Today’s guest is former NBA player Omri Casspi. Notably, he’s the first Israeli drafted to play in the NBA, he’s the managing director of the Omri Casspi Foundation, he’s got a VC fund, he’s even got his own podcast. Omri is now part of this crossover group of athletes in the right place at the right time. Less than a year after retiring, he co-founded his fund Sheva (seven in Hebrew) with David Citron. Their $50 million fund is focused on pre-seed and seed stage high-tech startups. I had a chance to spend time one on one with Omri in Tel Aviv and am suitably impressed. (Full disclosure: I’m an investor in his fund.) And now he’s back for an in-depth discussion on moving from professional sports to investing. Enjoy. 

Guest - Omri Casspi, Tech Investor, Partner at Sheva, Managing Director at the Omri Casspi Foundation 

howardlindzon.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @Casspi18, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/omri-casspi-3a575173 

facebook.com/Omri

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes:

• (00:39) – Intro
• (04:37) – Welcome Omri
• (06:04) – The NBA draft
• (12:17) – Moving back to Israel
• (13:30) – Playing in the NBA
• (14:06) – Similarities between sports teams and founders
• (17:37) – Bringing value
• (19:18) – Back to hoops
• (26:06) – Web3 infrastructure play
• (29:06) – Getting an investing edge
• (30:36) – Helping founders succeed
• (33:43) – Hosting a podcast
• (35:21) – Screening investments
• (37:30) – Israeli politics
• (40:24) – The wallet is the thing
• (42:48) – Wrapping up
• (43:50) – Closing thoughts