This transcript has been edited for space and clarity.
Tzahi Weisfeld
Many times founders are so — they're so in love with what they do, and they keep on pitching. So they’re in pitching mode, they don't listen, right. And there are a lot of gold nuggets that are being transferred in these calls that they miss.
And someone may tell you what they don't want to, they don't want to buy what you're offering, but he may tell you what he's willing to pay for and what he's willing to buy. And if you listen well enough, this has made this, you may have just found your pivot, and something that doesn't exist there.
Walter Thompson
That’s Tzahi Weisfeld, General Manager & Vice President of Intel Ignite, Intel’s 12-week accelerator for deep tech startups.
In this episode, we talked about his program’s selection and evaluation process, the kinds of team Intel Ignite wants to mentor, and how they help deep tech founders overcome common challenges like feature prioritization and hiring.
Tzahi Weisfeld
And in the process, we teach Intel so many things about the world, the world of technology, what are the trends, what are the things are happening that, you know, you may not have seen without being so entrenched with with these founders early, and then through the mentor program, we change the culture of Intel.
Walter Thompson
I’m Walter Thompson. Welcome to season two of Fund/Build/Scale.
Fund/Build/Scale is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.
Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.
I'm here today with Tzahi Weisfeld of Intel Ignite. Thanks for joining me here today.First off, can you give me an overview: how many cohorts do you have each year, and how many startups have been through the program so far?
Tzahi Weisfeld
Absolutely, and very happy to be here. Thank you very much for having me. Intel Ignite is the early-stage startup program at Intel started back in 2019, mid-2019. And although we have Intel Capital for 30 years, a very active, very strong and active corporate venture fund, the need was for a tool that will connect Intel to a broader, much broader set of founders, helping them be successful in a different motion than the corporate venture fund. So Intel Ignite is focused on deep tech startups. It's an accelerator model, it's 12 weeks, very, very intense, 12 weeks, we get to see about 2,500 startups a year. And we pick only about 4%, and are getting accepted to the program. The program operates out of Boston for the US, out of London for the UK, Munich for Europe and Tel Aviv for Israel. We've had so far almost 180 graduates, which totally we take them, it's early-stage, so it's late seed, or average funding of a company that would start Ignite would be around $6 - $7 million. Before they join us, and overall portfolio raised, we're going to announce soon that the portfolio just passed $2 billion of funding in these last few years, and more than a billion dollars of exits. So the portfolio is doing very, very nice. We're growing at about 80 companies a year now. So we're growing fast. Most of our companies are being referred by investors, by VCs, which is very uncommon in the accelerator space. And as I said, the program is very intense, we see a lot of AI companies these days, a lot of generative AI if the company needs you know, plenty of compute and, and a lot of data and bandwidth, etc. We love these companies and we love to help them with their challenges. So anyway, so accelerated program 12 weeks super intense, very mentor heavy mentors come from within Intel from outside of Intel. And we give the first thing we give a startup, which is the most needed thing these days is validation and credibility. Right. So there's so many startups out there, and how do you choose which one to invest in? How do you choose which one to take on as a customer? Many times you look for validation. So we're Intel is your validation and very well known brand, which is very hard to be to, you know, usually it's hard to sell to Intel or companies like Intel. So if you got validated by people in Intel, it's much much easier to get your funding or next customers. So this is part of the things we do.
Walter Thompson
I know people are concerned about, you know, compliance, and data safety and governance. [Are] you helping people get their act together before they present themselves to a customer? Is that sort of thing you're talking about?
Tzahi Weisfeld
So first of all, we've talked about the selection process, we operate in formal locations, selection takes about three months. So companies will get about 250-300 companies to apply. About 200 of them will get an interview or call, but 50 will get to deep due diligence process, 18 will get to the final selection day with about 150 judges. Each startup will get to do two different pitches of 25 minutes to two different rooms of judges, [they] have about 13-15 judges in the room. And then 10 will join the program. So even that is pretty strong validation that, you know, they know what they talk about. There's real IP there. There's a chance of success. And the team is coachable and they're heading towards the right direction. And then from a program perspective, there are four things we do so there are four engines that we leverage. One I mentioned, this mentorship. So each startup gets an industry mentor, which is usually a serial entrepreneur, somebody that used to build companies hired, fired, exited, went through the whole process and help them on how do you build a company? And how do you manage your board and how do you handle, you know, challenging issues between your board members or, or customers etc. So that's one side of mentorship. The other side of mentorship is the Intel mentorship and we have about 300 mentors from within Intel and every startup gets a lead mentor that builds around them, about a small army of four to five people. And they could come from legal, they could come from sales, it could come from branding, they could come from engineering, and they help the company in these variety of issues. And we've helped companies completely restructure IP completely restructure their contracts with manufacturers in a variety of aspects including sales, right? How do you build your go to market, what do you do in order to gain rate leads. So that's, that's the mentorship that we have workshops. We almost — we don't work with consultants, it's only practitioners, people that have run their own companies or worked at startups and they come to pay it forward, they teach others, and they do office hours as well with the companies. The third thing we do is something called “founders’ circle.” So every week, the companies will meet for about 90 minutes or a couple hours with an experienced entrepreneur, successful entrepreneur, or an intimate discussion, a little bit of war stories, but a lot of intimate discussion of how they do things. Then the last thing is the work they do with the integration work they do with the Ignite team. The Ignite team, we work in pods, every pod has a managing director, which is a serial entrepreneur that’s built companies before, a CTO, which is a very senior technical person from within Intel, an ops manager that runs the day to day operations of the site and the content, a deal flow manager and a value creation person. And going back to the point they said which one of the most important things is being validated. And so that value creation person will help you find business opportunities within Intel and outside of Intel, we've bought about a third of our companies will do some kind of a POC with Intel or you know, get to a relationship or licensing or whatever, which is very high.
Walter Thompson
What are some of those traits that the participants have in common? Is there a thread that connects that personality type or where they are as far as their journey? What did they all have in common?
Tzahi Weisfeld
We're looking basically for four or five things. One is, the first first ones are like any VC. So we look for a strong team, people that come from the right backgrounds and can operate as a team and we look for their, you know, how they work together? And how is the balance between the team members then we look for IP…is it something that's significant and novel, no one has done it before? “We're not the way they're doing it.” So what's the interesting technology? And is it really unique? The third thing, we look at the size of opportunity for Intel to be engaged. And for us to look at this as a relevant thing, we would want to see a major impact, right? So there is a business opportunity, that it's not a small feature, it could be a big thing that makes an impact on the world of technology. And then, you know, looking at all these things, do we think they're going to be successful. Now the last thing that we look at, which may be different than what a VC would look at, we look at coachability. Because the program is so mentor heavy, when they listen, you know where they come every week again, and again and again, and listen to their mentors and be willing to learn. Some of the founders, we see very strong, experienced people, they say, Look, we only want you know, help us get leads and help us go to market and make Intel a customer, we say great, you know, we may be able to help you, we'll try to find the right contact, but you don't fit the program. Because in order to fit the program, you need to be willing to come and learn. And for the ones that are willing to do so I think they find the program very transformative.
Walter Thompson
Seems as though a lot of the people who become participants in Intel Ignite, are coming to you through investors or through a relationship with some sort. For people who don't have those relationships or they're just still in undergrad, they don't have those. How do you get started with the kind of making that you can actually get into this ecosystem you've created?
Tzahi Weisfeld
So first of all, startups at deep tech that, you know, as I expect them to do the work on finding customers, finding competitors, etc. I hope they could also find information about us. This is our focus. We are a deep tech accelerator and we're reaching out. We will get back to everyone that's going to reach out to us. Now we also yes, most of the companies that eventually been selected about 70% of them or and 70% are being referred by investors. But still we reach out, you know, we scout the market, we have a very strong data platform, we're trying to find every new company that either comes out of a very strong academic pedigree or connects to a local ecosystem that we may be connected to. And we have mentors from that ecosystem. We have companies from all over the US and any, any place north, south, east, west, as well as other places across Europe, Scotland, Ireland, we've Swedish companies, Finnish companies, from all over the place, I think the advantage of these days, you can actually work for us across the world virtually. So we get to the good companies, we try to get to them and we also get great referrals from investors. So, not that hard to find us. And intelignite.com. there’s info there,
Walter Thompson
What sets corporate accelerators like Intel Ignite apart from VC-backed programs, like, how do you see your role evolving, and the future of AI innovation and startup growth.
Tzahi Weisfeld
So there's a business school in the UK based, the research they did went to 2016 I believe, and now again, and I think they came to the conclusion that most accelerators actually fail. And, more so corporate accelerators. And it's interesting, there's some really interesting articles about TechStars and what happened at TechStars. Throughout the years. It's a tough model to be successful, an accelerator model is tough, because I think the financial model, it's not that great. On the other end, strategically, a corporate accelerator, I think could do really well, because he tries to solve for different things. So we don't take equity, for example. It's not an issue, equity, if I'm going to take equity, I'm actually not going to get the better companies. Because the better companies, the ones that are extremely successful, and after a great start, may not want to give away equity. On the other end, I want to connect to the best startups possible. And if I would want to invest, yeah, we'll pay a bit of premium, but we'll invest in the ones that makes sense for us later on. So what makes us apart is the fact that we're not transactional. And a big thing that came throughout the research, and many of the programs are failing, because they're very transactional. Either. “I'm here to take a chunk of your equity, and all I care about this is that financial return for me,” or if it's a corporate environment, “I want to sell you something.” We are because we're not either these ends we want. Our mission is to accelerate groundbreaking startups. It's about the startups. And in the process, we teach Intel so many things about the world, the world of technology: what are the trends, what are the things are happening that, you know, you may not have seen without being so entrenched with with these founders early, and then through the mentor program, we change the culture of Intel. And in the process, yes, we had a few acquisitions, and we had few investments, and we license technology. But that's — these are outcomes. These are not the things that are the main KPIs for us. I think that's the key ingredient. So can you find a program that would be like we do, which is co-founders of a service, which looks at the problem as if it's from your own eyes, and a group of founders that want to help you be successful, lots of mentors that are paying it forward, because someone helped them before. And if you can find that program, you're much better off anyone else.
Walter Thompson
I read some of the program materials, and it really seems to emphasize building a relationship with founders over time. Can you elaborate on how Intel ignite maintains these relationships post-program, and the ongoing support that members could expect?
Tzahi Weisfeld
Sure. So just a couple years ago, I got a big flower bouquet from one of my early founders at the Microsoft accelerator — I built the Microsoft accelerator programs, I managed Microsoft for startups around the world, and a great unicorn that came out of that called Aappsflyer. And a couple of years ago, they raised their last round or 200 and something million dollars and I got this big flower case saying you know, “couldn’t have done it without you.” And Oren, the CEO said that two of his advisors today are mentors I introduced them to 11 years ago. Still his advisors. I think this goes back to this trust, transparency and empathy. But that's not enough. We do have also a program, our value creation program, that on an ongoing basis, we work with the portfolio companies to help them get to opportunities. And there's KubeCon coming up soon, I think we have seven startups that we got speaking opportunities. If we'll do a booth in big conferences, it will be focused mostly on our portfolio companies, not about us. So they will be the companies that will present, you know, we'll be in the center, and we'll get new applications, etc. But startups will be in the front. If it's case studies, and business opportunities. So I told you about the CAP, the customer advisory board, as I tell the startups, Ignite is a lifelong relationship that starts with 12 intensive weeks. But it's it only starts and because it's early-stage, most of the work happens post program.
Walter Thompson
What are some of the most common problems you're helping early stage founders solve?
Tzahi Weisfeld
So there's a broad spectrum, but the things that come back are the few things that come back. So how do you find your product market fit? This is the the biggest question, right? And then how do you analyze customer engagements or prospect engaging? So we helped a lot with listening and understanding sales goals, right? What's being said, and what's not being said, the one thing that we're actually, we love Zoom, because you can sometimes record the sessions. But also you can have someone else pitch in and listen to the session. Many times founders are so — they're so in love with what they do, and they keep on pitching. So they’re in pitching mode, they don't listen, right. And there are a lot of gold nuggets that are being transferred in these calls that they miss. And someone may tell you what they don't want to, they don't want to buy what you're offering, but he may tell you what he's willing to pay for and what he's willing to buy. And if you listen well enough, this has made this, you may have just found your pivot, and something that doesn't exist there. So you know, this is definitely one thing that we work on that skill of understanding customer needs and requirements. There are a lot of issues, especially at early stage that relate to governance. How do you manage a board? You're a CEO, you're supposed to be the decision-maker, not your important not your board members. But how do you manage that complex set of people, some of them put a lot of money behind you. And they expect, you know, returns. And how do you come to them with bad news? Like, your number one customer that you raised your funding based on that specific customer being a customer walked away? What do you do? How do you go and tell your board such news, right? So we work with them on governance, we're working on building themselves as a strong team and CEO, specifically, we have a session called “CEO dilemmas” session, which is really peer therapy. So we have the founders, the CEOs sitting in a room together with a managing director, no one is allowed to tweet out, you're not supposed to speak about what happened in the room. And they're supposed to speak about their most challenging issues that they're facing. And they're tough issues. You know, another issue that comes up a lot, and it's one of the top reasons for startups to fail, is co-founder relationships. Right? I'm the CEO, my friend that I know, for so many years, he's the VP of R&D. And he's been slacking lately, you know, he's not delivering the same way that he used to before. So what do I do? He's my friend, he helped he has the same amount of equity in the company as I do. How do I manage this? Right then? And so helping founders deal with such issues is a big deal. Now, working with founders outside of the US, there's always this issue of your first hire in the US, like your VP of sales that you want to hire in the US. How do you do it? They all sound amazing. They all sound like they're the best. The best salespeople in the world, our salespeople, they know how to sell. And you maybe, you know, a fairly new graduate or you graduated a few years ago from university in Munich, or what? How do you do this? How do you understand what you'd have in front of you? So there are there challenges, like this is a really broad spectrum of challenges, even figuring out what's how to prioritize your features and products you build versus the list of potential customers. And what do you prioritize on first versus later on. So there's lots of issues We believe in, there's not an issue that we don't deal with including some issues like, for example, CEO that doesn't fit to be a CEO. And we may help them take a president role and bring someone else to do that role or be a CRO or VP, depends, doesn't fit everyone so, so there's not a single issue that we don't touch. And I think part of the reason that it works for us, and it's very different than other I think corporate accelerators is the team is built out of founders. So it's really founders for founders. And the feedback — I do all the exit interviews with the people who went through the program. And one of the constant feedback is, look, we felt that you are co founders with our team, you understand what we're going through, you’ve actually been there before, before us and you're willing to come and help us through this. We just had a business school in Londo, analyze the model versus other models, they came to us, because they saw that they were very unique. They said that the United is based on three aspects, and specifically the mentorship is its trust, its empathy, and transparency, right and said, this is super, super critical. It's not transactional, the challenge that founders have many times with corporate accelerators that are very transactional, you're going to buy my tech, and I'm going to do this or that for you. Right? I want you as a channel, I want you as a customer, and then I'm willing to do some stuff for you. It's a very different approach, the way we look at it.
Walter Thompson
Are you willing to work with solo founders? Or do you only work with founder teams?
Tzahi Weisfeld
We're willing to work with solo founders, we had few solo founders, we're not fond of having solo founders, we think that it's hard. It's a very, very hard journey. And doing it alone is harder. So so if you know if all the things, as I said before, are great. And the only thing is, if it's a single founder, we will manage that. And maybe we can help them find co-founders for them. But yeah, we had these cases. But we also had a case where we had a you know, a startup with six co-founders, even maybe even more so which is, you know, another kind of a challenge, right? So
Walter Thompson
Too many cooks, sounds like.
Tzahi Weisfeld
Yes, I agree. I agree.
Walter Thompson
How do you navigate a situation like that with six people who are all —
Tzahi Weisfeld
That specific situation was, there were three or four, there were four original founders, and then they figured out down the road that, you know, they need to bring other people to manage the company, and they brought in as founder a CEO and a CTO. And we had to help them fix that structure. And we fixed it and it was sold. And it was it was tough, the beginning wasn't easy to to accept that. No, you are not you do have equity, you have a lot of equity, but you no longer act as a founder.
Walter Thompson
As a former entrepreneur yourself, and now you're leading this new accelerator, what have you learned specifically about nurturing AI startups? And how has that impacted your approach to leading the accelerator in general?
Tzahi Weisfeld
I think my answer evolved throughout the years. Because if you were to ask me two years ago about AI startups, the answer was different than it's now, because now it's all generative AI, right. And there's new is the large, the large, GenAI companies, although they produced, brought in a risk for some startups that are basically disappearing right now, because of what opening I and others are doing. It brought a lot of new opportunities. So I think there's, first of all is understanding the way that our world has changed with these new LLMs and the different large players that are taking part and then how can you be successful in such a world now? There are a group of companies, a large group of companies say that started probably around 21, 22 to build a very large engineering team that in many cases is not needed anymore, because there's another way cheaper and easier to do things now based on these, these LLMs, right. So these teams actually are challenged, because their cost structure is is not not good. And they need to restructure in a significant way. And that's very painful. On the other hand, there are companies that started around ‘23 Maybe then ‘22 That had the opportunity to observe what's out happening in change, change quickly and leverage the change. And there are the companies that basically were born right into that phenomenon. One of the major challenges that I see today, these are the startups that are doing AI. It's as if we're back into the mobile app. Time. So to be successful in the mobile app days, when it started, you had to show one of two things, either you had unique data, unique assets that no one else has. Same now with LLM, right? Do I have a dataset that I can use for learning and for producing results and answers that no one has access to? Right. And you don't need the large models that 170 billion records that you need, you can use smaller models to be very specific. So again, this goes back to these applications that had a very unique set of data they could have leveraged. The other extreme is distribution, how do you get distribution when you don't have that? Right? So you are basically doing the same thing as anyone else? You're producing answers based on other people's models? How can you win in these cases, if you do a better interface, etc? Then there's a question of distribution. How well can you play the expensive game of distribution. So this goes back to the days of mobile apps, we usually don't work with that, with that side of application companies that are trying to create variety of applications based on other people's platforms, we'd love to bring in companies that either have aI infrastructure, so they can optimize the algorithms, they could use much less data to produce much faster and better results. We love companies dealing with responsible and secured AI, right how to make sure that the information you get back is real and is based on the right data, it's not made up right then and no one plays with the data before it gets to you. And there's no harmful code in the code. You just got back or so. So we love these set of companies in the space. You asked so you asked me how what feedback are well, how can companies what they should do? So to get help? I said at the beginning validation. So again, there's so many players, there's so many companies, and many of them seem to like doing it. When you read the websites, you'll see hundreds of companies that read almost the same as if they do similar thing, right?
Walter Thompson
As if it was written by generative AI.
Tzahi Weisfeld
Correct? Yes. So I think getting someone credible that will speak for you is super important that you can refer people to and say, hey, you know, don't ask me because it may sound the same. But ask a customer or ask someone that I worked with, and they'll tell you what they've seen. And accelerator program could be a good thing. If if it's a good program, right, then it's again, not easy to find the good programs to be in. And part of the reason it's good to go to such a program is because it's going to help you create the network. I think that one of the most critical pieces is creating a network of people around you that are well connected, and highly appreciate it. It's so easy to get a meeting with a reputable investor, if you're doing it through a warm introduction, right? It's so easy to get even, you know, 30 minutes with the CTO of Bank of America or someone who really want to talk to, if an Intel picks up the phone and calls and says “hey, I have the super interesting startup. You should listen, you should spare 30 minutes to listen,” they will. We've just started programming called CAP, the Customer Advisory Board, which we came to our large customers of Intel Fortune 500 companies and said, “look, we've built this asset that looks at about 2500 startups a year. Do you want access to this?” And of course most of those [said, “of course we do.” So we do these events together with the C-level tech leaders that are willing to work that they're willing to put money behind work with early stage startups. And we set and we bring them together. We're doing an event next week in New York. And we're putting them together with the startups and say “hey, look at this look at these amazing companies what they do, and maybe you'll find a need in your organization if your bank or or a tech company or whatever.”
Walter Thompson
I've talked to a few people so far, a few C-level people who buy software at scale for enterprise customers. It seems as though they can't really do the overhead of working with an early stage startup is such that they only work with a few at a time. Is that your experience as well?
Tzahi Weisfeld
Absolutely, because they don't want to waste time. So there are two, again, two extreme issues there. One is you can't meet with everyone, because there's so many new startups all the time. So you kind of need someone that would, would find the nuggets, find the right companies, for you to meet. And the second thing is, you can't afford missing out on the one that would make the biggest impact I used to have. So I have this presentation that tells the story of Ignite. And he used to have this slide that had all these logos of startups behind Google and Microsoft and Amazon, you know, Google, the Google business comes from startup from, you know, ways to the ad business to YouTube to also startup businesses right then, and they couldn't acquire or WhatsApp for meta, etc. Now, I have only one, one logo on the slide. It's open AI and Microsoft versus Google, right and investment that Microsoft did five years ago. Right. So you can't afford not to work with startups even early, because you're gonna miss, you may miss one of your biggest opportunities out there. So you're right. They don't want to, they don't want to talk to too many. And they would like someone to do the work for them to find the nuggets. And this is what we do for some of these companies for these CEOs, CTOs or CIOs or CISOs.
Walter Thompson
What tactical advice would you offer to a deep tech company or an AI startup, an early stage that's trying to raise funds right now, what are the most common mistakes you're seeing them make? Right now as far as fundraising.
Tzahi Weisfeld
So again, everyone would want to see that you, especially these days, more than in the past, they, you have a clear path to revenues. Right, because as much as it's a venture investment, no one wants to take the risks too much. People want to limit the risks. So as long as you can show that you have a path to revenues, the best way is to show some early customers, or to have people that would go on the phone and say, if the company will deliver what they promised to deliver, this is what I'm willing to pay for it is is a big, big, big leap, in order to make get your investment. And especially if the challenge there is we have many companies that bring a customer in, you know, it's a friend of their father or whatever that usually don't count, it needs to be a good you know, it needs to be a brand. That's that people will trust that it's a real real deal. And this one is important. And this is again, where we tried to help. So validate someone that will validate your technology and say that, that it seems real. So someone is a way to show that you have a path through revenues. You will have, you know, I'm amazed after doing this work for 14 years now, that's still US companies above the competition. And they'll say, Well, no one knows exactly what I do. That's not a good answer. Right? The better answer is, look, these are all the companies that are doing all kinds of things. Some of it sounds like we do now, let me tell you what I do differently than they do and why I think I'm going to be more successful than them. And then you'll need to answer well, why wouldn't they shift and do the same? And so there's a conversation but at least know who, you know, have these these graphs, that shows the competition shows what others are doing, especially the big, the big companies in your space? So look, nothing of this is new, right? It's all stuff that go and look at the basic game of Go to the Sequoia website or look at how does the presentation investor looks like? The one thing today that's more important than than it used to be before is show that you have path revenues that you understand it's important. It's not, you know, we'll build it and they'll come. And it's not just you know, fake it until you make it there is you actually talked to customers, and you have feedback. My son just decided to start a startup. It's a true story. And I think the best advice I gave him and him and his partner is you know, I open up my network and I said, Go and speak to as many potential customers and and listen, again, don't just pitch about what you're going to do. Try and listen to what do they buy? What do they do in the space you're trying to transform and figure out if there might be a better entry, there might be something that you didn't think that you want to do, but would fit better in order to build yours. solution into it. But having as many conversations with prospects and potential customers, before you go to investors, it's a completely different conversation investor, when you come in and say, Look, I have these 20 3040 conversations with CISOs. And this is what they said versus, you know, I've met a couple and you know, I'm this is my background. So I know what I do. Not great usually.
Walter Thompson
Actually, this just popped up actually, based on what you're talking about, as far as those proofs and those validations. When you see a pitch deck, and someone is, you know, “here's my TAM,” I want to ask you, because you have entrepreneurial experience, and also at, you know, corporate investing experience. What do you think as far as we're seeing these companies, deep tech, early stage AI startups, they put they presented a TAM slide? How often are you thinking they could have left this out? It would have been just fine. And how often you thinking, wow, they really understand their market.
Tzahi Weisfeld
So, I told you, I'm doing these exit interviews with all the companies that go through tonight these days. And it was for me an unfortunate case where one of these companies presented to me and there was this. And I hope he's gonna excuse me for saying this, there was a ridiculous TAM slide. Because, well, it was a big, really, really big number. And it was not, it wasn't the business they're in, it was a much bigger part of the business that they are only a slim, you know, piece of that business. That slide extra threw me off completely. I told him, it was very hard for me to get back to the pitch after seeing that, because it's kind of you know, you're not, you're not doing any, any favors for yourself saying there's a trillion-dollar business opportunity, or no, there's not the trillion-dollar business opportunity for you, Microsoft, Google, everyone is in the space, clearly. But you're doing, you know, a nice chunk of that business. It doesn't need to be a trillion-dollar business opportunity. And again, just that specific slide threw me off, really badly. They said, Why? Why have you done that? There's nothing good would come out from that slide. Because no one is going to believe you anyways, that's irrelevant. At this point. Even if you do something really big.
Walter Thompson
And well, it doesn't sound like it came from a bottom up analysis, either. It came from –where did that?
Tzahi Weisfeld
Yeah, it's just you know, and again, you're in the cloud business, and you're looking, how much is the cloud business bringing with the minutes? No, no relevancy to your own business, right. So. So I think that the TAM slide is good when it shows that you understand your market, you understand the piece that you're actually competing against them. So what are the wallets that you're going after? What's the size of the overall wallet you're going after? But what is the piece that you're trying to carve out? Now, again, it's one of these exercises that would make you different than others, if there's, if I feel you have a really good understanding of how this wallet looks like. And these are the things we're paying here. These are the things we're paying there. And this is the piece that I'll be competing on. And I haven't a good chance of taking a good chunk of that money. You know, the first year I'm going to take I don't know what, what's the percentage, but eventually, you know, I could take a pretty good chunk of that specific piece. Yes, there'll be competition. I'm not going to be alone. But it just shows your ability to understand business, to understand markets to understand budgets, because it's critical, it's critical for your success. technology by itself is not enough. And this is also shows about the balance of the founders. And if they can understand these concepts, and the fact that you're not competing on the cloud budget of the world, you're competing on a specific subset. Make sense?
Walter Thompson
It does. Thanks. My last question, if you were interviewing today for a job with an early stage AI startup, an early stage deep tech startup, what would they need to show you or tell you? What kind of questions would you ask to get the confidence that this was a bet worth making for you as a future employee? Flutter hardware?
Tzahi Weisfeld
I would like to see their investor deck right to [see] how do they tell their story? How credible it is? How do they look at the competition? And because all these issues, an employee in an early-stage startup is an investor because you're getting equity and you don't get the pay as you could have got that at the Google or Microsoft or an Intel, and here you're giving away some of that for equity with potential of future success, etc. So you're an investor. So I would actually not only look at at the investor deck, I would ask tough questions, especially about the competition. The one thing, when I mentor startups or work with them, there's one piece that I love working with startups on and it's the view I call the value chain view. So anything you sell, has a value chain has someone else's selling next to a solution that you're either connected to, or you're on top of, or there's someone that's selling on top of you, there's there's a broad set of solutions, you have to understand that value chain, the reason you have to understand the value chain, because either someone else can kick you out, by selling by adding what you do or adding something that's good enough. Or you have an opportunity to actually go in through someone else, or actually take someone else's business because you can offer both, even if somebody didn't want to do it, but maybe it's not a big deal to develop it. And you can actually walk into the market and take a bigger chunk, because you understand the value chain. But this is super, super critical. Also, because in your value chain, there might be some really big giants that are doing pieces there. And sometimes it's very hard to compete against them. So either you create a go-to-market together with them or whatever. But this is very critical. So I would also before I go working for such a company, I would ask to understand what's the value chain, you know, we're competing with where the people are selling next to us. And I would love to hire someone that would come and ask these questions. Because they seem like they're, they're smart. And they're thinking through the right things.
Walter Thompson
If they refused, if they made you a great offer, but they refused to show you the deck, the pitch deck, would you take that job?
Tzahi Weisfeld
No, because either it seems like if they can't, if they're not going to show me the deck, something's wrong. You know, there's something that they're trying to hide. And if I'm joining the company, I don't expect them to hide that information. I don't need to see, you know how much the founders equity have. I don't need to see that, you know, any of these things, but the pitch they used to pitch their companies to investors, of course. Absolutely.
Walter Thompson
Thanks so much. This has been a great conversation. I really enjoyed this.
Tzahi Weisfeld
Thank you very much. Thank you, Walter. Appreciate the time. Thank you.
Walter Thompson
Thanks again to Tzahi Weisfeld. If you’re looking for more information about Intel Ignite, go to intelignite.com.
The Fund/Build/Scale theme was written by Michael Tritter, who performed it with Carlos Chairez.
You can find Fund/Build/Scale on LinkedIn and Substack, for now.
If you’d like to send me an email, I’m at [email protected].
