Tech Leaders: Hillel Fuld, Startup Marketer

Welcome to my Tech Leaders Interview Series, where I interview impactful leaders and ask them to share tips and techniques that have benefited them, both in their personal and professional lives. 

This interview is with Hillel Fuld, Tech Blogger & Startup Marketer. 

About Hillel: 

Hillel Fuld is a tech blogger/vlogger/podcaster, startup marketer, leading online influencer, and public speaker. His work and insights have been featured on CNBC, Forbes, Inc, Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, and other respected tech publications. 

Hillel collaborates with companies such as Google, Oracle, and Microsoft to help entrepreneurs and their products scale. He also does keynotes on Tech and marketing to audiences worldwide. 

Q: What are your main productivity tips? 

Due to the nature of my work, I use many productivity tips throughout the day. However, there is one that has completely transformed my workflow and saves me countless hours on a daily basis. 

I am referring to keyboard shortcuts, a feature that is available on both iPhone and Android. The feature enables you to write any shortcut, and it will automatically complete the sentence, phrase, or even full-blown paragraph. I would say that out of every 20 emails that I send, 19 of them are shortcuts. That includes my email address, my home address, phone number, bio, and so much more. They are all keyboard shortcuts.

Q: What is your favorite drink? 

Non-alcoholic: Fresca 

Alcoholic: Whiskey sour 

Q: How do you deal with stress and anxiety? 

Not to get too heavy, but I have unfortunately dealt with stress and anxiety at a very high level over the past few years. To say that I am an expert on handling it, that would be a lie. Having said that, I try to fill my time doing good for others, enjoying my family, my work, and just prioritizing what’s important in life.

Q: Your tips for aspiring entrepreneurs? 

My most important advice for beginner entrepreneurs, don’t skip the less fun parts of building a company. Make sure to do thorough competitive analysis, research on relevant investors, and more. It might not be as fun as raising money, getting press coverage, or signing big deals, but the most boring components of building a company are often the most important.

Q: Who in the Tech industry would you like to meet for lunch? 

The list of people I’d want to meet for lunch is long. They are all pretty cliche, but since I already met the first one on my list, Steve Wozniak, I’d say my next best is Zuck, Bezos, and Elon Musk. 

Q: If you could live anywhere, where would it be? 

If I could live anywhere, there is absolutely no question where it would be. Exactly where I am now. In Israel, the home of innovation and startups. I also have to mention that as a Zionist who moved here from the US, I feel deeply blessed to be able to live in the land of Israel. 

If I had to choose another place? Shanghai. It’s an incredible city. 

Q: What is your favorite book recommendation? 

Here’s a short story. A few years ago, I was looking for some book recommendations, so I emailed Marc Andriessen, from Andreesen Horowitz, one of the top venture capital firms in the world, and asked him for some ideas. 

He then looped in his partner, Ben Horowitz, and there I was, on an email thread with two of the most legendary tech investors in the world. They both recommended many books, and I’ve read all of them. 

It would be difficult to name one single book, but if I had to, and assuming the Bible is not an acceptable answer, I would say my favorite book is Extreme Ownership or The Hard Thing About Hard Things. 

Q: Why are you in Tech? 

At the risk of sounding cliché, from the second I turned on a computer as a kid, there was no doubt in my head that I would be working with technology. The only question was how.

To me, the epitome of the Zionist dream is the fact that Israel is a significant player across all sectors of technology and shows no signs of slowing down.

No matter how you want to analyze the Israeli technology ecosystem, whether it’s the amount of capital flowing in, the sources of that capital, the amount of billion-dollar companies here, the multinationals that have set up shop here, or the amount of impact companies found in Israel that are making the world a better place, what is going on in this tiny little country as far as technology is truly remarkable and outrageous.

Given the transition from Start-up Nation to Scale-up Nation, it has never been more exciting to be a part of this spectacular startup scene, and we are just getting started.