Nir Zohar on His Evolution from Wix Coffee Maker to COO, Why the Wix Management Team Has Offsites in the Water, the Super Bowl Ad that Changed Everything and Why Wix Bought Base44–”One Guy”–for $80 Million

On this episode of Invested, Michael sits down with Nir Zohar, President and former COO of Wix.com, who helped transform the company from a scrappy Tel Aviv startup into a global platform serving hundreds of millions. A former naval officer and Chief Engineer on a missile boat, Nir reflects on how military discipline and his years leading the Israeli Scouts shaped his philosophy that management is service, not status. He recounts pivotal moments in Wix’s journey—from the risky Super Bowl campaign to the bet-the-company decision to rebuild on HTML5—and the creation of Wix’s “companies and guilds” structure to empower teams at scale. Nir also discusses leading through crises, from evacuating hundreds of Ukrainian employees during the war to navigating Israel’s upheavals, and why he believes resilience, empowerment, and values-driven leadership are the keys to building enduring companies.

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KEY TOPICS 

00:00 – Intro

02:17 – Wix’s $10M Super Bowl Gamble

08:52 – Reinventing Retired NFL Legends

13:28 – Being in the Navy Taught Nir to Run a Startup

16:02 – Business Lessons from the Scouts

18:55 – Why Management Should be Service, Not Status

21:43 – Wix Strategy Offsites in the Water

27:25 – Why Wix Employees Bought Their Own Chairs

30:38 – Betting Wix on HTML5

39:41 – The Breakfast That Sparked Wix's IPO

46:18 – How Wix's Leadership Team Stayed Together for 18 Years

50:24 – Why Going Public Gave Wix More Control, Not Less

53:08 – Hiring a Chief Politeness Officer to Say "No"

55:57 – The $80M Bet on Base44 and Vibe Coding

01:02:31 – Cutting Off Russia While Protecting Small Businesses

01:03:33 – Chartering Planes and Building a Kibbutz in Krakow

01:12:22 – How to Lead a Company Through War

01:18:47 – Why Wix Runs on "Companies and Guilds"

01:25:10 – AI Inside Wix: Productivity, Process, and Team Flow

01:26:14 – Why Nir Is Bullish on Small Business in the AI Era

RESOURCES

Follow Nir on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nirzo 

Follow Nir on X  - https://x.com/nirzo 

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CREDITS

Executive Producer: Erica Marom 

Producer: Myron Shneider

Video and Editing: Ron Baranov

Music and Creative Direction: Uri Ar 

Content and Editorial: Kira Goldring

Design: Rony Karadi