Use my own product and get as much user feedback as I can.
That’s the best way to improve and move forward.
Omri Avisar is the Founder and CEO of fewMinutes.
fewMinutes is a time-sensitive smartphone app that delivers news articles filtered according to how long it takes to read them. fewMinutes users can choose articles within the range of 2-minutes-long articles up to 15+ minutes, according to the available time they have. Articles are arranged by popular categories such as current affairs, entertainment, sports, technology and buzz. Users can like or share any article with their friends, and save the ones they want to read later.
Omri, 31, lives in Tel-Aviv, Israel and has an exceptional background in marketing, business development and entrepreneurship. He founded Israel’s leading web platform for design professionals www.creatives.co.il, a local reference for Israel’s young creative community. fewMinutes is Omri’s latest venture. It combines his passion for the news with his expertise in digital product development.
Where did the idea for fewMinutes come from?
I started developing fewMinutes for my own personal needs – I wanted to make more efficient use of my time at work and at home. So, when my Pocket app was bursting with great “read later” articles I haven’t read through because of lack of time, and I was never going to complete them just because of… again, lack of time, I thought “if only I had seen this article at the right moment, when I actually had enough time to enjoy it…”.
I talked with some colleagues and friends about this issue, and I realized that many more people were experiencing this “lost content syndrome”. This would later become the mission of fewMinutes: to help digital content consumption become time-efficient.
fewMinutes was born out of my crazy schedule where efficiency is essential to my daily life.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I get up and go through the most urgent work emails, then go over the news updates. Then, I normally grab a quick coffee and drive downtown to the fewMinutes office. Our working environment is very dynamic and there are always new challenges to deal with.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I always start by presenting the idea with two types of people: the ones who I believe would have resistance to it, and others who I assume would like it. Then, when I’m done collecting diverse insights, I go to the drawing board and start visualizing it.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
That would have to be Coworking. I’m a firm believer in collaborations between creative minds. It’s a great way to receive fresh points of view on your own work, expand your knowledge and enhance your professional toolkit. The nice thing is, you get all that while contributing to your community and most importantly, it’s fun!
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I’m obsessed with order and efficiency. It’s a bit of a burden in my personal life – you should see how tidy my place is. However, as an entrepreneur, it always helped me and the teams I was part of to keep our eyes on the ball.
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
As a teenager, my uncle hired me for a summer job: he had a shop for office supplies, and my job was to organize his warehouse. I had to remove hundreds of ink toners from old printers. It was hard work. It did teach me an important lesson though: I learned that some things are just too messy to organize.
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
That’s a tough one. I guess I would have gone to seek guidance from an entrepreneur that has the point of view of an investor. Someone like Eden Shochat from Face.com. Now here’s a guy who identified a pain in the market, had a clear technological vision and the execution capabilities and business skills to bring it home. Inspiring.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Use my own product and get as much user feedback as I can.
That’s the best way to improve and move forward.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
Collaborating with other cool startups- it helped me to avoid common mistakes and to get a glimpse into innovative work practices.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I’m a Soccer fan, so I would love to see someone develop a camera game ball. I think Adidas tried to develop a feature in this direction a while ago. With the right media agreements and institutional approval- it could be awesome.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
I purchased 2 tickets for me and my wife for FC Barcelona’s Champions League Quarter-finals. She loved it so much, that now she lets me watch as much soccer as I want. But seriously, purchasing the fewminutesapp.com domain was probably a better purchase.
What software and web services do you use? What do you love about them?
I use Mixpanel for user tracking and analytics, Mention to keep pulse on the net, invision and Marvel for UI & UX and Prototyping and Genymotion for multi-device screen emulations.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
I really enjoyed reading “Nordau to NASDAQ: The Evolution of an Israeli Hitgh-Tech Start-Up”. It’s a true, inspiring story about entrepreneurship, technology and the venture capital industry. Highly Recommended.
What people have influenced your thinking and might be of interest to others?
My top 3:
James Bartlett (@jameslhbartlett) great guy.
Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) an authority.
Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) always interesting.
Connect:
fewMinutes on Twitter: @fewminutes_app
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.