Big Shot

How The Founder of Waze Went From Getting Fired To Building a Billion-Dollar Business | Uri Levine

Dec 12, 2024

Uri Levine, co-founder of Waze and author of "Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution," shares his remarkable entrepreneurial journey from failure to success. He reflects on critical lessons learned from his father about embracing failure and prioritization. Uri recounts a clever fundraising hack involving mapping investors' homes to showcase Waze's potential. He also highlights the cultural drive within the Jewish community to foster innovation and positive change, and discusses the financial impact of Waze's acquisition that created many millionaires.

19:05

Creator website

Episode guests

Uri Levine

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Uri Levine's journey emphasizes that embracing failure as a learning opportunity is crucial for entrepreneurial resilience and growth.

The concept of prioritization is vital in entrepreneurship, as focusing on 'big rocks' allows for effective task management and success.

Deep dives

The Power of Resilience and Embracing Failure

Yuri Levine, the founder of Waze, emphasizes resilience through his personal experiences with failure. He has faced numerous setbacks, including being fired multiple times, yet views these failures as opportunities for growth. Despite a challenging start where 90% of early users stopped using Waze, Levine persevered and continued to innovate. He advocates for teaching children the value of failure, believing that this mindset fosters their ability to take risks and ultimately find happiness.

Intro

2min

Lessons from Family: Encouraging Growth and Prioritization

5min

Innovative Fundraising Strategies for a Groundbreaking App

2min

The Entrepreneurial Journey: Embracing Failure and Focus

9min

Legacy, Mentorship, and Entrepreneurial Journeys

2min

In this special episode of Big Shot, recorded live at the iconic Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., we’re joined by Uri Levine, the co-founder of Waze. Uri is a visionary entrepreneur whose journey includes building Waze, the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app, which Google acquired for over $1 billion. Beyond Waze, Uri has co-founded several impactful startups like Moovit (acquired by Intel), FeeX, and Engie. He’s also the author of Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution, a must-read guide for entrepreneurs.

In our conversation today, we cover:

• Lessons on failure and prioritization from Uri’s father

• A clever hack he used to pitch Waze with an incomplete product

• The cultural drive behind the Jewish ambition to create positive change

• The story of the many millionaires created by Waze’s acquisition

• And so much more!

A special thank you to ADL In Concert Against Hate. You can learn more here https://www.adl.org/adl-concert-against-hate-shines-light-heroes

—

In This Episode We Cover:

(00:00) Intro

(01:40) How Uri’s father taught him the importance of failure

(04:55) A story about prioritization