The ‘always-win’ approach and how ambition is the key to building successful companies
#MentorSpotlight with Moti Kintzlinger
As founder and CEO of several successful companies in industries ranging from semiconductors to mobile applications, Moti knows what’s needed in order for a company to see success. He’s lead companies: CEO & Founder of Silicon Value (acquired in 2001), CEO & Founder of Octalica (acquired in 2008), CEO & Founder of Artware and is currently leading the Neurosteer company.
Neurosteer is in the neuro-technology space and with its ground breaking and proprietary technology, a leap forward in the analyzation and treatment of brain activity.
From growing early stage companies into significant market players as well as successfully selling two companies to major conglomerates for millions of dollars, Moti says that he has seen patterns in successful ventures versus non- successful ones. Of the numerous pieces that play into a successful venture, the most critical one is Ambition.
Come-to-win
“In 1995 I decided to start my own company in the semiconductor industry called, Silicon Value. The company was going to create a unique chip design technology that allowed for a smaller and cheaper chip.
I approached a CEO of a big chip company and told him that the chips they were buying were costly and that we could redesign the chip and sell them chips for one third of what they were paying. I told him that I would bring him a certain number of chips on a certain day and if he likes them, he’ll commit to buying half of the chips we produce. It was a pact of trust. I made a promise, and I was going to deliver.
All I requested from the buyer was an engineer from him team so that we could know what technology they were using in their chips. The following month was one of little to no sleep and a failure after failure. After working 24 hour, non-stop days, we had done it. Using our unique design and sophisticated technology, we were able to shrink the size of the chip to ¼ of how it was being produced.
We ultimately prevailed because the two of us were just not going to give up, it was simply not an option. We knew it was doable and we were going to do it.
We then went back to the original buyer and gave him the chips to try. We waited a month to hear back from the CEO who called with raving reviews. The buyer made his first order and the company grew to be 100 people with a design center in California.”
Only five short years after founding, Moti and his team at Silicon Value sold the company for $150M.
Moti describes the characteristic of ambition not simply as a motivation to succeed, but a never-give-up, fight-till-the-finish attitude. He says that “succeeding when one’s high is good and definitely is impressive, but it’s no huge accomplishment. Succeeding when you’re down, now that’s another accomplishment altogether.”
As Moti’s story makes clear, Ambition is a trait that lies so deep in an entrepreneur, it’s either there or it’s not. It’s that characteristic that’s needed when starting and running a venture. That characteristic that will keep an entrepreneur going even when failing is the easier option. That characteristic that leads to a successful company.
