From Ad Tech to Crypto Innovation: Insights with Moshe Cohen

(0:00) A lot of people confuse the fundraising around and stuff 

(0:03) They do not know when to start when to raise one and when they actually need me and how an entrepreneur will actually know that 

(0:09) They need to raise fund. I think that 

(0:11) I mean, how do you know if you need to raise funds if you ask this then you need to raise funds 

(0:18) This is the answer 

(0:28) Welcome to Strugbits Unplugged. Today, I had the opportunity to speak with Moshe Cohen 

(0:35) CEO of Zippor Media and a pioneer in ad tech and cryptocurrency 

(0:40) From an awarding video ad to tackling crypto volatility with CVI, Moshe's journey is all about 

(0:47) innovation 

(0:49) So let's dive into his story.

Thank you very much for joining in Moshe 

(0:54) Thank you so much for having me here 

(0:56) Same here same here. I have been all day all night excited for this. Yeah, me too 

(1:07) I'm very well.

Thank you. It's all good. I'm good 

(1:11) Amazing.

All right, Moshe. Let's start talking about I have a lot of questions by the way, but 

(1:17) We're gonna go step by step 

(1:19) so let's start with Zippor and I want you to know how did Zippor start and 

(1:25) What was your first big success in ad tech? 

(1:32) so 

(1:33) Zippor started while I was 

(1:37) During my university studies. I started to 

(1:43) I took computer science 

(1:46) At the university and then during my studies 

(1:53) I got connected to my other co-founder 

(1:57) We were working together 

(2:00) on another company and then we realized that 

(2:05) there is a 

(2:07) Gap in the ad tech industry that if you solve the gap, then you can really be successful and make money 

(2:15) And 

(2:17) And this is how we started with the idea of solving this gap which later became 

(2:24) somewhat the 

(2:25) The way that we were building businesses 

(2:28) finding 

(2:30) Some business failures or gaps and then filling those gaps with solutions that we created 

(2:37) So we started Zippor I was still studying 

(2:41) Because I was still under the conception that you know 

(2:46) if I have a degree then I have work later and you know, I can I 

(2:52) can really 

(2:55) Become independent financially on the go and 

(2:58) so I was still holding my studies and 

(3:02) Then we started a company and the idea was that back then it was more than 10 years ago 

(3:06) I think it was like 12 or 13 years ago 

(3:10) The video advertising has just started 

(3:14) in the attic space and advertisers were shifting some of their budgets from 

(3:19) traditional banners to 

(3:22) Video advertisements it was first the luxury of bigger brands bigger companies because video production was so expensive 

(3:30) but then there was a shift right from 

(3:34) First on the digital space from regular banners to video but later on it 

(3:40) It came also from the television the regular television budgets into the video space 

(3:46) The problem was that the there wasn't place to advertise those videos 

(3:53) back then 

(3:55) most of the video content that you saw online was YouTube and 

(3:59) Then if you're an advertiser then you had one main solution which is advertised on YouTube 

(4:05) But it was so expensive because YouTube was charging 

(4:09) You know 50 80 whatever 

(4:14) Dollar CPM's and though there were no alternatives and we thought that 

(4:21) if we take a regular banner space and inject a video player into the 

(4:28) Regular banner space 

(4:30) Then we can create new inventory that wasn't exist earlier.

Mm-hmm. And this is what we did

(4:38) We basically bought a regular banner space. We injected an HTML 5 player into this banner space and 

(4:46) we played a video on the regular banner space and it was it was amazing because 

(4:53) the price of 

(4:56) Advertising a video ad was very expensive and 

(5:01) Banners were you know was pretty common. So people were paying less on that 

(5:07) so the margins were amazing like we could really there was a lot of potential and we can we could really grow and 

(5:15) And we started doing it on mobile 

(5:17) There were other companies doing it as well, especially 

(5:21) The innovation in in the attic space was really great 

(5:27) And we grew very rapidly 

(5:31) From 

(5:33) My co-founder and myself to 50 employees 

(5:38) You know during down the road 

(5:42) From a company that is not making any money to 50 million dollars a year 

(5:49) And 

(5:50) And I think that this was the first success I had as an entrepreneur and then you know, I realized 

(5:59) What it takes and what do you need to do in order to really? 

(6:03) Go yourself 

(6:05) as an individual like financially and from obviously from the emotion side of things because I 

(6:12) Really felt connected to this journey like finding a problem finding a solution 

(6:17) Then, you know growing the baby to the phase where it's like giving value to others and 

(6:24) and really making money out of it and then 

(6:30) growing the company the company is like an organism and 

(6:34) you fill it up with people and you have the culture and you have everything and 

(6:39) after Zippor I've built a 

(6:42) Lot of different companies some of them were successful and the others were not that successful and 

(6:48) each of the companies had 

(6:50) Like completely different culture, even though that we had we were the same founders the same entrepreneurs 

(6:56) Each of the companies was completely different 

(7:00) So the companies which you founded later on 

(7:04) Were you did you found them with the same founders or with different partners? 

(7:11) Yeah, I mean some of the cases for it was the same founders in others we had 

(7:17) different mixes it was really 

(7:20) Dependent on the case like in terms of the technology and the experience that was required to build a company at the beginning 

(7:28) the expansion of building more companies was 

(7:33) Was more of a global expansion like we were highly concentrated on the US market 

(7:39) This was the biggest market for us 

(7:43) Mm-hmm 

(7:43) And the second company that we found that was doing the same thing with the same technology that we develop but on the Latin American 

(7:50) Market, which was also going massively 

(7:54) So it was more of a 

(7:58) geographical expansion rather than 

(8:00) building other companies, but the appetite was big for creation for building stuff and 

(8:06) Then we quickly 

(8:08) Built more companies that was doing that were doing different stuff 

(8:13) Like not the same thing not the same technology. And so we needed different partners. Okay, I got it and I 

(8:22) never needed that you have studied computer science because I have studied computer science as well and 

(8:29) I have straight computer science, but I'm not that good engineer as my 

(8:33) And I get this feeling from you as well 

(8:36) I really I was always more of a marketing and business side person and I still remember when I used to sit and 

(8:45) Actually most of the university people used to think I am a student of a business rather than a computer science 

(8:49) Because I used to be in extracurricular activities.

I used to do public speaking. I used to you know, arrange even and stuff 

(8:56) so one day I was sitting in a in a 

(8:58) In a computer class and I was trying to write a code and a few people were just walking 

(9:04) Outside and they came inside the clinic. What are you doing? I said I am studying 

(9:08) This is my class.

You are a computer science students. We do not believe you. We thought you're a business 

(9:14) You know a lot of people think that computer science students, you know cannot run businesses they are not 

(9:21) business minded people, but I think 

(9:24) Sometimes people are like us as well.

So what just to let you go a bit more 

(9:31) Of your university time. What made you choose computer science? Like why you choose it? I 

(9:37) I 

(9:38) Mean just to put it on the table. I 

(9:40) Didn't finish my studies because we started a company and we quickly 

(9:46) Grew and I had to travel some so many times 

(9:49) To conferences and especially to the US and then I was I mean I kept missing exams and 

(9:56) Failed a lot because I wasn't there. So I decided to pose my studies 

(10:05) I mean from the day I remember myself 

(10:08) I always like technology and innovation like it was an excitement for me like to see a computer (10:15) I was playing 

(10:17) computer games and 

(10:19) I mean I was stunned by how amazing it is like, you know 

(10:24) it's a whole world like and it connects you with so many things like the ability to 

(10:30) You know from a laptop your ability to do so many so many things as a human being 

(10:36) I mean it always done me 

(10:39) and I think that I 

(10:43) mean at some point during my regular school I 

(10:48) Chose 

(10:50) to study 

(10:52) Computers as well and I was programming a little bit in a very basic level and I liked it 

(10:59) I mean the logics and 

(11:01) The like the logics behind it and also the creation like building a code and you know 

(11:06) And then you have a software or an app and you can you can do stuff that the app does stuff like it 

(11:12) It really attracted me 

(11:15) but I 

(11:17) I can really relate to what you said 

(11:19) I think that during my studies there were a lot of people that were so much better at coding than me and 

(11:27) I knew that I mean I can be successful in 

(11:31) Being an engineer or CTO and it's a definitely a journey that I can take 

(11:36) But I felt that my heart is in a different place 

(11:41) Like I think that I was always on the gap between like being a CEO and some sort of a CTO 

(11:48) You know always on this gap. I always understood technologies. I was always able to talk with engineers 

(11:55) with my employees and everything about 

(11:57) their developments and stuff like I'm not a kind of a CEO or a founder that was 

(12:04) Detached from the side of things like okay, you do your magic and just give me that software 

(12:10) Okay takes you three months fine 

(12:12) like I can really get into the 

(12:15) deeds of everything and understand what they're talking about and their challenges and it helped me as 

(12:21) as a co-founder, but 

(12:24) But my passion was definitely the creation and stuff 

(12:27) My passion was definitely on the other side of things like get me the product. Let's talk about the product 

(12:34) But not writing the code necessarily. I 

(12:37) Get it. I get it.

Okay 

(12:41) Some say marketing is 

(12:43) Manipulative. What's your perspective on this? I 

(12:48) Think it's true in some sense 

(12:51) Because you have to get a message in 

(12:55) To people in a way that will get them excited about it or thinking about it 

(13:01) So you have to work with some manipulations, I mean if you go very straightforward like yeah, we have new shoes and 

(13:10) We sell it if you want to buy new shoes then click here. No one will buy it, right? But if you 

(13:18) See Nike, right? They advertise their brand as something very powerful like 

(13:25) You want to be wearing Nike because it will be powerful and you can just do it, right so 

(13:34) yeah, branding and brand messaging and 

(13:40) Marketing in general they have to use some manipulation.

I think that 

(13:46) If you take it to the bad context and obviously they're like there are some advertisers 

(13:53) That are less legit and they do manipulation on bad stuff like, you know 

(13:58) I don't know tobacco companies and others that might be 

(14:02) bad influential on people 

(14:05) But in general, this is how the world was 

(14:09) Okay 

(14:11) Just to think about in support 

(14:13) Do you guys have any kind of? 

(14:15) Policies in support that what kind of ads would run and what kinds of had would not run or stuff like that about the authenticity 

(14:21) Of the ads or something 

(14:24) So we were always like working with certain 

(14:27) verification tools 

(14:29) the there were always 

(14:32) Verification tools in place for zipper because you work with publishers and we you work with advertisers 

(14:39) So publishers they want to make sure that the ads that you're serving are legit and that you're not serving anything 

(14:46) That might be harmful or might you know 

(14:50) Yeah 

(14:52) So you always we work with third-party tools to scan that and then from the other side 

(14:57) you have advertisers and they want to make sure that the people are actually seeing the ads and there are no boats and 

(15:04) Invalid traffic and things like that. So yeah, it's mandatory today

(15:08) I think the space is so evolved over the years when we just started no one knew what? 

(15:14) Invalid traffic is no one paid attention to it 

(15:17) Also from the other side no one talked about malicious ads and things like that 

(15:21) But over the years it became standoff like if you are a company that works and for instance 

(15:26) We work directly with Google. We are an MC about of Google and support 

(15:31) So you have to work with validation tools and verification tools? 

(15:35) Otherwise, you know, they'll kick you out.

That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah that 

(15:42) Very interesting actually and just to let you know do not worry of 

(15:48) Giving a long answers because how doesn't gonna loves it 

(15:51) He loves the guest who speak a lot because he says my editors then can make the content out of it 

(15:57) So he's always like bring the guest who speaks a lot 

(16:02) Okay, so 

(16:03) Moshi, let's talk about cryptocurrency and CVI 

(16:08) What caught you interested in crypto currencies and was there a specific moment or experience 

(16:19) So, I think I 

(16:22) Really felt that the attic industry is becoming 

(16:27) heavier and more 

(16:29) concentrated and 

(16:30) A lot of the budgets are still going to the big operates.

It was always the case, but I think that it became 

(16:38) It became a space with a lot of regulations and a lot of standards and it's much harder to move around and also like 

(16:48) It's been through a lot of innovation 

(16:52) And I think that 

(16:57) That for me as an entrepreneur 

(16:59) It's important to always move and find yourself in positions where you can actually bring value and you know 

(17:05) Innovate and I felt that the crypto space was definitely a space that was 

(17:12) Interesting for me. I thought like when I got connected to it and I really understood what's the what's behind 

(17:19) the crypto and 

(17:22) Then I had a moment when I felt like this is definitely the future 

(17:27) It's the this is the future like it's it must be like 

(17:32) It must be an 

(17:34) History is being made right now, and I want to be part of it. I want to be on the pitch 

(17:38) I want to be 

(17:40) innovating and building stuff in an industry, which I think will be the future and 

(17:46) This is that just I took one day the decision to stop doing everything 

(17:50) I do on a tech like I keep consulting. I keep being active in in the companies, but I 

(17:57) Took most of my forces into the crypto space 

(18:02) Amazing and when you when you took decision, which year was this? 

(18:07) It was 

(18:09) Three years ago three years ago 

(18:12) There was a boom in crypto at that time. I remember yeah, and the crash. Yeah, and the crash 

(18:18) I lost a lot of money.

I lost a lot of 

(18:27) It leads to another question that how do you balance creativity and 

(18:33) Practicality 

(18:34) Yeah, it's I 

(18:37) Mean, I think that I just have this ability to do that 

(18:44) And as I said, I think that the people around you are the most important asset that you have 

(18:51) This is this is what actually I 

(18:56) mean 

(18:57) help 

(18:59) Businesses grow and succeed 

(19:00) so I always try to bring these people that they ask questions and they say what they feel and 

(19:10) They are not just yes men

(19:14) So I always try to bring this kind of people around me 

(19:18) To work with them and I always work in a very flat mode. Like I'm not a 

(19:24) very high level 

(19:28) Founder that sits there in their office and you can hardly approach they are they I 

(19:34) Think that I managed somehow 

(19:37) to let them feel that they are

(19:41) Their co-founders and I think that this is true in a lot of the cases. They're there even 

(19:47) Even in just the feeling they're co-founders.

They 

(19:51) They really design and help you grow 

(19:54) Help the company grow from the initial stages so they are and they need to feel like that 

(20:01) Amazing a lot of 

(20:04) Young founders must be listening to us and we have a community of very young founders who do not know much about 

(20:12) Fundraising and stuff. So could you briefly tell explain them how it works? 

(20:18) How it because a lot of people confuse the fundraising around and stuff 

(20:22) They do not know when to start when to raise one and when they actually need me and how an entrepreneur will actually know that 

(20:28) They need to raise fund. So could you briefly tell them I 

(20:32) Think that I mean, how do you know if you need to raise funds if you ask this then you need to raise funds 

(20:40) This is the answer 

(20:42) the idea of raising funds 

(20:45) Can help you accelerate stuff, but also can get you on their feet on your feet 

(20:55) Because I 

(20:56) Think it's very hard to succeed. Otherwise, you need to always take care of the financial side, right? 

(21:02) You want to hire employees you need to make money if you finance the company from your own pocket 

(21:07) Then sometimes you lose sometimes you gain you're into this this 

(21:11) Retrace of you know of the cash flow 

(21:14) It's also the same case when you raise funds because you raise funds and then you're not making you're still not making money 

(21:20) You need to concentrate on the other round right to keep sustaining the company and a lot of a lot of founders 

(21:26) I know which sold their companies. I mean in a lot of the cases there are two one concentrate on 

(21:32) You know on just fundraising and the other is managing the company 

(21:36) It's like a full-time job and sometimes you raise the initial funds and you grow fast 

(21:42) And you don't need to keep raising funds and your company is successful. So there are so many cases 

(21:47) But for the younger entrepreneurs, they are not they're not 

(21:52) Aware or they don't have the knowledge about fundraising to keep it very simple and short usually how it works 

(21:59) I mean, there are so many variations, but and 

(22:03) you can start raising funds from 

(22:07) Friends families angels investors like smaller amounts.

Let's say up to 

(22:14) 500 K as an initial step 

(22:17) And usually it is being done through a safe 

(22:21) Process which means that there is no valuation 

(22:26) There is no actual valuation to the company 

(22:28) But people are putting their funds because they know you will get to another round and the other round you will get 

(22:35) Valuation to the company and they will get the discount price 

(22:39) You know on their fundraise 

(22:42) So safe is usually a very easy round to do because you go to people they have money and they want to invest in 

(22:52) They want to invest in 

(22:54) You know new venture startups when you say well, is it pre-seed or pre-seed is different? Yeah, it's pre-seed 

(23:02) It's before seed. Okay, and then seed round is usually the round after 

(23:10) and 

(23:10) seed round has 

(23:12) valuation and 

(23:14) If they invest in your company, they get equity and also if you if you if you did a safe round 

(23:21) Then you get equity partners from the safe and from the seed round 

(23:25) then usually the 

(23:28) between safe and seed 

(23:30) Then the mild the milestones are they might be they might not be very big 

(23:38) But usually if you want to get from seed to round a then you need to show 

(23:44) Growth you need to convince investors that you're on track, right? 

(23:49) Because on seed round usually you're usually with something very initial 

(23:55) you probably don't have users if it's a consumers app or 

(23:59) Businesses or you know, if it's a sauce or whatever 

(24:03) You don't have 

(24:05) you don't have 

(24:09) a lot of revenues 

(24:11) You have pretty much just a dream and a team that people believe in and 

(24:17) usually 

(24:18) From seed to round a they want to see some growth or something like the dream is still valid 

(24:26) Yeah 

(24:26) So usually they I mean 

(24:28) I don't know if like you guys are building something that they believe will change the world or 

(24:32) You're on track with numbers and they see that that your growth is valid that you can then go to round a 

(24:41) And then there are like the rest of the rounds following round B and whatever it depends on the company and their needs 

(24:48) But I guess that if you're a young entrepreneur and you complete the seed round and you brought yourself to round a then 

(24:54) You know, you already know what you're doing and you keep doing that. You don't need my advice 

(25:01) Amazing 

(25:02) Thank you so much motion for your time.

(25:06) I really enjoyed having a conversation with you!