Today we met the founder of INNOVIZ. Omer David Keilaf’s story is incredibly touching. He was kind enough to share with us his personal story about his sister being involved in a serious car accident that had left Omer feeling frustrated and outraged over the lack of safety and lack of remedial motivation from the automotive industry. His idea was to equip vehicles with 3D cameras, to foster road safety.  
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His seven-year experience in the army, of working in small agile teams on complex hardware development has set him up for success as an inventor and creative thinker. Elite military experience combined with three years at two start-ups spearheaded him to the frontline to launch his project.  
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Before setting out on his entrepreneurial journey Omer wanted to take a year off, however only a few weeks into his break he met the right investors who were giving him $1M to kick-start his project. This was a proposition Omer couldn't say no to. The credibility behind his first angels attracted attention from other investors, swiftly bringing him an additional $9M investment only after a few months.  
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The initial founding allowed him to begin assembling his team, or as he refers to them his 'Ocean's Eleven'. At this point Omer and his team felt great, they had world-renowned investors, fantastic ideas, and an exceptional team. But there lay his first 'disappointment'. When they brought their product to the first customer, the feedback was not what they expected, to be precise it was "Your product is useless".  
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Of course, this did not discourage him and the Ocean's Eleven continued their upwards journey. One of “his” advice is “You know nothing”, “as an entrepreneur your test is to face uncertainty”, and “You will find a lot of issues and problems on the way”. Her are some more key takeaways that we learned from Omer:  

• Become the expert - study the market religiously
• Respect the culture – sale teams should be localized
• Be obsessed with your competition - If there is competition there is a market. Learn what they do and do it better. Never be discouraged