On this episode of Invested, Michael hosts Barak Herscowitz, formerly advisor to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, political campaigner and strategic advisor, entrepreneur, and a former employee of TikTok.Herscowitz became the “Tiktok Jewish Whistleblower” as he resigned due to what he identified as a severe bias against Israel and Jewish organizations, in favor of external influences serving Hamas and other foreign entities. He exposed a network of employees in sensitive roles within the company who supported terrorists, advocated for positions endorsed by Iran, and held extreme anti-Israel stances.Prior to TikTok he was the campaign manager for former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the director of press relations and public relations for the Israeli government during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also served as the spokesperson for then-Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat. Barak is currently in a mission to raise awareness to the public opinion war fought against democratic nations and the Jewish people on social media, campuses and other arenas. He is about to go on a tour with his lecture "If Bin Laden had Twitter: The War the West is Losing Miserably" that discusses his experience as a whistleblower but also a much wider global issue.Please rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts! KEY TOPICS  [00:00:00] Intro  [00:01:46] Liberty as a Core Value [00:04:00] True Meaning of Freedom and Liberty [00:09:30] From Naftali Bennet’s Office to TikTok  [00:15:07] Why Barak Quit TikTok After October 7th [00:18:28] Government Censorship and Content Blocking [00:23:35] TikTok’s Terrorist Support Group [00:27:42] Writing the Internal Memo [00:37:30] The Backlash and Resignation  [00:40:30] Fight Against Social Media Bias [00:44:15] Winning the Narrative War  [00:48:40] Biggest Mistakes RESOURCESFollow Barak on X: https://x.com/barakher  Follow Barak on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barakhers/ Subscribe to Invested here: https://content.aleph.vc/investedLearn more about Aleph: aleph.vc Sign up for Aleph’s monthly email newsletter: https://newsletter.aleph.vc/For the transcript of this episode, go to: https://content.aleph.vc/podcast-episodes/barak-herscowitz---episode-26Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aleph-vc/Follow Michael on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeeisenbergFollow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieisenberg/Follow Aleph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberg‍Follow Aleph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aleph-vc/‍Follow Aleph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleph.vc/CREDITSExecutive Producer: Erica Marom Producer: Sofi LevakVideo and Editing: Ron BaranovMusic and Art: Uri Ar Design: Rony Karadi

On this episode of Invested, Michael hosts Lior Eshkol, General Manager of Wolt Israel.Lior (37) is currently from Tel Aviv, born and raised in Ramat Hasharon. Served in the IDF Intelligence research as an officer. B.A in Industrial Engineering from Tel Aviv University and MBA from Harvard University. Worked at Procter & Gamble, Amazon, WeWork and healthy.io. General Manager of Wolt Israel since 2020. Spearheaded massive expansion from restaurant industry to retail verticals, geo expansion from Tel Aviv to 75% nationwide population coverage; Led a platform economy disruption in Israel revolutionizing consumer behavior, commercial marketplace, and impacting the labor market.Please rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts! KEY TOPICS  [00:00:00] Intro  [00:01:49] From WeWork to Wolt [00:04:00] How Wolt Cracked the Israeli market [00:05:56] Everyone Wants to be a Wolt Driver [00:09:00] Safety First [00:09:41] Becoming Israel's Favorite Delivery Service [00:12:45] Becoming the GM of Wolt Israel [00:13:42] Growing Through COVID-19 [00:16:40] What Can We Learn from Wolt Israel? [00:18:40] From Product Manager to General Manager [00:21:40] Wolt’s Business Model [00:22:30] How the War Changed Wolt IL [00:30:30] Wolt as a Cultural Icon in Israel [00:35:40] Changing Employment Laws [00:42:10] Wolt’s Unique Customer Support Team [00:47:40] Leading for Success  [00:54:06] Consumer Delivery Trends RESOURCESFollow Lior on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lior-eshkol-44109467/ Subscribe to Invested here: https://content.aleph.vc/investedLearn more about Aleph: aleph.vc Sign up for Aleph’s monthly email newsletter: https://newsletter.aleph.vc/For the transcript of this episode, go to: https://content.aleph.vc/podcast-episodes/lior-eshkol---episode-25Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aleph-vc/Follow Michael on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeeisenbergFollow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieisenberg/Follow Aleph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberg‍Follow Aleph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aleph-vc/‍Follow Aleph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleph.vc/CREDITSExecutive Producer: Erica Marom Producer: Sofi LevakVideo and Editing: Ron BaranovMusic and Art: Uri Ar Design: Rony Karadi

On this episode of Invested, Michael hosts Matan Bar, co-founder and CEO of Melio. Before founding Melio in 2018, Matan Bar was the GM of the PayPal Consumer R&D center in Tel Aviv and led PayPal’s Consumer Peer to Peer Payments Group globally, responsible for over $50B in payment volume annually. Matan joined PayPal through the acquisition of his first company (The Gifts Project) by eBay Inc in 2012.Please rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts! KEY TOPICS  [00:00:00] Intro  [00:02:10] Founding The Gifts Project [00:06:37] “Ideas Change, People Don’t” [00:11:00] Resilience and Patriotism in Israeli Tech  [00:16:19] Meaning Behind Melio’s Name [00:18:55] Melio’s Mission [00:23:16] Meeting George W. Bush [00:28:04] Power of Storytelling [00:35:00] Early Days of Melio [00:38:29] Partnering with Intuit and Fiserv [00:40:05] Traditional Banks Are Here to Stay [00:48:22] Making Tough Decisions  [00:56:32] Separating From a Co-founder [01:00:00] Evaluating a Company [01:04:25] How AI is Transforming Melio  [01:11:25] Melio’s Hiring Practices [01:13:31] Feedback From a CEO to His Investor RESOURCESFollow Matan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matanbar/ Learn more about Melio: https://meliopayments.com/ Subscribe to Invested here: https://content.aleph.vc/investedLearn more about Aleph: aleph.vc Sign up for Aleph’s monthly email newsletter: https://newsletter.aleph.vc/For the transcript of this episode, go to: https://content.aleph.vc/podcast-episodes/matan-bar---episode-24Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aleph-vc/Follow Michael on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeeisenbergFollow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieisenberg/Follow Aleph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberg‍Follow Aleph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aleph-vc/‍Follow Aleph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleph.vc/CREDITSExecutive Producer: Erica Marom Producer: Sofi LevakVideo and Editing: Ron BaranovMusic and Art: Uri Ar Design: Rony Karadi

Jacob Helberg, Commissioner of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, talks about the dangers of China-led world order, technological arms race, strategic partnerships for national security, challenges with TikTok divestment bill, and staying optimistic amidst dark circumstances

Beezer Clarkson, Partner at Sapphire Partners, discusses groupthink in venture, momentum investing, securing investor buy-in, fund sizes, VC personality traits, and the importance of early wins. She emphasizes differentiation for LPs, diversity in investments, challenges faced by women in venture, and the contrasting investment sentiments in Israel vs. China.

Marc Rowan, Co-Founder and CEO of Apollo Global Management, Inc., discusses changing Israeli education, advice to young entrepreneurs, commitment to Israel, importance of a Jewish State, and navigating challenges in investing and market trends.

On this episode of Invested, Michael hosts Ben Lang, an early employee at Notion and serial builder. Ben is an angel investor, former founder and operator at high-growth startups. He served in IDF Intelligence and went on to co-found Mapme. Later, he joined Spoke, which was acquired by Okta. In 2019, he joined Notion, where he saw the team grow from 15 to 600+. He helped scale the team, build out their Ambassador program, influencer function, Consultants program, user conference, education program, template gallery, and more. Today, he actively makes angel investments (50+ investments so far) and advises a few startups. He is building the next play community to help people discover what’s next with curated opportunities, gatherings, and content. Please rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts! KEY TOPICS  [00:00] Intro  [03:50] How Michael and Ben Met [05:05] Creating International Hummus Day [11:05] Starting at Notion and Building the Community [23:50] Why is Notion Different?  [25:54] How to Create a Unique Community [30:15] Getting into Angel Investing [35:50] Going from Building to Advising  [37:47] Pitching Yourself as an Investor  [44:00] The Best Place to Build a Startup  [47:08] Post Oct 7th: Why Live in Israel?  [49:50] Creating CoronaCrush  [53:09] Rapid Fire RESOURCESFollow Ben Lang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmlang/ Follow Ben Lang on X: https://x.com/benln Subscribe to Invested here: https://content.aleph.vc/investedLearn more about Aleph: aleph.vc Sign up for Aleph’s monthly email newsletter: https://newsletter.aleph.vc/For the transcript of this episode, go to content.aleph.vc/podcast-episodes/ben-lang---episode-20Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aleph-vc/Follow Michael on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeeisenbergFollow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieisenberg/Follow Aleph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberg‍Follow Aleph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aleph-vc/‍Follow Aleph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleph.vc/CREDITSExecutive Producer: Erica Marom Producer: Sofi LevakVideo and Editing: Ron BaranovMusic and Art: Uri Ar Design: Rony Karadi

On this episode of Invested, Michael hosts Antonio Garcia-Martinez, CEO and founder of Spindl, and author of the book “Chaos Monkeys”. Garcia-Martinez started his career when he dropped out of a PhD in physics at Berkeley, cut off his ponytail, and became a pricing quant on the Goldman Sachs credit trading desk just in time for the 2008 credit crisis. Fleeing back to the Bay Area for an ad tech startup, he founded a Y Combinator startup with the co-founders he met in that first tech job, and sold the company to Twitter in 2011. This somewhat haphazardly landed him at Facebook, in charge of targeting on the ads team, where he shipped some of the company's first real ads targeting. His book about the experience, Chaos Monkeys, was a NYT and WSJ bestseller (though it did have some detractors). After a couple years of journalism and Substacking, he came back to tech, working (again) at ads and data related products at Branch and Apple. Currently, he's CEO and founder of Spindl, a venture-backed startup building many of the same attribution and measurement products natively in the blockchain world. Please rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts! KEY TOPICS [00:00] Intro [04:00] Personal Values[05:24] “Chaos Monkeys”[09:50] Working at Facebook[14:00] How COVID Affected San Francisco[16:20] How the Perspective on Tech Changed[19:46] Progressivism and Tech[23:00] Current State of San Francisco[26:10] Civic Involvement of Tech[28:30] Drug Culture in San Francisco[30:28] Getting Canceled[31:50] Progressivism and Christianity [34:15] Writing Career[36:20] Converting to Judaism [44:20] Secularized Modernity[51:42] Spindl[57:38] Blockchain[01:00:32] Web3 Social Media[01:03:50] DC vs. Tech[01:09:06] Rapid-Fire QuestionsRESOURCESFollow Antonio Garcia-Martinez on X: https://x.com/antoniogm To purchase the book “Chaos Monkeys” go to: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062458205/ For show notes and past guests on Invested, please visit content.aleph.vcLearn more about Aleph: aleph.vc Sign up for Aleph’s monthly email newsletter: https://newsletter.aleph.vc/For the transcript of this episode, go to https://content.aleph.vc/podcast-episodes/antonio-garcia-martinez---episode-19Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aleph-vc/Follow Michael on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeeisenbergFollow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieisenberg/Follow Aleph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberg‍Follow Aleph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aleph-vc/‍Follow Aleph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleph.vc/CREDITSExecutive Producer: Erica Marom Producer: Sofi LevakVideo and Editing: Ron Baranov Music and Art: Uri Ar Design: Rony Karadi

On this episode of Invested, Michael hosts Eyal Waldman, the chairman of Waldo Holdings and co-founder of Mellanox. This is Eyal's second time on the podcast - if you’d like to hear the first episode, please go to https://content.aleph.vc/podcast-episodes/eyal-waldman-episode-10 Waldo Holdings is a family office that focuses on diversified investments in private and public companies, various funds, real estate and other financial platforms and vehicles.Mr. Waldman has been the co-founder, president, CEO and board member of Mellanox Technologies since March 1999. Mellanox is a semiconductor company which went public on Nasdaq in 2007 and was acquired by NVIDIA on April 2020 for more than $7B. Between March 1999 until June 2013, Mr. Waldman served as Mellanox’s chairman of the board. From March 1993 to February 1999, Mr. Waldman served as Vice President of Engineering and was a co-founder of Galileo Technology, Ltd., a semiconductor company, which went public on Nasdaq in 1997 and was acquired by Marvell Technology Group, Ltd. in January 2001 for $2.7B. From August 1989 to March 1993, Mr. Waldman held several design, management, and architecture related positions at Intel Corporation, a manufacturer of computer, networking, and communications products, and was awarded with the “IAA Intel achievement award” and the “Employee of the year” award. Mr. Waldman serves on the board of directors of several private and public companies. Mr. Waldman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. In June 2016, Mr. Waldman was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Technion. Please rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts! KEY TOPICS  [00:00] Intro  [00:46] Israel Prize Controversy [03:00] Mellanox & NVIDIA's AI Impact [04:08] Mellanox’s Contribution to AI [06:30] AI Education & the Role of the Government  [14:23] October 7th Reflections [21:30] Personal Tragedy [23:29] Relationships With Palestinian Employees  [24:35] Plan for Peace [33:07] Resilience of the Israeli People  [39:33] Takeaways From Meeting Biden & Blinken [44:21] Remembering Danielle Waldman and Noam Shay RESOURCESFollow Eyal Waldman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eyal-waldman-968788/ Subscribe to Invested here: https://content.aleph.vc/investedLearn more about Aleph: aleph.vc Sign up for Aleph’s monthly email newsletter: https://newsletter.aleph.vc/For the transcript of this episode, go to content.aleph.vc/podcast-episodes/eyal-waldman---episode-18Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aleph-vc/Follow Michael on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeeisenbergFollow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieisenberg/Follow Aleph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberg‍Follow Aleph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aleph-vc/‍Follow Aleph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleph.vc/CREDITSExecutive Producer: Erica Marom Producer: Sofi LevakVideo and Editing: Ron BaranovMusic and Art: Uri Ar Design: Rony Karadi

On this episode of Invested, Michael hosts Yasmin Lukatz,  Founder & Executive Director at ICON.Yasmin Lukatz is the executive director of the Israel Collaboration Network (ICON), a non-profit organization that aims to create a Silicon Valley-based community to harness and support Israeli startup technology and innovation. With a background in economics and law from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from Stanford, Lukatz has held significant roles in both corporate and startup environments. Notable for her strategic investments at Early Stages in leading startups like Tipalti, Navan, and Salt Security, Lukatz also gained recognition on Hakrishim, Israel's version of Shark Tank. Recently, she founded Code for Israel, the Israeli movement of high-tech volunteers, dedicated to addressing Israel's challenges through technology.Please rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts! KEY TOPICS  [00:00] Intro  [04:12] What is ICON and ICON’s Impact [09:05] Israeli vs. Silicon Valley Tech Ecosystems [13:27] Changes in Investing Behavior Since Oct. 7th [15:30] Code for Israel [20:00] Yasmin’s Why - Doing What Makes You Happy [23:50] Dealing With Uncertainty  [25:25] Israeli-Jewish-American Identity  [27:20] Antisemitism Before and After October 7th [31:06] Making the Most Impact [33:41] When to Invest [36:07] Why Shark Tank [38:25] Dancing With the Stars - Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone [41:27] Rapid Fire Questions RESOURCESFollow Yasmin Lukatz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasmin-lukatz-3182251/  Subscribe to Invested here: https://content.aleph.vc/investedLearn more about Aleph: aleph.vc Sign up for Aleph’s monthly email newsletter: https://newsletter.aleph.vc/For the transcript of this episode, go to content.aleph.vc/podcast-episodes/yasmin-lukatz-episode-17Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aleph-vc/Follow Michael on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeeisenbergFollow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieisenberg/Follow Aleph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberg‍Follow Aleph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aleph-vc/‍Follow Aleph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleph.vc/CREDITSExecutive Producer: Erica Marom Producer: Sofi LevakVideo Filming: Yair Cymerman Editing: Ron BaranovMusic and Art: Uri Ar Design: Rony Karadi