Anamcara Founder Series — Noam Naveh, Co-Founder & CEO of Stylib

Noam tells a story of the pursuit of success and happiness. It is really about balancing family, work and dreams. This was a very special interview. Noam is straight talking, deeply self-reflective and immensely articulate about the way he envisions the future of architecture and design.

What is your vision for Stylib and what’s the opportunity you are seeing in the market?

Noam — I’ll start with the opportunity part because that’s easier. We see tens of thousands of different products, suppliers and manufacturers who are working exactly the same as they did 20 years ago. They are still pretending as if we are in the age before the Internet. They haven’t really leaped forward, and that’s not their fault. I think it is because there hasn’t really been an offering for them, and because they are focussed on a digital product. But the opportunity that we are seeing is in understanding that theirthe audience has actually changed a lot. The audience is people like you and me, whom are born with a phone in our hands, and they are after new ways to find products, to discover products, new ways to work — which is remotely, and without the presence of a sales agent. That’s the opportunity we are seeing with Stylib — to be the go-to services provider for all of these customers, which doesn’t really exist. That’s why with this vertical Shopify approach, our vision has really emerged. The vision is to give these digital services to all of these companies out there. So everyone who is trying to either set-up a business and need support in digital — how do I manage my catalog?, how do I manage my leads?, where can I get new leads?, can you put my catalog in front of a lot of designers? So we want to be that go-to company which is driven by technology. We are seeing a lot of other companies in the field, veterans like Architone, Archiproducts etc., their product hasn’t changed a bit in the last 10–15 years, like nothing, no movement. I think there is a lot of space for disruption, and that is where Stylib is going to be.

• Who / what event has had the biggest influence on your life?

Noam — Wow.. [starts laughing] you should have really given me a heads up about all of this?! Alright, I will say two things. From a personal perspective, when my first daughter was born, it changed stuff, like my brain you know. I can’t really explain it. I’m sure there is something in the hormones or something. But it kind of rewires everything. For me, it was a lot about, I need to do something that makes my life good, what I feel good about, and what would make me happy. That was a big switch for me. I had been working in pretty shitty companies in jobs which I didn’t really enjoy. That was the first thing that happened that led me to an understanding that I need to follow stuff that I am actually interested in, and everything else is going to work around it. I am still not sure until today.. That was 2016, I am still not sure how the two things are connected, but I’m sure they are. So that’s one. From a professional point of view, I was really lucky that I studied in the Technical Institution of Israel in Haifa. I was really lucky that they had a collaboration with TUM (Technische Universitat Munchen), so I did a year there during my studies. When I was there, I met with, probably with one of the most brilliant people in the field, a chap called Dr. Christian Dereks, and I had the opportunity of taking a semester with him. Dereks is a pioneer in design computation. For 23 years or more he’s been working with all the giants in the field and using technology and bringing it into architecture. Pretty much everything that has been done in the field is following in his steps, one way or another. I was super lucky he was there. I had no idea who he was. I just got assigned to his studio, until then I was doing sketches like all the other architects. This was like Woah! We can code and it’s in architecture and we can change the life of people in our profession at scale. That was a complete game changer for me. I did this in my thesis and my second masters etc. Funny enough, Fabio, my partner then went and worked for Christian, while they were in XXXX, so he did a couple of years working for Christian directly.

AA — did you know each other then?

Noam — Yeah, so we met in our Masters and Fabio told me then at the end that you know I have this interview with this chap, Christian Dereks, and I was like what! So that was cool, kind of the circle really closed. I applied to Christian myself and got rejected that year, but that is another story.

AA — looks like it came full circle

Noam — Yeah, I think so, and that sort of completely changed my perspective on what I wanted to do. It gave me motivation to do my Masters and then met Fabio and put Stylib together, so that was a cool event for me

AA — like a pivotal moment.

Noam — pretty much!

• What’s the best piece of advice you’ve had?

Noam — It’s something that they don’t necessarily teach you at architecture school, and they should. Which is about challenging and daring everything, I really struggled with this in the first couple of years, like first 3–4 years, throughout the studies. Just not really understanding that we are not here to copy and imitate what others have done, and to continue building the same way, and to specify the same way and to use the same software etc. it’s about kind of saying, you know this sucks. This is irrelevant. You know reality check, times are changing, people are changing, this method doesn’t work anymore, and I think that was a very important lesson in that studio. You can just challenge everything, you can have a completely new perspective on everything. It’s going to be very painful at the beginning, but it’s going to be very rewarding later down the line. So we try to stick to that.

AA — And then dare to do.

Noam — yeah exactly! You know, XXXX has based his career on that which is very nice to see. So you know you are learning a lesson for someone who has mastered it.

• What do you think is the biggest regret in your life?

Noam — I can tell you one regret, which is professional. I don’t know if it’s my biggest regret, but it’s a big professional regret for me. So when I was in London, maybe 7 years ago. I was at a crossroads. I had just finished my studies and I had a job offer from a really cool architecture studio called ACME, to be on their design / computation team. It was more than a classic architecture firm. It was a progressive studio and that was cool. I already told them yeah I am going to join your team. Exactly at the same time, I got a massive offer to work in construction and to make a sh*t load of money. We had just had our first kid, and we wanted to buy a house, and it was like I just couldn’t say no. At least it seemed at the time, that I couldn’t say no. I went and worked in that company, but I didn’t join it. We saved a lot of money, we did buy a house or at least got a mortgage. I kind of regret it. That studio is doing wonderful work today and it would’ve been a very cool couple of years for me.

AA— I think it’s interesting how you may feel pressured to take a decision, not because someone is telling you, but because you feel obliged. You are taught to provide certain things like a good salary. I feels like you have to make that decision but ultimately there is nothing behind the door forcing you to do that

Noam — there are always some scary decisions especially with money. But I can tell you, 2 years into working in the construction company, I was just fed up, and we started talking about making Stylib. It was a kind of repair and fix and tweaking that cycle. I just said I am quitting my job, and we are going to start working on this, and this is going to be alright. We burned a lot of money but I was happy. Been happy on the journey since.

AA — But if you had you gone with the other option, you wouldn’t’ve gotten fed-up, and maybe you wouldn’t have decided to start something new.

Noam — it’s very weird to be a startup with kids. When we started Stylib, we already had my second. It’s not cool! There is this small VC, which I really like, a guy called James Reen. His firm is called Don’t Do It, or something like that. His thesis is basically telling people don’t start a startup. I chatted with him a couple of times, and he was really helpful and really nice. We didn’t get to work together. But I totally see how his thesis makes sense. If you’re someone like me, with a young family, and we don’t come with a lot of money from home, it’s not cool! Once every 18 months, you are not sure if your project is going to continue, if you are going to have a salary or not, and it’s quite scary!