesla, Twitter, Like,

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<v Speaker 1>how do you look at them? Because just because your

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<v Speaker 1>startup in it, and people can be excited and you

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<v Speaker 1>can do well for a while. It doesn't necessarily mean

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<v Speaker 1>you have legs. But how do you look at some

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<v Speaker 1>of these companies somebody who's created companies and companies with legs.

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<v Speaker 1>So so let me ask you the following, right, and

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<v Speaker 1>and this is really how fast it war you're changing, Right,

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<v Speaker 1>Google and Amazon and Netflix are about twenty something years old, right,

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<v Speaker 1>and then Testla and Facebook and in Twitter and high

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<v Speaker 1>Airbnb are less than twenty years old. They were amazing

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<v Speaker 1>entrepreneurs at the beginning that had a mission to change

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<v Speaker 1>the world, and in their journey they have made the

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<v Speaker 1>world a way better place. Right, Just imagine that we

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<v Speaker 1>will have a time machine and I will send you

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<v Speaker 1>back fifteen years into two thousands and seven and two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand nine, right just before we started with And that

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<v Speaker 1>means that I'm going to take away your iPhone and

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<v Speaker 1>Ways and Uber and Netflix and and pretty much everything

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<v Speaker 1>that you're using every day. It's unclear that we will survive.

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<v Speaker 1>So when we create a solution to a real problem,

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<v Speaker 1>it's guaranteed that we are creating value. And when we

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<v Speaker 1>create value, we are likely to become successful. Now, whether

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<v Speaker 1>or not we are looking at the valuations that were

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<v Speaker 1>here in the last couple of years, or the valuations

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<v Speaker 1>to a it doesn't really make the difference in the

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<v Speaker 1>value that those companies have created and in the goodness

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<v Speaker 1>that they have created. You know, there was the saying

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<v Speaker 1>that companies oftentimes, like in you know, before the pandemic,

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<v Speaker 1>you'd see startups get ridiculous funding rounds and they were

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<v Speaker 1>in search of a problem to solve. What's what's one

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<v Speaker 1>company that you saw a startup that you saw that

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<v Speaker 1>you passed funding on because you said, wait a second,

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<v Speaker 1>this is not they're solving a problem. So so most

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<v Speaker 1>of my startups are actually self made. Right, so I

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<v Speaker 1>was looking at the specific problem and then find the

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<v Speaker 1>right team or or maybe the team came to be

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<v Speaker 1>very early phased right the way before they even started,

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<v Speaker 1>which a problem that they would like to solve, and

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<v Speaker 1>I basically say, this is a problem worth solving. And

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<v Speaker 1>so my recommendation will be a think of a problem

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<v Speaker 1>that is worth solving, a big problem. I think that

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<v Speaker 1>the world will become a better place if you addressed that,

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<v Speaker 1>and then ask yourself, who has this problem? Now? If

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<v Speaker 1>you happen to be the only person on the planet

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<v Speaker 1>this problem. Then I would say, you know what, go

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<v Speaker 1>to a shrink. It's gonna be a page, cheaper and

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<v Speaker 1>faster than building a startup. But if a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>people actually have this problem, then what you really want

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<v Speaker 1>to do next is go and speak with those people

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<v Speaker 1>can understand their perception of the problem, and only then

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<v Speaker 1>go and build a solution. Now, if if you follow

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<v Speaker 1>this past and your solution works right, it's actually guaranteed

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<v Speaker 1>that you are creating value. Well, in the essence of

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<v Speaker 1>all of all startups is to figure out what is

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<v Speaker 1>the value that we are creating? Got it? Or we

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<v Speaker 1>have to leave it there? Or Elevening, co founder of Ways,

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<v Speaker 1>his new book fall in Love with the Problem, Not

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<v Speaker 1>the Solution, a handbook for entrepreneur something he knows a

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<v Speaker 1>lot about. This is Bloomberg