Women in Startups

For International Women’s Day, we are showcasing the women of our amazing portfolio companies, unapologetically trailblazing their way to success.

We chatted with some of the leading women in our portfolio companies, and asked them to share their stories, lessons learned and advice to other women. Here is what they had to say:

Julie Ben Nun, EVP Supply growth @ YouAppi

“Ability, Motivation, and Attitude have been the pillars of my life. The synergy between them always brought me to the goals I set for myself. My life was always combined from challenges as a Woman, Ola Chadasha, Orthodox, Officer in IDF, Settler in Samaria, Mother (of 4) and Grandma of 4 (in the meantime). As a second generation of a Holocaust survivor I’ve been taught that everything is possible as long as you have the motivation and attitude your ability is unlimited.”

Polina Blinchevsky Head of QA @ Cyber X

“Quality is a result of a combination of the “ingredients” and of personal commitment to the mission. One of them is simply not enough. I’m driven by quality in every aspect of my life — when I cook, when I design my apartment, when I volunteer for the community and of course when I lead the QA team and processes in CyberX. Choosing QA as my profession was a natural decision for me. In CyberX I’m lucky to be surrounded by highly motived and extremely talented people that share with me the strive for excellence.”

Anna Shulga Intelligence Team Leader @ Intsights

“In every part of my life, I believe in high-quality performance. My mom taught me — If you do something, do it in the best way you can, or don’t do it at all. In different phases of my life, I have been trying to solve problems and find solutions by using creative thoughts and processes. Why? It drives you and keeps things interesting.

I believe that a combination of high-quality performance, creativity, and innovation, driven with an ever-moving target of reaching new goals, allowed me to lead the positions I took on, while constantly learning from my colleagues and managers how to improve and become a better leader.”

Evgenya Kontorovich VP Product @ Mintigo

“My work is very demanding and requires availability in different timezones. Luckily, my colleagues and even customers try their best to accommodate a schedule that takes my family’s needs into consideration. Let’s keep promoting family-friendly flexibility at the workplace so that having a career and children is no longer a contradiction.”

Yael Bergman, Director of Data Intelligence & Insights @ BrandTotal

“I come from a family of strong women. My grandmother kept a magnet on her refrigerator that read the famous quote, “Women who seek to be equal to men lack ambition.” Since a young age, I’ve always been inspired by strong women to approach my professional goals as if there was no glass ceiling. The world of Hi-Tech has always fascinated me, and I’m proud to be in a data and marketing intelligence position that challenges me every day.”

Rachel Haim, Co-Founder & VP Product @ Inflowz

“For me, these are the leading guidelines I follow as a leader, as a mentor to my team and as a human being. It’s about increasing the awareness and profoundness on what I do and the decisions I make, both in work and in life: listen first (vs. passing a message), keep on learning new things constantly, awareness to the limitation of your own knowledge (modesty), while on the other hand, you have a great passion for what you do. Often times leaders tend to think they need to come with the answers and I think this is where the biggest threat is. At work, it helps you keep improving all the time and be able to listen to every person, no matter where they are. Same goes for life, with your kids, your spouse, your family, friends, and your entire network.”

Nurit Paz-Yaacov Head of Scientific Research @ Genoox

“Since a very young age, I enjoyed exploring the things around me. I grew up in a small village surrounded by the wonders of nature, in a supported environment where women born equal to man and education mattered the most. Later in life, I was fortunate to research biology in the deepest forms and my passion was to help bring it to practice. Today I am using that knowledge to promote state-of-the-art solutions in bio health, in a place where diversity and equal opportunity come together.”

Lastly, this is what some of the women of Glilot had to say:

Nofar Amikam, VP Value Creation @ Glilot Capital Partners

“Throughout the various roles in my career, I heard “no” and “this is impossible” countless number of times. If I had let every “no” get to me and convince me to give up on my initiatives, plans, and ambitions, I would have never gotten to where I’m at. I wish every woman will listen more often to her intuition, build a supportive network around her, and act as she thinks is right. It’s important to learn from other people’s experiences, but it is more important to remember that their opinion is only one option out of many, especially if their opinion is “this is impossible”.

Ilanit Tsyrefman, Director of Marketing @ Glilot Capital Partners

“ As long as I can remember myself I was always doing some sort of sport (Gymnastics, Ballet you name it..). In sport, like in life, there’s always another challenge, something new that you haven’t done before. Whenever I was afraid of trying a new trick/move my coaches will always quote this Michael Jordan saying: “Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try”, worst case you’ll fall on your ass and get up. And every time I have fallen I got back up, learned why it didn’t work and improved myself. Maybe I didn’t get the position, or the project I was working on didn’t quite succeed, but I’ll always choose to try, maybe fail and improve, rather than being stuck in the same place”.