Invested by Aleph

Joe Lonsdale, a venture capitalist and co-founder of Palantir Technologies, dives into vital issues like masculinity, academic freedom, and government transparency. He discusses the founding of the University of Austin to promote free speech and diverse dialogue. Lonsdale highlights innovative defense strategies and the need for effective governance amid bureaucratic challenges. He also shares insights on raising daughters, critiquing regulatory frustrations in tech, and the importance of fostering optimism and social understanding in today's society.

Ami Daniel, CEO of Windward, shares his firsthand experiences during the October 7th attacks and highlights the courageous civilian rescue efforts. Izhar Shay, whose son Yaron was killed, unveils the 'Next October' initiative to honor victims through startups. Eyal Waldman reflects on the loss of his daughter, emphasizing the need for peace. Stefan Thompson advocates for moral clarity in conflict, while Sam Lessin critiques higher education’s societal impact, stressing the importance of resilience and innovation in rebuilding after tragedy.

Bradley Tusk, a venture capitalist and political strategist, advocates for mobile voting as a crucial solution to save democracy. He discusses the threats posed by gerrymandering and low voter turnout, emphasizing the need for reforms to enhance public engagement. Tusk explores how mobile voting could address political polarization and improve participation, particularly for marginalized groups. He also highlights the challenges of corruption in government and the potential of AI in creating transparent electoral processes, urging for a careful balance between innovation and regulation.

In conversation with Sam Lessin, a General Partner at Slow Ventures and former VP at Facebook, intriguing insights unfold. He discusses the significant values shaping venture capital, revealing how family influences investment decisions. Sam weighs in on the chaos of AI, the evolution of trust in a digital world, and the state’s role in regulating technology. He highlights the promise of decentralized systems like cryptocurrency and reflects on his experiences at Harvard, advocating for proactive change amidst challenges.

Alon Arvatz, CEO & Co-founder of PointFive, is a cybersecurity expert and author of "The Battle for Your Computer." He shares fascinating insights about the booming Israeli cybersecurity landscape and the vital need for industry diversification. Alon discusses his entrepreneurial journey and the emotional hurdles of leaving corporate life for startups. He emphasizes the importance of financial literacy and the creation of 'Cyber School' to empower youth. He also reflects on the distinct traits of Israeli entrepreneurs and the influence of military service in fostering innovative mindsets.

On this episode of Invested, Michael hosts Yoav Shoham, Co-founder and Co-CEO at AI21 Labs.Yoav is professor emeritus of computer science at Stanford University. He is Fellow of AAAI, ACM and the Game Theory Society, and among his awards are the IJCAI Research Excellence Award, the AAAI/ACM Allen Newell Award, and the ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award. Prof. Shoham has co-founded several AI companies, including TradingDynamics (ARBA), Katango and Timeful (GOOG), and AI21 Labs. Prof. Shoham is the founding chair of the AI Index initiative, and chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee of Israel’s National AI Initiative.Please rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts! KEY TOPICS  [00:00:00] Intro  [00:01:35] Discovering AI in the ‘80’s [00:08:00] When LLMs are Wrong  [00:12:10] Think Critically While Using AI [00:16:00] What it Means to Understand [00:20:20] Is AGI Around the Corner?  [00:24:40] What Worries Yoav About AI [00:28:28] Starting AI21 Labs [00:32:50] AI Agents [00:38:00] The Price of Model Training [00:46:00] AI Policy Recommendations [00:50:05] The “Other Office” at Timeful [00:54:45] Becoming a Computer Scientist [00:55:00] The Situation on College Campuses [01:01:25] Computer-Science-Philosopher [01:05:28] What Makes Us Human RESOURCESFollow Yoav Shoham on X: https://x.com/yshoham Follow Yoav Shoham on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoavshoham/ 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/yoav-shoham---episode-27Subscribe 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 Levak & Yoni MayerVideo and Editing: Ron BaranovMusic and Art: Uri Ar Design: Rony Karadi

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