The unexpected insight of the founder of Wise

“Fall in love with the problem, not the solution” says Uri Levin, one of the founders of Wise and a serial entrepreneur. “No one in the world cares what you do, people care what you do for them.” Levin said these things in an open conversation with Yoav Zucker, one of the presenters of the TrashTech podcast held on the occasion of the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, in the presence of a limited number of entrepreneurs and startups who came to dinner at the Startup Nation Central offices.

One of the main insights presented by Levin is his leading principle in the world of entrepreneurship: a successful entrepreneur must fall in love with the problem he is trying to solve, and not with the specific solution he proposed at the beginning. According to him, the story of a startup is not about the technology itself, but about the value and pain of the users.

Levin said that the path to defining a successful product is often accompanied by many objections and statements like “it will never work”. In response to a question about the path Wise has taken, he stated that the company was established in 2007, but reached “product-market fit” only in 2011, a process that lasted four whole years. According to him, the central value of each product is measured by a single index: user retention.

In Wise’s case, the goal was to help drivers avoid traffic jams. To provide accurate information, the company had to reach a critical mass of users and offer the service for free. Since in 2007 digital maps required a financial investment, the company decided to produce the maps itself using the wisdom of the masses, a step that arose out of necessity and became the basis of the product’s success worldwide.

The impact of AI on the labor market

A significant part of the discussion was devoted to the impact of AI technologies on the world of startups and organizations. Levin pointed out that the AI ​​today enables development to be carried out at a dizzying pace, but on the other hand completely changes the map of professions. Professions based on basic cognitive tasks, technical support or primary analysis are disappearing or being replaced by AI agents.

However, Levine emphasized that the AI ​​does not know how to understand the volume of the user’s pain or make complex human decisions. “The AI ​​understands use, it doesn’t understand a user,” he noted. According to him, the most significant asset of a company today in the age of AI is unique information that exists only in its possession, along with the ability to speak directly with users to understand their true frustrations and needs.

Difficult managerial decisions: personnel and focus

Levin referred to the two most difficult decisions that every manager and entrepreneur must make:

Releasing unsuitable employees: Levin noted that in most cases, entrepreneurs know already in the first month whether a staff member fits the dynamics and requirements of the organization. Making a quick decision about unsuitable employees is critical to the company’s success.

Unequivocal focus: Focus is measured by the ability to say “no”. A startup company at the beginning of its journey must concentrate on one product and one defined target market, and not spread over several products or different target audiences.