On August 8, Haim Neerman reflected on the last three companies he started, all of which sought to disrupt highly complex/highly regulated industries. “Being naive,” he said, was one of the most important factors that shaped his entrepreneurial decisions. Had Haim known how complex the industries were, he never would have taken the risks he took. Additionally, he emphasized the importance of being agile: when he started his companies, he envisioned the technologies he was building would be applied in certain ways. However, as the realities of the industries became clear (regulatory restrictions, etc.), he would shift strategies accordingly, and the technologies were applied in unexpected ways. Another great soundbite: “Be a cockroach, not a unicorn”– he’s taken a “slow and steady” approach with Variantyx; surviving on “crumbs” like a cockroach/keeping operating expenses to a minimum.
