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Being in a power position from a young age

"At the age of 18, I did everything a good ‘moshavnik boy’ would do - and tried to do the best that I could in my army service. I found myself in the Shaldag Unit, and from there things started to unfold."

At a very young age, he learned what it was like to have a lot of responsibility on his shoulders when he became an officer, and found himself standing in front of people in very senior positions.

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Despite all the positive parts that come with being an officer, Dor shared about the risk involved in such a service - not from the service itself, but in how this power affects your mentality and relationships with other people. 

He shared that there’s something extreme and confusing in taking such great responsibility over other people, because it gives you an extreme sense of competence -

"The danger is that you’ll be completely drunk from the position you were in the army and you won’t know how to take only the good things and apply them later in the world. I think that these are one of the biggest mistakes military people make when they’re discharged, no matter at what age it happens."

Being 'power drunk' is a phenomenon that we've all probably encountered at some point in our life, whether it's in other people or even ourselves.

One of the things I (Gali) believe in is that it’s important to have the habit of stopping and asking ourselves - 'Why should people follow me?' - Is it because I work hard, because I’m empathetic, because I know how to navigate between my opinion and the opinions of others, how do I earn this right to lead? - This question helps us find the self-awareness and humility that is needed to be truly good leaders.

Dor added that the sin of hubris can inflate us regardless of our role, after high points in our career as well.

"We invented an internal concept in the company that helps us, we call it - healthy paranoia. It means that we try not to be blinded - not by good customer feedback, not by an investor who really liked us and was ready to write us a big check, mainly to collect these experiences and manage them."

- He explained that his perspective on positive experiences and high points is that these are temporary moments that fill you up, but they don't define who you are, and after they pass, it's time to find the next thing that will fill you up.

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The difficult choice of being an entrepreneur

The choice to be an entrepreneur is never an easy one. When I asked Dor about his decision, he shared -

"The army gave me a good preparation because you take the initiative all the time - you come to some unsolved problem that is thrown at you, and you try to think of how to handle and solve it."

- This is exactly what sparked his interest in entrepreneurship; that magic of creating something from scratch, solving a big problem on your own.

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What made him make the shift from his military career to his entrepreneurial path was a random conversation with Ofer Golan, a good friend of his and one of the co-founders of Juno Journey -

"We sat down for a cup of coffee and talked about some idea, and then he said to me - 'Let's do it' - and I look at him and told him that I'm supposed to return to the army for another two years. It doesn’t work out with my life right now."

He returned home, but the idea began to take shape and seep in -

"That night I didn't sleep so well because of excitement. The next morning I canceled everything I had that day and met with him again - and we were off to the races."

The brave choice he made was actually his first entrepreneurial step - he chose to leave a place that was no longer right for him and walk into the unknown, to find what he has passion for.

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I (Gali) hear from a lot of people I work with and also in my personal life about a feeling of dissatisfaction with their lives. Many of them remain stuck in this mut and don’t enter the 'execution' part. 

The hardest part is finding the courage within us to go and find something new. When I asked Dor what helped motivate him to make this choice, he explained:

"The initial spark came from a place of a little more recklessness and naivety. This is also great, because you see entrepreneurs who are still a bit childish in their nature and gained a little more control mechanisms and it works out well for them as entrepreneurs. The courage came much later because I was also more rational and mature, I saw the wall and realized its height."

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Being a team of 4 co-founders

This decision also started from a place of youthful innocence of friends, as Dor described -

"At a very early stage, we had the conversation where we agreed to commit to each other. This means that we’re starting with 4 founders and we’re going to remain and end-up 4 founders." 

The conversation was deep and sincere, and everyone agreed to take the function that the team needed for their unique dynamic to work as a group.

Although the majority of people today will recommend being a team of 2-3 co-founders, the most important thing is to listen to our gut feelings, to feel if there’s chemistry, and if we’re comfortable together. The right decision doesn’t lie in facts and rules, but in a feeling of security between people that is hard to define in words, but easy to feel.

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In conclusion, from all his years of experience, the thing Dor believes in the most and the 'Torah on one foot' of Juno Journey is -

"People strategy is business strategy. Unlike many things that are technical, people are not technical, and they require a tailor-made approach to them in order to succeed."

- This is his compass on his entrepreneurial path.