We are excited to announce that Noam Maital will be joining us as our first Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR).
When we started UpWest ten years ago, we knew that our long-term work with our founders would define much of what we do; and that our relationships with them extend beyond any outcome their companies will have. We were always intrigued by the entrepreneurs who looked to solve real-world problems through sophisticated technology, and that is how Noam Maital and the Waycare team entered our world in 2016 — looking to solve traffic accidents utilizing predictive AI. We partnered as their first investors and the rest is history :)
We are thrilled that after our journey together and the successful acquisition of Waycare, Noam agreed to join us as an EIR. We know that his experience and unique journey as Waycare’s CEO will be of great value to many new founders in our growing ecosystem.
Please join us in welcoming Noam to the UpWest team and feel free to reach out to him at noam@upwest.vc — below is Noam’s perspective on joining us:
Why I decided to join UpWest
TL;DR
I am joining UpWest as Entrepreneur In Residence (EIR) to help portfolio founders on their early stage journey and partner with new entrepreneurs from initial idea to company building. I’m thrilled to join a VC I deeply respect and call family.
Waycare’s journey with UpWest
My journey as a CEO of an UpWest-backed company began in late summer of 2016, sitting in a small glass meeting room at Mindspace in Tel Aviv. Across the table from me, in his iconic faded black UpWest t-shirt, sat UpWest co-founding Partner Gil Ben-Artzy. I’ll admit that it was clearly far from his first meeting of the day. And yet, as our conversation about Waycare (the startup I co-founded) progressed, something seemed different from my ordinary pitch that I’ve given to investors so many times. Gil, and later the entire UpWest team, spoke at eye-level with a clear nod of respect to all the hard work that goes into building a company from scratch. Even the questions he posed showed genuine interest in the problem we were solving and were not critical nor judgmental — as is often the case when approaching investors. After building further conviction in Waycare’s vision, UpWest wrote our first check, well before there was any real revenue or customer traction.
From the earliest days up until Waycare’s acquisition, UpWest played a key role in our journey as entrepreneurs, whether it through strategizing on entering the U.S. market or facilitating meaningful investor interactions for capital that came later. Moreover, it was their founder-focused approach that proved most valuable. They constantly supported me as CEO through tough decisions along the way, even decisions that were not always aligned with the investors’ short-term best interests.
While we hear a lot of VCs talk about how they are “founder friendly,” that is much easier said than done. UpWest really walked the walk through every stage of Waycare’s journey. In addition, UpWest created a true community and support system where I enjoyed having a fantastic peer group during critical times of building Waycare in the U.S.
Moving to the other side of the table
As a founder and CEO, I was always intrigued by the VC world. As an investor you get to see startups, albeit from a 30,000 feet view, across such a wide array of industries. You get to sit and talk to some of the smartest, most determined people in the world. Perhaps most appealing to me is the opportunity to bask in the energy and relentless passion that founders bring to their ventures — nothing beats that.
Joining UpWest as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) is a natural choice for me. I knew and trusted the team from my experience at Waycare. Their core values and mission align with mine: a founder-focused approach with a unique value of guiding Israeli entrepreneurs entering the U.S. market. As one of my Israeli employees once wisely told me when I noted that her English was excellent: “Noam, I may speak English well, but you speak AMERICAN!” Having partners who are deeply ingrained in the US while also understanding Israeli founders’ mindset is a rare and critical combination for Israeli founders going to market in the US.
As an EIR, I look forward to engaging with founders from the very earliest stage to find investment opportunities across various industries and verticals — no stage is too early (yes, even if you just have an idea and a few slides). While UpWest invests across a wide array of industries, I admit I have a weakness for companies solving problems in industries with entrenched legacy players, resisting the inevitable change that new technologies and innovation bring to their industry. Traffic management is a great example — a large untapped market with high barriers to entry driven by dominant legacy players — which is why building Waycare was such a meaningful experience.
I will also be focused on leveraging my experience as CEO and startup co-founder to help entrepreneurs tackle the early stage challenges of company building, demystifying the fundraising process and overcoming the hurdles of scaling a business in the US market. These can often be the most challenging and critical in the company’s existence.
So, to all the startup founders reading this, I look forward to working with you and playing a small but meaningful role in helping your company conquer the world.
Sincerely,
Noam
