Mentor ClassGong founder: "Most large companies emerge in new categories"
Mentor Class
Gong founder: "Most large companies emerge in new categories"
In the second installment of Mentor Class, a series of online meetings, sponsored by Calcalist and Poalim Hi-Tech, Eilon Reshef, co-founder of Gong, chatted with Xyte co-founder Omer Brookstein
Eilon Reshef (left) co-founder of Gong, and Xyte co-founder Omer Brookstein
(Video: Calcalist video)
"The most interesting opportunities arise in challenging times," said Omer Brookstein, co-founder of Xyte, in the second installment of Mentor Class, a series of online meetings sponsored by Calcalist and Poalim Hi-Tech, which enables young entrepreneurs to meet with high-tech industry executives who share their experience, and business and management vision. Brookstein met with Eilon Reshef, co-founder of Gong.
Brookstein: What does Gong do?
"Gong is a platform for sales organizations. It automates processes to assist salespeople in the next steps, for example to understand which deals are worth dealing with. Our claim to fame is that we independently collect the conversations that take place between salespeople and customers, telephone and video calls, take this information out of people's heads and put it in a software system, thus automating the processes in these worlds. In addition to my main occupation, I am also active on the executive board of an association called ‘Shavot’ - this is an association that supports young girls aged 12-13. The association empowers these girls and helps them avoid gender inequality that naturally may occur later. Equality in general and gender equality are very important to me."
"Xyte is a young startup company located in Ramat Gan,” Brookstein explained. “We are developing a cloud system that allows hardware manufacturers from any vertical to connect their facilities to the cloud easily and quickly, and in fact to move their world to a subscription model as well."
Brookstein: From your experience in the tech world, what would you suggest young entrepreneurs do in this time when things are changing on a daily basis?
"I've been through crises, unfortunately,” Reshef said, “and it's important to understand that this is natural in high-tech and not to panic and not react in an uncontrolled or irrational way. What's important for a young startup is managing the next phase, the phase where you have to recruit money. To understand what goals really must be reached in order to raise the next round and how to manage the company in a logical way so that it reaches its business goals that enable the next recruitment. In times like this, money is very important."
"We see that in times like this the most interesting opportunities arise,” Brookstein said. “If we look at it from a historical aspect, very interesting companies were built in such times, and I tell people that the economic situation is a feature, not a bug. In such times it is important to build a business that is sustainable. When I look at Gong, I think that there is a similarity between our two companies. The similarity is expressed in the creation of a new product category as Gong did at the beginning of its journey. Creating a new category is accompanied by risks."
You can watch the full exchange (In Hebrew) in the video above.
