The Biz Dojo

S3E08 - Finding Community & Building Success w/Yoni Tzafrir

September 28, 2021 Yoni Tzafrir Season 3 Episode 8
The Biz Dojo
🔒 S3E08 - Finding Community & Building Success w/Yoni Tzafrir
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Subscriber-only episode

This week in The Biz Dojo, we're joined by Yoni Tzafrir - founder of the Newsly app.

Yoni shares the story of the car rides that inspired Newsly, the role of the community around him in supporting and nurturing the idea, and the challenges in launching an entrepreneurial venture - and tech start-up - in a foreign country. We also talk a little self-doubt, perseverance and "Eureka moments".

So, grab your Biz Dojo Coffee (Masters Medium - OR - Dojo Dark) in a travel mug, and jump in the car with Yoni as we throw in some Dr. Dre and take a little trip.

You can also visit us at the links below, and follow us on social media for exclusive content:
Website      |      Facebook      |      Instagram      |      LinkedIn      |      Twitter

Check out Newsly (https://newsly.me) and use promo code B1Z2021 to get a free month of premium description. 

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JP Gaston:

Hey everyone JP here from The Biz Dojo just want to let you know about news Li. It's an audio app for iOS and Android. It picks up Web articles about some of the most trending topics, and then it reads them to you in a natural human voice. For the first time in the history of the Internet. The web is listenable. You can browse articles from topics you choose and start playing. So stop scrolling, just start listening. Download news Lee from News li.me.

Voiceover:

This episode is powered by airdry dq grillon show owned and operated by local entrepreneurs. Check out one of their three or three locations today and pick up a blizzard ice cream cake or Dilly bar. The Biz Dojo is also brought to you by beyond a beaten path. If you're on the lookout for a personalized gift, had to be on the beaten path.ca and get started on your custom creation beyond the beaten path. personalize it, because everything else is boring.

Seth Anderson:

So JP, did you ever expect that we would be speaking at album release parties

JP Gaston:

to a bunch of Grammy Award winning producers? And no, that was not that was not part of my list of things I expected?

Seth Anderson:

Yeah. I'm gonna say out of left field, well, maybe not out of left field but out of us. So for those of you who have been following along with the show, last season, we had a very inspiring guest, Marius, Bilbo Benson, who is a revered jazz musician in the soft jazz scene, as it were based in AI, but I've never actually asked I just assumed Stockholm. I don't know what other cities are in Sweden, but he's in Sweden.

JP Gaston:

He's in the the only city set notes in Sweden.

Seth Anderson:

Yes, that's it. And yeah, so we got to go to his event was very interesting. Seeing you know, Marius live in a studio place from songs. They had a bunch of speakers including Grammy Award winning composer, producer, Paul Maroon. And just a really neat event. Yeah, I

JP Gaston:

quite enjoyed it. There was a lot of great things said about somebody who we got a sliver of a story from. And if you haven't listened to the Marius episode, please do yourself a favor, go back and listen to it. It's it is quite a story. And like one of the everyone had the same comment about Marius, like the most loving, genuine, joyful person you will ever meet. Totally.

Seth Anderson:

And so it was awesome. And I think what it really speaks to is community you know, he talks in depth about how his time in the forest with the the forest people in the Congo, and you know, again, do yourself a favor and go listen to that story, basically on death's door with malaria and being revived by the forest people without the use of modern medicine just crazy. left after being robbed and left for dead. So, you know, put some perspective on things for or you did for me anyway. But we talked a lot about community and how important it is and the community that we've been building through The Biz Dojo. And I think, you know, Marius is an example of that. And and I think, talking with Jani this week, we got to see how important the role of community is for a tech entrepreneur and on his journey to create a newsletter

JP Gaston:

tech entrepreneur and newcomer, like coming to a new country, even if you have the experience in tech, which I think everyone just immediately believes is completely disassociated from where you are geographically, but when you've built a local community, and you have people around you that are also in the tech community, and you can vibe off them, and you can, you know, figure things out together, it's, it's a lot easier to move yourself ahead, being in a new country, trying to get into a new entrepreneur game, figure out the government and the grants and all those sorts of things. Well, you're also navigating English as a second language, like that's a lot of things on that plate. Yeah, it's

Seth Anderson:

interesting, like, the tech is actually the easy part of this whole equation. It's all those things that you just talked about navigating being in a new country, collaborating with people, finding investors, communicating, like all those things that, you know, make it super challenging to launch a product in this space. And so it was really cool to see how he's overcome all of that.

JP Gaston:

I know it's not the same as you know, uprooting your family and moving across the country on a permanent basis and trying to find yourself but I will say, I did do a trip to Africa for a month. And it was very different. I, you know, I was quite often the outsider being an English speaking, white Canadian. I was often in situations where a lot of the time I was, surprisingly surrounded by Germans. But there was lots of times where, you know, the language around me wasn't the same The people around me weren't the same. Even when we went to the grocery store, like I just didn't understand half of what the signs said, and how much money I needed to give the person at the till it was just, it was so different. And it was very much culture shock. And it opened my eyes to just, it's not an easy task by any means to step into somewhere. So new and so different.

Seth Anderson:

Yeah. And so with that, I think heading into this week's episode, maybe give a thought to time that you were an outsider. And, you know, how do you navigate that? And maybe if you take that a step further, can you think of a time you were embraced by a community? And what that felt like? Welcome to The Biz Dojo with Seth and JP. This week, we're joined by Jani Soufriere. Welcome to the dojo Yachty Hi,

Yoni Tzafrir:

thank you for having me.

Seth Anderson:

It's our pleasure. So Jani, you're the CEO and founder of news Lee. And for the first time the internet is now listening, I wanted to say readable listen of all Yeah, I'm a step behind. So really excited to dive into your journey and how newsleave came to be maybe we'll just start off with introducing yourself and tell us a little bit more about Jani.

Yoni Tzafrir:

Okay, so yeah, I am the founder of New Zealand Co. On originally from Israel, came here to Canada to record Canada two years ago in August 2019 started just helping my family and my wife and four daughters to integrate here for the first six months and then and January 2020 something very strange happened. Which was Welton demmick very wise but

Seth Anderson:

and you might have heard about it in the news or something

Yoni Tzafrir:

yeah, it was like very mature and then while it happened in the first lockdown I don't know if you remember the smoke done like we're like everyone was intimidated like you know touching the railway on your on your balcony Oh sound like that. And in the midst of it I decided I want to start a company and go through the journey of being intrapreneur for the first time

Seth Anderson:

you know it's crazy as I was reflecting on this with my son The other day I remember there was like a little while there where I didn't know if it was okay to go outside for a run

Yoni Tzafrir:

like Yeah, can we go outside can we it'll it almost seems bizarre

Seth Anderson:

thinking back to that like yeah, anyway crazy time so you're sitting there and you're like, I'm gonna be an entrepreneur is that is that how it came to be? Or did the idea of newslink come first the idea

Yoni Tzafrir:

of news the came first so look at I have like time to think because like by definition I don't say yeah, I'm just helping the family here. Now the kids get into school new new country new language to have a little bit time to think and then I look at the technology of like, that exists today of like, reading reading and reading articles or neural text to speech and and I was amazed by the ability and then I thought to myself, you know what, like, it's gonna be amazing I have like, a half hour drive now like why why wouldn't I just read to me whatever I'm interested about right? Let's say my interests in life right are Bitcoin and the conditions so why why wouldn't you just read it to me and for me it was a little bit to also get my English better as you can probably tell it's not my first language so but then I put this idea in the side because you know, it was not driving by by by itself but and later I talked with a friend and I told her about it and the friend she was in she's she's dyslexic when she told me Well, for me, it's like could be amazing. There's a lot of people like searching for such a solution and I started a little bit, look into it. And I saw that no one, no one does it, no one does exactly what I wanted to have and to be able to give to people. So it came to me. So that was the first moment I decided that I wanted to

JP Gaston:

be the type of person like I think about stuff all the time. And I'm like, that's an amazing idea. And then I either forget to write it down, or I write it down, but I never revisit it. Are you the type of person that just like, constantly has ideas? And then that one came to you? And you're like, Oh, this is a really good one. And you put it somewhere and, and parked it? Or was that like, oh, surprise? I have an idea. Yeah,

Yoni Tzafrir:

I do. I do have from time to time ideas. But a lot of times I saw I always try to validate, you know, with people, is it just something that I want? Or like, does anyone cares? Right? And off time, I had a days and they came divided with people and then told me Ah, you know what? Yeah, it's an it's an it's a nice idea. Or it can be a good feature. When you get this response, you know, you shouldn't go that bad.

JP Gaston:

Yeah, that's great Yani really

Seth Anderson:

good point. Because, like a lot of good ideas. I mean, I've been known to be something of an idea, man, myself. And you get down the path and you find out, you know, maybe the markets not as big as you thought it was, or there's actually this other solution, or there's somebody with a patent or all kinds of things. When When did you realize like, Oh, this, not only is there a market, but you know, I could take advantage of it and really make something cool here. Is there like a moment, you can remember where that that realization hit you?

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, so it's a process. It's not one more, but I can specify a few moments were very, you know, important in in this process? So like, yeah, I, first of all, is with a lot of people are you to view a lot of people and then got fair, very good responses. And like, the best response you can get, doesn't need to exist already. Or like, that's the like, the best is once you can get and, and then by the company in April 2020. Yeah, just two minutes of the, I guess, first of all, and then I actually started working on the on June 20, Duane, me and, you know, one, one student or one and a half students during the summer. And at that moment, I was saying, okay, it's the, let's, let's play with it a little bit, and see if we can get anything and and within, you know, a month or two, we had something working that. I mean, it was, it was not good as

Seth Anderson:

v1 MVP was

Yoni Tzafrir:

not as good as it is now. But it did something that really resembled the concept of how I imagined and for me, it was the Eureka moment, like, wow, I can I can imagine something in you know, the very small space between inside my head and make it come to realizations was a great moment. In that moment, I realized that yeah, that's, that's what I'm going to do, and I'm going to continue, it's not just a nice project, or a nice try, plan and different nerves, like,

Seth Anderson:

being the founder and entrepreneur and CEO of a, you know, a tech startup I would imagine can be probably a bit of a lonely place at times, like you. And so I'm just wondering, we talk a lot about community and the role that that plays in life. But on this venture in particular, has there been some some key people that have, you know, helped keep you sane through the process and been been there for you as you've kind of gone through the journey of making it real?

Yoni Tzafrir:

Oh, definitely. So the main person that helped me is my wife is force she's, she's actually the Wonder Woman that you know, she, she, she works she studies she initiated our move to here like, you know, did everything and I just the small man who followed her, and she's like, being my support with our I wouldn't be able to do it. Like, give me you know, endless credit to play with its enterpreneurship stuff. I guess that's that's one source of support, the other source of support our idea is that this For me, and for me, it's important to see the reaction, like how it reflects them. So I'm given them example, how can be your have your own business, which something that I didn't have, like my parents were like hardworking people. They were also like, immigrants in their own country about like growing up in poor families or so like conversions, not something you do Usually, it's like too risky. And just given them example, that it's possible, even if it all fail. That's for me. And I suppose, and I guess, the loving family from my extended family, which is not close to me. But right now, except to my mother that just came here is Yeah, she just came here. And that was now possible, and then told her you know, what? We haven't seen your videos just just want our take. And she's here, like, for three weeks and seeing her grandchildren innocence. It's wonderful. But like, yeah, that the support I got from for my parents, right? So I have my father that passed away more than four years ago. Like he was like, always there for us like that without question. Yeah, I need any help with that. I need help with that. You know, I need to help with the kids was always there for us. And same as my mother, right? She sure how was the most important thing was, for me always to be happy. So on top of, you know, getting money or no, nice job, we're so I guess that love and support I got from this

JP Gaston:

journey. And when you were in Israel, before you came over, you were in the tech community there, right? Like, yeah, what was it like to transition from having a? I'll call it a work community? What was it like transitioning from being in that space to now kind of being a lonely island and trying to do things on your own? Did you still find support from that community? Back in Israel? Did you find support here in Canada? Or was it kind of a run at it on your own? and see who you can bring along for the ride?

Yoni Tzafrir:

Mm hmm. Good question. I guess first, I'm getting support here. I get some support from Canada and from Canadian grant government as like, some support for tech here because they want to encourage you. for Israel, it's always like, easier for me to communicate. So like, you know, I'm connected to like, groups of tags, and we've been groups. And so like, and they're one thing I've I can say about differences there are more engaged, so I know, maybe because it's, it's a smaller community, right? There's like, no, eight, 9 million Israelis as opposed to, you know, 30 million in Canada or, or no, 300 something in North America, right? But so there are more engaged and I wouldn't go as far as like, more willing to help but like, because there are more involved, it's like easier and, of course easier for me to communicate. So yeah, I get a lot of support. Like, if it's professional, if it's like the printer,

Seth Anderson:

all they have, you know, sort of multiple places to tap into like that, you know, like I'm just thinking out loud. For JP and I, as we started this podcast, we basically have this very small circle around us with friends and family and kind of grew this from there. But as we've I think back to the COVID comment, like I don't a our podcast would not exist without COVID because it sort of set the table for being able to do things virtually. And being able to grow a network all across the world, which is like crazy to think about right now. Like we've got to meet people from Germany and I can't even remember Portugal, like we got to meet all these people around the world. And it's just so interesting. How this like difficult, crazy dynamics global situation. But like all the all the interesting and new things that come out of it, like all the opportunity, if you're looking for it, and I think like our podcast newsleave sort of born out of out of like doesn't usually exist without COVID

Yoni Tzafrir:

Oh, good question. So the Yeah, that idea came just before, just before COVID Oh, when people are starting talking about COVID before it came to North America, so there's like, definitely they came before that. But like, my first pitch to investors was, you know, started with, like some small joke. I didn't want to hear news about coffee, they want to hear news about things I care about. Well, now I don't do this pitch anymore, because it sounds like I'm covered in hair. I'm definitely not. But yeah, that's how it started. But Woods Did, did the COVID. situation, give it to momentum? To be what is maybe you know, it's as like, right? Again, how to say.

Seth Anderson:

So we talked a little bit about news Lee now like, I would I love about news, Lee is, you know, just the intent of it helps to help people I love, I love any product or service that starts at a basis of helping people. And particularly with your eyes, you've got, you know, some really clear examples, visually impaired, dyslexic, ESL, you know, this, this is actually a tool that can help you get information more easily, which is awesome. But then it's got this other arm to it, where it's like, if I'm just a person, and I don't want to have to read the news, I can just throw on this app, and it's gonna read it to me like it. So it's got that convenience factor. When you're pitching to investors. Now, are you the kind of play both those angles a little bit? Or like, Where's your? Where's your growth strategy headed? Is it more in sort of being the general practitioner of delivering news? Or do you want to focus more on like, helping the people who maybe have a difficult time accessing information?

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, so actually, we're on the verge of deciding if you want to pitch to investors at all, because we're getting success, maybe without an investor, which is always great. But typically, they will question so yeah, there is why I started, which, you know, for what you mentioned, people with learning disabilities, etc, or even you know, get improved in your specific language. But yeah, in practice, we learn that audio listeners don't have that solution of topic or content. And for me, this is also a solution, also helping someone to, to solve a problem. So because you know, where the problem could be, you know, being educated, get up at a dad, even getting entertained, right? So it's solving some problem and we see people, people Deus every day love news, like where we can do without, like, so good to hear it.

JP Gaston:

I think I think people get sick of CBC catering the news to them, like that's, and not that there's anything wrong with CBC I think most of our listeners would know I'm a CBC lover but it's there's something about just having that custom feed so that you can hear what you want to hear and when people watch the news like how much of the actual news on TV or on the radio is interesting, right right for most people it's probably you know, five to 10% even sports center like you watch sports center you're usually watching it for a specific reason you you're waiting to see like what was the score in the Blue Jays game and you sit through half an hour of content to get to the 30 seconds of here's the update on the Blue Jays game so I imagine there's just a ton of people out there who when they discover new usually they're like, just amazed at how specific it can get into what they want.

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And into the get even more specific, so right now we have a virgin that we're picking up whatever is trending, no one will say Canada or us or whatever. And then like first specific topics, but our next version I can share with you right now just secretly with you and all the listeners that is going to be you can get as specific as you want and like for what are you interested in so that's like one of these super super excited and I'm like, you can you can you will get like like it's a door to infinity. Because you know, it's not just a topic to qualify

JP Gaston:

the door to infinity. I love it.

Seth Anderson:

I was. So I'm just poking around on your LinkedIn account. And you guys were announced as finalists for startup Canada's global pitch competition. Yeah and yeah what's what's that all about that seems that seems super cool

Yoni Tzafrir:

yeah we've chosen the 50 top of this competition and pitch there and don't know where where does it stands right now I think we should have we should wait for that announcement they all those things are like super cool to do and like he get some recognition and you know sometimes you may win some you know, cash prize or whatever and it's like really nice but it's more like for me it's my getting I get to be connected with people like people like like you or you know or other entrepreneurs on those events. And for me it's like that's that's the most valuable thing we even like lately were chosen by best startup.ca to be on the top of the 15 applicate consumer applications in Canada which is like insane again it's it's mainly nice that we can like you know, stop for a moment you know get a get recognized but like that's not really what's really driving outside this area is really making great products and seeing people really enjoying it

Seth Anderson:

that resonates and i think that's that's totally totally how JP and I see that so that's probably why we I was

JP Gaston:

just thinking like you can stop for a minute but like when when we got our award for podcasting here we were it was like yay wait man we got to do more

Seth Anderson:

that's cool cuz like I've never really won an award I guess a couple like personal things at work and stuff but this is like a team you know someone actually listened to it and thought it was pretty good and yeah, that was cool but

Yoni Tzafrir:

it was it

Seth Anderson:

oh we want a couple we won What are they call Hermes Hermes creative award and Ava digital creative award oh but I think the the most fulfilling part of this whole thing has just been being able to share the stories of guests like that's what I love is is a giving the space for people like yourself to be able to just share a bit about your journey and and give some other people best practices and and and just sit down and vibe for an hour and meet new people like there's that element and then you know every time you get one of those texts or phone calls where it's like man, I listened to this episode and it I did something different after because of it, it could be a little thing it could be that I read a book could be that I now I'm motivated to go figure out what my next career is like just seeing that people can take the information that we share and do something with their lives man like I don't care about ever making $1 off this or whether we grow to have a million people or we continue to have you know a few 100 people that just being able to kind of make a little little ripple in the world with with this that's that's what it's all about to me.

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, yeah, definitely. inspiring people is is inspiring that's why you're saying so yeah, I totally agree.

Seth Anderson:

What's the hardest and just kind of sparked this but what's what's the hardest part about running being a tech entrepreneur because I think a lot of people would have thought that the tech would be the hardest part like the actual technology but is it the technology or is it the people or the marrying the two things together? Where do you find the most like friction or challenge in this world?

Yoni Tzafrir:

No, it's not definitely not the technology. I mean, although we have a great technological challenges, but two things So firstly, it's like working with other people that's the challenge are waking is making it feel like one organism and especially if you're in COVID it's harder right? Because I know we work remotely and that's that that's a challenge. That's the first part and then the other part is like all the business stuff around it that some of it is like exciting. Some of it is like can be boring because it just it's like it just ends to man right or said like, but it does not come with the instruction guidebook. So that's that's the hard, hard part.

Seth Anderson:

Has there been anything along the way where you were like, Oh shit, I didn't sign up for this. Or generally, it's been you know, pretty If you've got all the the prereqs even though there's not a book or a job description you've got, you know, you've got the base skills that you're finding your way.

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, I guess, I guess, the length of the journey, the journey seems like, longer than I imagined it. Like, I want to be sent down certain places alrea

JP Gaston:

is that because the tech is easy? Like, is it because you can easily picture it and easily get the tech portion done, but the hard part is all of the talking to other people selling it, moving it along? Is that what makes it so hard?

Yoni Tzafrir:

Exactly, exactly. But again, the press the support that I get, like housemate and the second thing is the the amazing thing that we have in music, right? Because, like, that's, that's really the greatest thing that drives nearly because No, I'm just one person. But we have such a great team that both professionally and you know, that communicate with each other. And so, so well, really, like, if sometimes, like shows, like one big organism, or I want to like, point to cliches, and we're one big family, right? We're not family, but we are I feel like we're friends and like then realizing like making something really, really, really tough. Together.

Seth Anderson:

What would you say? Is there anything that comes to mind that you've learned about yourself as a leader during this whole process?

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, a lot of fans mainly learn that most of the time I I wouldn't be the smartest person in the room. And usually, I be on the bottom end of it. And like just realizing it, and admit it to myself. Really, really helps.

Seth Anderson:

Is that saying if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room?

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, exactly. So that's that's that's why I tried to surround myself and easily like such great smart people. Usually why it is and you know, the people love, love the product. So I

JP Gaston:

think when you're thinking back to Yani in his car dreaming about someone reading him the news as he drove

Seth Anderson:

like the visual via a nice little little cartoon. There's Jani in the car thinking

JP Gaston:

so you're Jani in the car? Thinking about news Li and now you're Jani? CEO of a team working on it? Did you like even if you thought that you would build it? Did you ever think that it would turn into a larger team? Or was it was it a surprise the amount of success you've seen?

Yoni Tzafrir:

Oh, definitely a surprise. But there was actually two Yon is in that car. Was the cadence chidester donec Jani on saying. Yeah, you know, but really? And you do that?

JP Gaston:

Oh, geez, here's another idea from Jani

Yoni Tzafrir:

was the first line and the second one was, you know, it's possible and you you have the capabilities to you know, drive people to do it and you have for me, for example, I'm jack of all trades and Master of None, but I actually learned during time that it's actually an advantage, right? Because, you know, I know about stack our software works and all about marketing. I little bits know how to express myself so like maybe with new innovation and things like that, then that's actually a good thing for him to prove. So that was the other Yani that supported me and and butterball is still here. Always, like sitting on my shoulder as you know.

JP Gaston:

I think I think of Fred Flintstone and every time they like to, to Fred's appear on his shoulder the one yeah. Halo and Yeah. Hey, thanks for calling The Biz Dojo. What can we do for you?

Bill from the Coffee Shop:

I was wondering if I could order some coffee please.

JP Gaston:

Of course were you looking for the Masters medium roast or maybe some dojo dark rose

Unknown:

so venti so it has a chai latte coming right out. Sorry about that. Yeah, I'll take a Masters medium to dark there. So best coffee.

JP Gaston:

Ever. Oh, thank you. Well, we'll get that order out to you right away. Why do I say about being on your phone while working, I gotta get back to work, or register we got to line up, run out a venti cup. If you're looking for a great cup of coffee, save your bucks and reach for the star The Biz Dojo brand coffee where ethically sourced and Canadian roasted, so you can be sure that it's gonna be an incredible taste, just send an email to coffee at The Biz dojo.com and we'll get you started.

Seth Anderson:

Hello, this is Aaron Evans from the Aaron Evans podcast. And you are listening to The Biz Dojo. So I got to get a this week's question from Mama Seth, brought to you by beyond a beaten path. So we do weekly questions from my mom. She's a supporter of the show, and

Yoni Tzafrir:

I can call my mom and she'll dancer.

Seth Anderson:

Mom to mom,

Yoni Tzafrir:

bottle of lungs.

Seth Anderson:

This This one is very specific, I think to the music and I kind of brought this up in our pre call. But I said Jani given your focus on, you know, helping people with visual impairment, dyslexia, etc. Is there any opportunities you see that can potentially help hearing impaired or deaf people? And any, any ideas you might have? So I don't know if that's a suggestion or a question, but I think sparked some interest when she was looking through your site. And I know with my brother being deaf, there's not a I would say a lack of resources for the deaf community, especially in the tech space. So

Yoni Tzafrir:

yeah, definitely the definitely there's a lot of room for innovation around it, and not enough resources dedicated to it. That's what I see. Do you know if if your mom want to go to intrapreneurship with me, we can do it.

Seth Anderson:

She is actually an entrepreneur. So yeah, she a few years ago started a company called beyond a beaten path, which is they do custom artwork and, and some really cool stuff, actually. So she's already starting in the entrepreneurship space. So maybe you guys could meld your brains together and come up with the next big, big thing to support the hearing impaired community. Check

Yoni Tzafrir:

it out that right? Yeah, they're

Seth Anderson:

awesome. So what? What do you see in the on the horizon for Newsday? I guess so you guys are launched? You've got this infinity door covering? I like that the Infinity door? Yeah. What do you Where do you want to take this? Ultimately,

Yoni Tzafrir:

right now we're just focusing on getting the words to as many people as possible, and we actually don't know. So, of course, we know we have down the roadmap, you know, Dan's working on the web offers. Right now it's been like, looking at the bigger picture, we don't know what what is going to be like, it's going to be just, you know, cool, nice for your personal podcaster in your pocket, or it's going to turn into a bigger thing that also like, you know, connects people or like, we don't know was like, we're hoping to get a life of a song. So that's the best thing.

Seth Anderson:

They have an open mind to where this whole thing like you're not so fixated on we got to get to 10 million subscribers and be here in six months. You're kind of just going with it a little a Yeah, yeah,

Yoni Tzafrir:

you know, this, of course, growth is always good. But this Yeah, that's that experiment, right? You were doing something and you want people to, to be able to enjoy it. But that that's never the goal, like, you know, whatever, it'll take us, you know, we'll go there. And we've seen it like a lot of the fans and the vigil we have like, came from from actually from users saying okay, that would be great. If I could do that that will be solved me that problem or that could solve that problem as long as people are waiting for that solution. So is that

Seth Anderson:

a common mistake you think for I'm just thinking, entrepreneurship in general. I love how you keep going back to what problem are we solving and and you know, it could that problem, you could have a new problem to solve tomorrow and being open to it versus I have this great tech, you should want this and use this because it's great. You're like, Hey, I can help you solve this problem. And you're, I dig it. I feel like that's that's the way to approach it.

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, I actually feel there's like Different ways to put Yeah, sometimes it can come from the tech side saying, okay, it's just new and amazing technology. Let's see what it can do I just want to approach another approach. Yeah, I have this idea that let's find the technology that can do it or, you know, it's like, carbs. Diet versus fat diet. Yeah, they both work. But now, the results will be the same, I guess. So

JP Gaston:

I every time I think about like advancement in tech to you, I always think about the refrigerators who was asking for their refrigerator to have a computer on the front of it that would tell them what groceries they needed to order. Nobody, nobody was asking for that. Yeah. And now it's just a standard feature. refrigerator, there's, there's a, you know, a water dispenser and an ice dispenser and a computer on the front and a see through like, it's amazing to think about just an icebox turning into this crazy technological marvel that sits

Yoni Tzafrir:

on one thing I should get myself such.

Seth Anderson:

But even even if you take that further back, like, who was asking for a refrigerator, nobody was asking for a refrigerator, they wanted to keep their food cold. And then someone invented the refrigerator. But the one

Yoni Tzafrir:

who invented making ice cream was a really innovative, innovative person. Right? Right.

Seth Anderson:

I think that's that that whole train of thought, though, is, you know, a lot of times customers don't really know what they want until it's in front of them, right? Like, if you just, you know, to your point, if you just ask customers what they want and go build it, you end up with the Homer Simpson power, all these features that everybody thinks that they want and and you know, it doesn't come together well, versus if you see a problem, and you can apply your technology or your your unique offer to like, anyway, that's probably just thinking out loud there. But now I just been thinking about the Homer Simpson car, I figured that

JP Gaston:

you were trying to think of all of the things that he had the coffeemaker and the TV. But yeah, that's kind of where I was going with it, right? Like there's a, there's some problems in there that people are trying to solve, but they're trying to solve it the wrong way. Because they're, they're only looking at one element. They're only looking at user experience. They're not thinking about, like, what you were talking about Yani like, moving ahead and considering all of the technology that's coming, all of the changes you could make, how can you impact different communities like, you know, people who might have dyslexia or other learning disabilities, you have to take all that into account when you build something, and that's not easy to do.

Yoni Tzafrir:

And not easy,

Seth Anderson:

but it's the job of the CEO. Really, really hard hitting question for Janya. annegret a couple more we were having a bit of a bit of banter on LinkedIn about the greatest rap album of all time. Yeah. And you're pretty passionate that there's just one so what why why is Dr. Dre 2001 the best rap album of all time?

Yoni Tzafrir:

You know this? I don't know I guess when you asked that question it was after I saw that Did you see the defined bonds? Yes with an HBO NOW exactly come naturally since photos

Seth Anderson:

and NFL yeah okay that's right yeah with yeah and what's Jimmy IV

Yoni Tzafrir:

yeah Jimmy avian and then Dover right? Yeah, I guess I guess it was after I saw it so I couldn't give any honors but you can change every day Yeah, there's you can you can find that that's that's fine art or it? They can find inspiration in FM right? can be you know, can be in and attack and debris or it can be like other attackers can be an artist, right? Like because, like artist work is a little bit what you're trying to do, right? That the ultimate product, right? And then artists like something spiritual or not substantial. And, you know, you're creating something that everyone wants, right? Like, oh, Stevie, Stevie the Songs in the Key of Life. Right? And he created the perfect hour, right? Nothing's better than that.

Seth Anderson:

Well, I think the inspiring thing while we're while we're vibing on Dr. Dre is he did it in more than one arena right? Like he did it as a solo artist. He did it as the producer of other artists. He did it as a businessman with Aftermath records and then beats like it's pretty unreal what what he's accomplished not and just like across all industry.

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think that's part of a friend. So whatever you wrote, but I think whatever you post you pursue, like openly and And candidly like from the heart and just do something really, really amazing that, you know, inspire him first and then people wanted to follow us. Well, I

JP Gaston:

think like what we've been talking about, in each of those cases, he saw a problem that he wanted to solve, he wanted to figure out a way to solve that particular problem like I'm thinking specifically of the Beats by Dre like the noise cancellation, the getting the right sound quality hitting hitting the right frequencies at that distance from your ear like that was all part of his consideration and what he talked about constantly as he started forming the business and same same thing when he went into production he wanted to make sure that people got the right sound that he was fulfilling a part of the market like it's we're going

Seth Anderson:

to turn into a Dr. Dre commercial I'm wearing my beats right now and I have I have two pairs of Beats headphones and they've lasted years

JP Gaston:

be calm you can order yourself. Honestly though,

Seth Anderson:

like even like the like the flimsy little like the apple ones that you get with your phone or whatever I have a pair of beats and they were more expensive but I think the last for my entire life.

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah. And you know, even when he started like, you know, a young musician a I don't think he I felt over Yeah, I have a problem. You know, most consolation I want to solve it but he just wanted you know, to hear the best being right. This we're gonna read and you know, cheaper off until it's like perfection. So,

Seth Anderson:

and then take that perfection and make billions of dollars off of it.

JP Gaston:

That's we're just a few steps away from that right now. Seth

Yoni Tzafrir:

that's few podcasts and everything will change.

Seth Anderson:

That's alright. Everybody Watch out The Biz Dojo News. Lee, we're coming. We're on the come.

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah.

JP Gaston:

You can listen to us on your Beats by Dre. order them.

Seth Anderson:

Awesome. Eonni. What? What are you what are you doing to feed your mind? What what are you got any suggestions, books or pods and anything that you're working on from a personal development standpoint right now.

Yoni Tzafrir:

The first is a great podcast I can recommend called The Biz Dojo. For all listeners, if, and, you know, I said it's dope. For me, I listened to it, like I said, as a fan. And now I guess that's great. I found a lot of inspiration. A lot of the episodes, what are I tell you this Thursday, I used to read a lot nowadays. Not that much. If I have a little bit of spare time, I just try to, you know, go out to be with a friend. And then there's some like, a little bit out of my world. And then then yeah, I just listened to other people. And then it's like, oh, yeah, there's other people as their own problems. And you know, we're not alone. And

Seth Anderson:

one of the things you mentioned earlier was that you know how important your daughter is to you and I'm a dad as well and I tend to think that you can get inspiration from anywhere if you're open to it. And recently, my daughter taught herself how to swim. And she's only four while today's her birthday. So she turned five today.

Yoni Tzafrir:

I'm going to get over

Seth Anderson:

the last month she without a swimming lesson. just figured it out. I was so damn inspired. Yeah. That I was like you know what, I gotta go do something. So I started exercising and pushing myself and learning new stuff but just wondering Is that your daughter inspired you to lately on anything?

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, so actually, there is some crazy story that when I started my business, my my oldest daughter she was like, not like older or less than a day she she started uploading YouTube videos. Okay, and the YouTube videos about her are playing with some game called Roblox or some Roblox Yeah, my

Seth Anderson:

son plays that. Yeah, one

Yoni Tzafrir:

of the inner games there and just she just narrated it with their own voice, which was like, English was a second language just for a few months, then, you know, and in few weeks, it got to like some of our videos got to millions of views. Wow. Yeah, I think I think she has like, I will she got like, 220 Key subscribers some of them and at some point like within you know muscle juice she started like it's became like a passive Inga it came to $100 a day or something like that and it's and I was in while I was spending money on my business which was doing nothing she was she was creating her own business and which was like mind blowing like super inspiring and then after like two three months she says I don't want to do it you

Seth Anderson:

just dropped the mic

Yoni Tzafrir:

Yeah, and it doesn't introduce me anymore and at first I thought oh I'm going to drop that nice passive income probably would have like grown more but then I thought you know yeah, whatever makes her happy and then just thought

Seth Anderson:

there's a beauty to that though isn't there like everything ends at some point yeah and to have like the i don't know i think that's beautiful like okay I'm good I'm done yes I wanted to do I'm moving on to my next thing like

Yoni Tzafrir:

she's like you know it's it's more inspiring than then then Dr. Gray Yeah, like I finished when I saw my next challenge right produced mmm and creating my headphones tech company.

JP Gaston:

Well The Biz Dojo is looking for a social media coordinator sounds like she might be a good fit because that's quite the following

Yoni Tzafrir:

I have to admit it crossed my mind as well. Chris I feel to some like exploitation there but mainly it won't work because it doesn't work like that like she she did something that you know interest here you can not create just you know, yeah, tell some viral for me it doesn't work and just some issues real efficient about like the game and did really really good in front of heart and you know, like millions of people are watching it on YouTube. So

Seth Anderson:

that's the magic I think it's having passion for something and then it doesn't even you know, just to sort of build on that even from like, who we work with who we connect with who we have on the show I mean there's all kinds of ways we could just bring in random people with whatever but like we want to work with and collaborate with people who are excited about what they do and then excited about what we do and like you You build rapport with each other and it's exciting like that's that's how we want to approach it and like if this is ever for what I shouldn't say ever for five minutes but if this is ever like not fun and feels like a job I don't want to do it like there's way too much fun and life's way too short and if you can tap into that passion man everything is just better

Yoni Tzafrir:

that's that's the secret key right? If you combine things that you're both good at and passionate about then you're good I mean like most of people either they they sometimes they do something they good about but they don't really like it and then the draft and sometimes they do something that they're really passionate about but they're really not very good at it and and if you're able to combine those two that's that's all the magnet writers the

Seth Anderson:

meaning of life, right? I don't know. didn't close you're in the realm.

JP Gaston:

the realm of

Yoni Tzafrir:

funding rounds up to 42

Seth Anderson:

awesome. So where I guess last question Yani where can people learn more about news Lee?

Yoni Tzafrir:

is Donald out go to newsletter.me go online to newsletter of me there's a link there to foster playstore and redownload it tribes dojo

Seth Anderson:

awesome i love it you're gonna love it JP love it we all love it. It's

JP Gaston:

send an email coaching at The Biz Dojo. Thanks for joining us set up a free figure out if we're the right coaches.

Seth Anderson:

And what was that email again

JP Gaston:

coaching at The Biz dojo.com