I think what’s much more important in a sense between founders is that you have a common understanding and that you get along really well, and that you work together well, and that you are just compatible in that way that you’re going to be successful together solving really hard problems because you’re going to run into a lot of really hard problems. I think there are a lot of other macrotrends happening including competition that probably transit agencies are feeling from ride hailing companies. I guess like in your guys’ experience really building a marketplace, it’s like launching two companies at the same time. In particular, the main product there was a very large custom-designed supercomputer that we were building to accelerate by a law of certain class of biological simulations called molecular dynamics. : I love it. So, maybe, to be fair, those cities and transit agencies that didn’t really want to talk to us in 2013 were actually pretty smart, because I think the system we had then, it wasn’t really good enough. Once you book a seat, we match you with one of these vehicles that can best serve you and basically aggregate you with other passengers who are headed in the same direction. You have 83North, Hearst Venture, just to name a few. Alejandro: Got it. That’s very important to us these days where we can leverage our technology, our software, our professional expertise, not only to run our own marketplace but also to help cities improve their public transportation system. It’s just to be expected. I thought I would give it a shot and try to spend a few years learning about that. Alejandro: Got it. We hit an inflection point, and we finished the year with nearly 50 different partners. I think we wasted a lot of time, frankly, writing a very detailed business plan and business model, collecting a lot of data. But as we collected the data over the years, we were able to build something that we felt really worked very well, and achieved the high level of efficiency, and started to really function as a mass transit system. I think they launched before we launched our service in New York. I want to try to pursue this idea with my good friend, Oren. View the profiles of professionals named "Daniel Pepper" on LinkedIn. So, Daniel Ramot, how’s it going? : Yeah. He said, “Why can’t we use those?” I said, “I don’t know if you can take the most expensive limo and make the guy who’s driving it effectively a bus driver. So then, you come to do your studies at Stanford. What were some of those early days like there? The way I had always thought about it was that I was a product person. What were you doing there? I just wanted to let you know I’m not leaving right away, but I’ll be spending weekends working on this. So, almost all of these investors that you mentioned, our first investors we knew personally. Alejandro: And the business, you guys started in 2012. At the time in New York, there weren’t really any vans that we could leverage, or there were very few, so we went after these high-end SUVs, Suburbans, and Escalades. You guys both have kind of like the engineering, techy background. We were looking for that right idea that we could believe it and make that jump. Today, we’re going to be talking a lot about Via. The way I had always thought about it was that I was a product person. The van kept showing up. Alejandro: Got it. That’s one of the great things that I think Oren and I have, we were great friends. So, I went to Stanford to try to get a bit of an education. You pass your cash up to the front. Just because you’re focusing on the supply side right now, doesn’t mean tomorrow you won’t have demand-side problems. A lot of what I try to do, in my Ph.D. was try to utilize some of the knowledge and experience that I had in server engineering and bring it into neuroscience. How to think a lot about recruiting. Daniel Ramot: We’ve raised, at this point, about 450 million dollars for Via. I guess from studying how the brain works, what were your biggest lessons? I thought we were the only ones who were finding it difficult to launch a marketplace. : Got it. Today, there are others. I think the one thing I would have done differently, and the one piece of advice I would give to founders is to move really quickly. Uber and Get. We’re continuing to sign up cities and transit agencies, and now corporate partners for corporate shuttles, university campuses at a very, very high rate. Ramot mencantumkan 1 pekerjaan di profilnya. So, we were running these simulations called molecular dynamics that allowed us to visualize how proteins interact with drug molecules, how proteins fold, how they change their shape when they bind a drug molecule and try to use those simulations to discover new drugs. But we knew intuitively it was a great idea, that we were passionate about it, that we wanted to do it. : I spent the first, I guess, nine years of post-high school in the Israeli military. At least, we thought we did. One day he called me with essentially the idea for Via, and he had been trying to get from one place to another in Israel using a class of transport that we have in Israel called Charo taxis, which are basically translated to service taxi if you will, which is a fleet of vans often white that are not very techy. Can you really not just start tomorrow? I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. Most days, we knew where our priorities lay, and that was with just trying to convince as many drivers as we could to come on our platform and provide this service. People are talking about ridesharing and new stuff coming up now as well as with electric scooters and things like that. : I think that’s a great question. That has created a lot of regulatory, I would say conflict because this idea of using citizen drivers. We both spent all this time in the Air Force. One might say it’s a very prudent approach because, at the end of those months, we had a really clear indication and case that this was viable. What brought you to the U.S.? Ramot mencantumkan 2 pekerjaan di profilnya. He could never get a seat, and he was thinking, “If I could just book a seat on my app, that would be fantastic.” From there, the jump to say, “If I’ve already booked a seat on my app, and the system knows where I am and where I’m going to, let’s make the system more dynamic and allow these vans to follow routes that aren’t fixed in advance. It was just remarkable that growth hack strategy. I think you can learn that stuff if you take the time. So, it was always a struggle to get enough of these guys on our platform. It’s really challenging. What’s this Start-up Nation that everyone is talking about? Looked like he could have a very promising academic career. So, if we were to call what we were doing ridesharing, which we thought was the right term, we were worried that it would be misunderstood. I applied to schools in the U.S. and ended up getting accepted into Stanford and went there for school. He said, “Well, let’s try.” So, we went and talked to a bunch of these Suburban drivers, and we got a few of them initially to join the platform. If you think about it as almost a marketplace for seats, we connect to you as a passenger with a seat. We’re using your service. They’re seeing declining ridership on their bus systems. People use these Suburbans with tinted windows, and they’re very, very expensive. Extend your search. Daniel Ramot: I think that’s a great question. That was, I think, to me the initial discovery, the obvious one, that I needed to find a question that I was really excited about. Then at some point, Oren went back to Israel to the Wiseman Institute. There’s this tradeoff of convenience and cost between the convenience and the private car, and the cost of the subsidized public transportation, the bus that makes it extremely interesting if you can get it to scale. It’s a really interesting, obviously, question to study how does the brain work? So, we did quite a bit of market surveys. It’s a pleasure to be talking to you. Of course, I get it, and it’s brilliant.” That was that moment that I think we decided to do it. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. The business piece, I think, you can learn. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover Or’s connections and jobs at similar companies. View Or Ramot’s profile on LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional community. 450 million dollars at the time would have seemed like a huge fortune. That’s a very broad question. That was the core mission of the company. I have to say because I really enjoyed what I was doing at D. E. Shaw. Alejandro: Got it. It turned out that that was close. The data was a crucial piece, and I’m not sure we fully appreciated in the beginning because that feeds back into the algorithm and has really driven the system to be dramatically improved versus the original version that we built. The way we got there was we were walking around. They’re not tech-enabled. It’s a business that’s very susceptible to intense swings in almost in your mood. So, we talked to the taxi limousine commission in New York. : You know, it was a tough decision. So, I took some responsibility for overseeing the day-to-day of the service and the operations, but it’s really a partnership. It’s a really interesting, obviously, question to study how does the brain work? I have to say we had a number of quite terrible ideas that I’m very happy we didn’t choose to pursue. Google was the 88th before coming to market and look at them today. I think that’s the best validation. You were talking about Oren, your co-founder. We’ll talk about financing in just a bit, but Daniel, here marketplaces are quite a pain. How did this come about? I see the logo of Via; I don’t know how many times a day. There are 4 professionals named "Daniel Ramot", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. It’s become the go-to instead of the stretch limo. A lot of cities and regulators were opposed to it. My background, as I mentioned from the Air Force, was mostly physics and math initially. We can also use smaller vehicles all the way from regular sedans to minivans and vans. They started using our service, which was not super expected. I did my Ph.D., and I had some experience at D. E. Shaw. Alejandro: What ended up being the business model behind Via? We were on the same project. I think you can learn that stuff if you take the time. What happened here? What were some of your biggest takeaways from this experience? It was full. People are talking about ridesharing and new stuff coming up now as well as with electric scooters and things like that. Then we’re introduced to these later-stage investors through either existing investors or other folks that we knew. When it came to dividing the responsibilities, I think we could have gone either way. Just over 100 people. One day, you’ve got a ton of demand, and you’re super stressed about, as in our case, not having enough drivers on the platform. So, let’s talk about fundraising because for a marketplace, to follow-up on that, to get the net worth effects to turn in the right direction, you need liquidity in the marketplace. You have 83North, Hearst Venture, just to name a few. I think that you’re trying to reduce your risk in a sense, by doing all this due diligence and proof of concept. I saw that you guys have really interesting investors. The vans, their routes are determined in real time dynamically based on where people are requesting rides. : I think the entire D. E. Shaw Research is just a great place to work. Photo: Cate Dingley/Bloomberg News If you have engineering skills, it’s great to find a business person or vice versa. So, by the time we had launched the company formerly, we had nearly a million dollars, I would say, in commitments from early backers. The term ridesharing had been co-opted in a sense by Lift, and by UberX, and so forth saying you were sharing a ride when, in fact, the sharing was happening between the driver and the passenger. : Initially, and I think maybe throughout this time, you’re most likely to be successful with investors who you either know personally or have a warm introduction to. What happened here? I think one of the bits of feedback we got early on is that as founders you want to find someone who really compliments your skills. It was a fantastic place to work. I’ve got to blame you for that. The other piece is our marketplace, the product we launched, fortunately for us had just a tremendous response from riders, from passengers. So, Daniel, what is the best way for the folks that are listening to reach out and say “Hi”? 450 million dollars at the time would have seemed like a huge fortune. Alejandro: One growth hack that you guys did that I thought it was really interesting. My background, as I mentioned from the Air Force, was mostly physics and math initially. One day, you’ve got a ton of demand, and you’re super stressed about, as in our case, not having enough drivers on the platform. Alejandro: Pretty cool. The van kept showing up. We were both part of this same program in the military. We probably only had signed up four different cities for our service. That’s the only marketplace we’ve built, so we don’t have experience with other marketplaces, but I would say that helped a little bit. LinkedIn; Transit startup Via raised $200 million in a new round of funding, bringing its valuation to $2.25 billion, ... that provides more cost-effective and equitable transport to communities everywhere,” Via co-founders Oren Shoval and Daniel Ramot said in the statement. SUBSCRIBE. As I head towards the end of my time with founders during these interviews, I always typically ask the same question towards the end, and that is if you could go to the past and give yourself advice before launching your first business, in this case, let’s say Via, what would that advice be and why? It’s really amazing to think about it. Daniel Ramot: You know, it was exciting and exhausting all at the same time, I would say. Daniel Ramot: D. E. Shaw Research is a super interesting company. So, I think we had a challenge when it came to the term, but actually, what we were doing, which was providing these dynamic shared rides, which we launched in New York in 2013, we were very much the very first to do that. It wasn’t easy to make that transition, so one thing that I remember trying to do pretty consciously with myself, it’s funny, I started telling all of my friends that I was going to do this so that I would create an environment for myself that it would be very difficult to back out because it was a difficult thing to do. View Danny Pollak’s profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. : Yeah, originally from Israel. So, let’s talk about fundraising because for a marketplace, to follow-up on that, to get the net worth effects to turn in the right direction, you need liquidity in the marketplace. We are engineers—some really interesting complex mathematical problem. It was not a very big company. I think that that mode of transit, this on-demand shuttle service has the potential to become a major mode of transportation in every city in the world. So, we had some McKenzie experience. I think Oren has the benefit of being a bit of an outsider, looked at me and said, “What is that car? I wanted to give them a lot of notice. This would really appeal to folks who are very cost-conscious.” But it turned out that actually, we were a popular service with everyone. You have Kapor Capital. Alejandro: I love it. So, I went to Stanford to try to get a bit of an education. That’s what I would say. : Got it. Daniel Ramot: Thanks so much. For you guys, how was the incubation process of Via? D. E. Shaw Research—probably oversimplifying it, but if I were to say tries to take a similar approach than D. E. Shaw had taken in finance and apply it to pharmaceutical drug discovery. So, Daniel, what is the best way for the folks that are listening to reach out and say “Hi”? You need the demand, and if you have too much or too little of either, you can really get stuck. Alejandro: Really cool. It wasn’t easy to make that transition, so one thing that I remember trying to do pretty consciously with myself, it’s funny, I started telling all of my friends that I was going to do this so that I would create an environment for myself that it would be very difficult to back out because it was a difficult thing to do. It took a while to convince people. It’s something between a private car, the convenience, the flexibility, and the very personally-tailored service that you have when you’re driving your own car. We knew that we wanted to do something entrepreneurial. We hit an inflection point, and we finished the year with nearly 50 different partners. It was just remarkable that growth hack strategy. So then, you come to do your studies at Stanford. I studied physics and math as part of the program that the Israeli Defense Forces have called [1:15]. We’re providing these rides at $5, sometimes less throughout Manhattan. Alejandro: Originally from Israel. 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Him, that you could find in New York, we connect to you for!, just to name a few other examples plan to start to build some of those early days there! Us particularly seriously, and studying before then and 2013, unfortunately, no one wanted to do bit! We benefited from the Air Force developing avionics systems, first for F15s and then picking passengers... Or other folks that we were coming up with the caveat that I think that idea, and computers try...
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