Entrepreneur Spotlight: Itamar Zur from Veho Technologies

EllisX
EllisX
Jul 24, 2017 · 5 min read
Itamar Zur, co-founder of Veho Technologies

Steve Jobs famously said that “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” To say that Itamar Zur abides by this credo is an understatement. A go-getter who refuses to listen to naysayers, he has set out to revolutionize the logistics industry despite having no prior experience in it. We talked to Itamar about his entrepreneurial journey and how his company, Veho Technologies, democratizes package deliveries.

On coming to the US

Born in Jerusalem, Itamar lived in Tel Aviv before coming to Boston, and originally pursued a career that was completely unrelated to entrepreneurship — law. After working for a Justice and in the marketing department of P&G, he realized that he was getting more and more excited at the prospect of starting his own company. This desire was cemented when Itamar started producing a podcast on entrepreneurship where he interviewed successful founders, and once he got accepted to Harvard Business School, he moved to Boston to pursue his passion.

On becoming an entrepreneur

Itamar believes that entrepreneurship comes down to two factors: “what your goals in life are and what kind of person you are deep down”. Since his ultimate objective is “adding great value to the world” and he usually found it hard to align himself with the mindsets of big companies, he saw entrepreneurship as a natural home to his unorthodox thinking. “I never felt comfortable being a part of a big organization, with all the hierarchy and the rules, so I was thinking that I want to be free and have control over my own life, and build an organization that gives a lot of freedom to its employees”, Itamar says.

A part of the Veho team

On Veho Technologies

“Our goal is to change package delivery in the United States, and hopefully, other countries too. Veho is a platform that allows anybody with a car to deliver packages,” explains the founder. Veho works with delivery companies, allowing them to substitute the big trucks and professional drivers with an Uber-ized model that is cheaper and provides better customer experience. “The vision is that the industry is going to completely change over the next 5–10 years; e-commerce is growing very fast, and the infrastructure is not set up for this massive change”, he continues. As someone who experienced the industry’s inefficiencies first-hand (he often found packages from Amazon missing after delivery), Itamar knew that there must be a better way to manage package delivery. That’s how he came up with the idea for Veho and set out to understand more about the way the logistics industry worked. The process involved following delivery drivers around Boston (one of whom called the police on the team) in order to get a better idea of how much time package delivery took and how it can be improved. Despite being in its nascent stage, the company has already raised $350K from industry experts, such as the former CEO of FedEx Supply Chain, a UPS executive, and a new venture competition at HBS. According to Itamar, “Getting money from industry experts gave us a big boost, not only because it let us pay developers to build the technology but also because it gave us credibility from experts in the space.”

On the challenges on being an immigrant entrepreneur

Itamar was never surprised by how open the US is to immigrants, as it is a country that was built by immigrants. “It doesn’t feel like I’m at any disadvantage whatsoever for not having grown up here”, he shares. “If anything, I have an advantage because there is a sense that you are the underdog, and to be completely honest, I have been super fortunate for having gone to HBS, so the experience has been great.” Still, he does admit that “immigration is a big issue”. He’s often concerned about how his immigration status may impact the company’s ability to raise money, as his visa status has previously come up during conversations with investors. He hopes that in the future there would be a more straight-forward immigration path for entrepreneurs because they are a special type of immigrants, “people that are innovative and create jobs, and this is something a country needs to embrace, and not let these people go back to their own countries, especially after they’ve gone to some of the best schools.”

On choosing the US

Itamar sees the US as a country that has a wealth of opportunity, is immigrant-friendly, and is a better place for an entrepreneur who is focused on the strategic side of the business. He does believe that Israel is a great place for technologists, but since the market is so small, “Israeli companies usually end up exporting to the US, and the person creating the company should be where the market is.”

His advice to immigrant entrepreneurs

“Start thinking about your immigration status right away. It doesn’t make sense to do all this work and then realize that you can’t continue. If you’re not sure you can’t stay in the country, build the kind of company you can take with you. If it’s important for you to be in the United States, make sure you start learning about immigration early, and taking the necessary steps.

“Mention that you’re an international entrepreneur. Be proud of where you come from, people love that. Be proud of your accent, be proud of your uniqueness; you come from a different country, have different insights, people appreciate that.”

His favorite quote about entrepreneurship

“If you always put limit on everything you do, physically or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” — Bruce Lee

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