Israel has recently experienced significant growth in its startup sector. This growth has been documented in numerous books, including “Start-up Nation,” and has made Israel a popular destination for businesses seeking to scale. Uri Levine, a graduate of Tel Aviv University, has played a prominent role in this growth.
Levine is best known as the co-founder of Waze, the most popular navigation app. In addition to his work with Waze, Levine has also written a book called “Fall in Love with the Problem – Not the Solution.” This book discusses the importance of focusing on problems rather than solutions in order to drive innovation and achieve success.
In recent years, Levine’s career has taken a slight shift in focus. Despite his continued involvement in the startup industry, he has also turned his attention to other endeavors, such as mentorship and philanthropy.
Who is Uri Levine?
Entrepreneurship speaker Uri Levine is a well-known entrepreneur and technology executive. A poster boy for the now booming Israeli start-up scene, Levine is best known as the co-founder of Waze, a popular navigation and traffic app that was acquired by Google in 2013 for over $1 billion dollars.
Since then, Levine has gone on to co-found several other successful startups, including Pontera, a financial service that helps people save money on their investments, and FairFly, which allows users to rebook plane tickets for a lower cost than the original booking. Engie, Refundit, and Fibo – three companies in different markets, were all founded within a couple of years from each other too.
Furthermore, Levine has been a useful asset on the board of many companies. Moovit, is another navigation platform that Levine is involved with as both an investor and board member, which was later acquired in 2020 for $1 billion dollars by Intel. Having grown Waze and Moovit to being sold to Google and Intel, Levine is a master of creating value and scaling up tech firms.
What’s perhaps more incredible than Levine’s ideas is his work ethic – he doesn’t need to be working this hard anymore. The incredible story of Waze being one of Israel’s largest tech exits may appear to be a later-stage success after an accumulation of knowledge, but this is far from the case. Waze was founded in 2007 and was Levine’s first startup endeavor. First-time luck it was not.
But, Levine is more than a serial entrepreneur; he is now an author who has been sharing his vast experiences within business and innovation. The Israeli-born entrepreneur focusing more on a mentoring role in 2023, with his book ‘Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs’ published in mid-January 2023 .
A Handbook for Entrepreneurs
Levine’s book, “A Handbook for Entrepreneurs,” is a practical guide for aspiring entrepreneurs. The book covers a wide range of topics. Levine reflects back on his creation and sale of Waze to talk on the topics of idea generation, hiring and firing, product development, fundraising, and disrupting broken markets.
One of the key themes of the book is the importance of solving a real problem for customers. Levine emphasizes the importance to thoroughly understanding the needs of the target market and designing a product or service that targets those needs in a unique and innovative way.
Levine’s book has already received stunning praise from the likes of Steve Wozniak (co-founder, Apple) and Marc Randolph (co-founder, Netflix). Wozniak even said the book “should be a bible for entrepreneurs.”
Levine’s own description of the book is that he wants to “tell the truth about building a startup — warts and all — providing a blueprint for entrepreneurs so they can launch any business right.”
The 304-page book has been garnering a lot of anticipation among entrepreneurs too. As a result, a lot of Levine’s keynote speeches have been revolving around similar ideas that are shared in the book….
Uri Levine Keynote Speeches
Uri Levine’s mentoring endeavors aren’t stopping with his latest book release. In fact, Uri Levine has been a popular entrepreneurship speaker since 2012, when he started giving keynote speeches all around the world following the success of Waze.
Some common themes that Levine covers in his keynote speeches include the importance of solving a real problem for customers, evolution vs revolution in markets, the value of persistence and leadership, and the role of innovation in business success. In particular, ‘disruptive’ innovation, and the strategies and mindset behind such successful disruptions.
Levine frequently discusses the challenges and opportunities of the technology industry, and how to navigate them as a founder or leader. He enjoys covering a mixture of engaging storytelling from his past with hard truths about going forward. Ultimately, a Levine keynote speech is mostly watched by entrepreneurs looking for guidance on scaling up their startups.
For a taste of what Levine’s speeches are like, he has his own YouTube channel that posts some of his previous talks and interviews. Furthermore, there is a trailer for his book release too which is garnering lots of attention
