Built By: Itamar Zur

Born in Jerusalem, Itamar Zur lived in Tel Aviv before coming to Boston, and originally pursued a career that was completely unrelated to entrepreneurship — law. After working for a judge and in the marketing department of Procter & Gamble, he realized 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, and once he got accepted to Harvard Business School, he moved to Boston to pursue his passion.

His current venture, Veho Technologies, aims “to change package delivery in the United States”. 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 five to 10 years; e-commerce is growing very fast, and the infrastructure is not set up for this massive change,” he said. As someone who experienced the industry’s inefficiencies first-hand (he often found his Amazon packages missing after delivery), Itamar came up with the idea for Veho and set out to understand more about the logistics industry.

The company has raised $350,000 from industry experts, such as the former CEO of FedEx Supply Chain, a UPS executive, and a new venture competition at HBS. “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,” he explains.

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”, he saw entrepreneurship as a natural home to his unorthodox thinking.

A go-getter who refuses to listen to naysayers, he believes that his international background has enabled him to see things differently. “It doesn’t feel like I’m at any disadvantage whatsoever for not having grown up here”, he said. “If anything, I have an advantage because there is a sense that you are the underdog.”

Itamar considers the US very immigrant-friendly and a great place for an entrepreneur who is focused on the strategic side of the business. He points out that entrepreneurs are a special type of immigrant because “[they are] people that are innovative and create jobs, and this is something a country needs to embrace.”

Written by: Leia Ruseva of Ellis Project

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