“Why you should look to grow your team from day one” with Nitsan Nir of SunZee
I had the pleasure of interviewing Nitsan Nir, a former pilot in the Israeli air force and 1st time entrepreneur. After being released from the Airforce, Nitsan (43, Married + 3 kids) has spent time working in Africa managing homeland security projects, working as a director of business development for an Israeli start up in the video streaming sphere and as the Managing Director of Yamaha Motors in Israel. He holds a BA in political science and an Executive MBA from the IE institute in Madrid.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
When working as the GM for Yamaha Motors I met Heday Kinarti, SunZee’s co-founder. Heday had his own Surf & Sailing academy where he worked as the chief instructor and spent hours in the water every single day. He had a fantastic idea on how to solve a practical problem he faced on a daily basis — which was to make sunscreen accessible for active people (He was getting sun burnt almost every day…). I was a father to a 4 year old and had a close brush with skin cancer in my close family which presented me with a challenge of a slightly different angle/need — educating for better sun smart habits. We felt this problem could also be addressed with accessibility of sunscreen and making it more fun — especially for kids who normally hate having to apply sunscreen. Three years later we learned that SunZee actually facilitates a positive change in behavior in a fun way.
Heday’s and me clicked from the first meeting, We decided to start working towards making the idea into reality.
Can you share your story of Grit and Success? First can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?
I wouldn’t say we are “in the clear” yet… We are still fighting through teething problems and growth challenges on a regular basis.
The first step of leaving well paid job and dive into the unknown was a very difficult decision. Then, the product development phase took us 14 months more then we planned and cost three fold.
Money and cash flow has been (and still is) a true challenge and we needed to fund raise more then we would have liked — another real challenge. Financial stress is hard to cope with, it takes its toll mentally, it has implications on family life which is probably the hardest thing to cope with. You are the product — its success and/or failure is a direct reflection of you (or so you believe…). Everything it personal.
I think that choosing an entrepreneurial lifestyle is definitely not for all… it is an emotional roller coaster: one day you are on the top of the world, the next, you are faced with a challenge that takes all of the wind out of your sails and you cant see the light at the end of the tunnel…
SunZee is an innovative product which requires a form of market education ,time and money to be integrates and accepted by the market. Even now, over a year after launch, we still have daily challenges in marketing and sales and we need to keep reminding ourselves that we have a great product which we believe in and the road to success is a marathon and not a sprint.
Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
The belief in, and Passion for what we do and what SunZee can be. The refusal to accept failure. Support from my wife, family and co-founder. The reaction from people who use the product — especially the way in which kids react to SunZee.
So, how are things going today? How did Grit lead to your eventual success?
TBD :)…. We still believe in the amazing potential SunZee has. We know that it will take time…
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I don’t know if I have any funny stories… I have made so many mistakes along the way it would be difficult to find one…
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
What makes SunZee unique is the added value of education and the potential to actually change habits, improving preventative health and positively impacting millions around the world. I recall a board member in a skin cancer organization (Enright Melanoma Foundation — a foundation dedicated to educate kids for better, sun smart habits) who had one look at the product and told us that this is exactly what they have been trying to do for years — “SunZee just makes sunscreen fun” — It was a confirmation to us that we had achieved a large part of what we set out to do.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Raise more funds than you think you need and use as much as you need as wages. Or as one angel investor once told me — “you want the entrepreneur to stay hungry — but not to starve…” . Always know when you want to be in a year, two and three. Set reachable goals in the short term so you always have some wins.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
So many people have helped in so many ways it would be unjust to mention one…It is one of the more positive things in this journey — the realization that people are so willing to help out. However, at the end of the day, when you are faced with the daily grind and mental challenge of dealing with failures and uncertainty — my wife’s support throughout has been the most important aspect and I couldn’t have carried on without her telling me she believes in SunZee and me.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
We truly hope so. We hope and believe that SunZee will make a positive impact.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started my company” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- Don’t be shy about asking for advice from as many people as possible, but trust your instincts as you know your product best
- Start marketing and sales as early as possible — before you have your product. It is a long process and you need to plant seeds as early as possible
- From day one — look to grow your team. Don’t be afraid to give up equity if you find a good partner/s. We had missed chances along the way to partner with potentially game changing, strategic partners because we were afraid of giving up too much equity early.
- Stay as lean as you can for as long as you can. If you have a “day job” — keep it for as much as possible while setting up your start up. The more oxygen/fuel in the tank you have the more runway you have, the better the chance to succeed.
- Meet with anyone and everyone who shows an interest in meeting with you, start or end every meeting with a genuine question of “what can I do to help you?”
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Take two hours a week to help someone you don’t know.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
@sunzee.life on Instagram and on FB
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
