Meet Yehiel Atias and his startup Hexa.
What does your startup do?
Hexa is changing the online shopping experience by making it easy to create scale and embed 3D content. Their platform uses a unique AI framework that uses complex computer vision algorithm in order to reconstruct 3D assets from as little as 2 ordinary photos.
Main pain solving: creating 3D content is a manual, time consuming and expensive process, reserved only for professionals using complex software. This is well beyond the reach of many companies trying to access the AR/VR market.
What sparked your interest in becoming an entrepreneur?
In my opinion, being an entrepreneur is not really an option. Either you have it in your blood or not: You can try to become one, but not really choose to be one.
Since I was a kid I love to create different things. That’s how I realized I am meant to be an entrepreneur. Now, I couldn’t imagine myself without the responsibility and challenge of creating something different.
Grit and perseverance, is what enabled us to reach our challenging milestones.
How would you describe the Israeli business/ startup culture?
The culture is unique in the sense that the whole ecosystem supports us: From firms that give us services for free until we raise money or gain paying customers, to mentoring, acceleration and a friendly advice from a fellow entrepreneur, the Israeli ecosystem is built for supporting innovation.
In addition, for us, the army is kind of a melting pot and a place in which you get to know people very closely. I met my co-founder during our IDF service — a very common story in Israeli startups. The fact that you are together in extreme situations, and the trust that you build in those, is what makes your team and the whole ecosystem stronger. Trust between founders is one of the most important things that a company can have: Without that there is not company. I’ve known Nimrod for thirteen years and we are also doing reserve duty together now, so I really trust him: We are good friends and in really intense environment, and this certainly helps a lot.
What is the biggest challenge you have had to overcome since joining the Startup world?
The biggest challenge is to train ourselves to control the mental pressure. Being an entrepreneur means that you will be exposed to an extreme amount of pressure from family, friends, investors and the team. It is constant, it never stops, so obviously, there are ups and downs. Once you manage to control the mental balance of being an entrepreneur in a very intensive environment, the rest is pretty much marginal.
What led you to Samurai?
Samurai from the beginning was a strategic partner for us because 3d, VR, AR and e-com are very strong in japan. So we thought that working with Samurai could be very beneficial for the company.
What makes Samurai different from other incubation programs?
The family atmosphere, the feeling, the informality, and the fact that they always help making you reflect instead of telling you what to do: This is very different from other incubators.
Do you like working in a co-working space or do you find it distracting?
I like it. You have to know how to control the noise and how to disconnect when you need to. It is very beneficial because everybody around us has a talent, so if I want something, the person who could help me might be just next to me. It is very beneficial to transfer information and knowledge within the company.
How did you build your team, or what qualities did you look for when building your team?
I looked for people who are at least as crazy as I am and that really believe in what we are doing. They need to be super talented, so when other people join, they know that they need to deliver because everyone else is a “rock star” and that they are in a good company. We are a tight team; we almost all knew each other from the army.
How do you decide when to change your product or when to perfect your ideas?
I’m not trying to make anything better: I just listen to my clients. My clients will always tell what’s best. Sometimes they don’t see the full picture, some others they don’t understand the technology enough so they cannot appreciate the entire potential of it. Thus, you need to be careful of how to present your product and consider their advice, but keep always in mind that you know more than them. Because if you don’t know more than your customers, you are in the wrong place. So we don’t write a single line of code unless someone asks us to do so, and unless I verify that this can add value to our business model — and someone is going to pay for that!
Call for action:
I take Jason Calacanis as a good source of inspiration for advices. Once he said:
“There are so many good startups out there, so many good founders. I don’t want to give you money to get the market fit. Now, you need to prove the market fit with your own money, and then you can go to the investors. The process of getting a good market fit is all about time, so if you have a good team, the only thing than can prevent you from developing a good product is time. Learn how to manage your time efficiently.”
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If you have an innovative, untraditional venture and you want to take part in the fast-growing Asian market, we invite you to join our growing community of Samurais! Sign up with your venture for the Samurai investment program, become a Samurai and get a $100K investment!->http://bit.ly/2v8zyci
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