Idan Cohen on How Getting Married Changes Your Personal Priorities

In Chapter 1 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "How Are Your Personal Priorities Changing As You Get Older?" Cohen shares how getting married has intensified things in his life for the better. His priorities change as he thinks less about personal accomplishments and more about what he can do for his family.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are your personal priorities changing as you get older?

Idan Cohen: So I-- I mean, I got married this year.

Erik Michielsen: Congratulations.

Idan Cohen: Thank you. I always knew I would be with someone, that I had my own reasons why people should not be in a marriage, I guess, or, you know, should just be a partnership. But I think it's actually-- for us, it turned out to be a wonderful thing. It kind of intensified everything for the better. And I think that that's-- that's kind of how my priorities changed. It's just now thinking not only on personal accomplishments but more of accomplishing things as a family unit, later on, kind of can't wait to, you know, take part in educating kids and I spend a lot of time thinking about how do we want to shape that part of our life and how do we want to live our lives with kids and how should that look like and where will it be and what are going to be kind of the forming experiences for them? I think that's the main thing that's been changing. I kind of spend a lot of time on that.

Erik Michielsen: Did you make time to sit down and talk about that, or did that just come naturally in conversation?

Idan Cohen: It comes naturally over time. And it's interesting. I think in a way, I mean, we're a little older. Well, for New York, maybe not that old, but definitely when you look around at our sort of families and friends, you know, a lot of them already are in-- where we are. But it's actually a great thing and also, both of us are the youngest in-- I mean, in large families, relatively large. So just gives us a lot of examples to learn from, to analyze. So we do spend a lot of time on that.

Idan Cohen on What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder

In Chapter 2 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting Harder in Your Life?" Cohen shares how it is easier to figure out his priorities, especially now that he is married and settling down. It finds having a life companion gives him a greater purpose to how he wants to live his life. He finds it harder to combine multiple parts of his life to achieve life goals and figure out what he plans to accomplish in the coming decades.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What is getting easier and what is getting harder in your life?

Idan Cohen: What's getting a little easier for me is figuring out my priorities. So I think that, like, suddenly being married and thinking of a family and in some way like, settling down a little bit, then it gives me a better understanding of kind of my priorities in terms of-- it's not only personal goals. Like, it's not only self-fulfillment. Suddenly there is a bigger picture in this. I think Christina is a huge difference. That kind of dedicates a new priority and time that I want to spend with her and the time that I want to think of what we'll-- like, our lives are going to look like together, not necessarily each one in his own path. But it's also getting harder to figure out how do you combine all of these things and then still kind of achieving, you know, those life goals that you want and figuring out what you're going to do in the next 20, 30, 40 years. 

Idan Cohen on Making Decisions and Moving On With Your Life

In Chapter 3 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What Role Has Reflection Played in Shaping Your Personal Growth?" Cohen shares how he does not find reflection useful. He prefers to think about the present decision he needs to make and use patience and deliberation to ensure he chooses the best path forward possible. Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What role has reflection played in shaping your personal growth?

Idan Cohen: I obviously spend time thinking about things, but I don't think too much about, like, just the path that I take. You know, you can plan that so many things, but eventually they just have a habit of happening-- not always the way you want it. So in a way, why plan that much? So in a way, why reflect that much?

Erik Michielsen: Have you always been that way?

Idan Cohen: Yeah. Yeah. So it troubles me, you know, and, yeah, I definitely do reflect, but I just don't do anything with that. It doesn't really affect my decisions most of the time. 

Erik Michielsen: Tell me more about that.

Idan Cohen: I know that I am a very bad decision maker when it comes to my own life. Like, it's just hard for me to make decisions even on a day-to-day. I contemplate on everything quite a lot. It can drive other people a little crazy sometimes, and it can drive me crazy sometimes. But having said that, I just-- whenever there's something that I need to choose, I tend to just linger with the decision, and eventually, the decision kind of happens on its own. And it's usually-- it was always for the best. So I'm not-- I don't stress about it. I stress about making the decision. I don't stress about what the outcome is.

Idan Cohen on Finding Inspiration and Support Living in New York City

In Chapter 4 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen responds to "Living in New York, it's an aspirational city and people have big dreams - how has being around that community of people affected you?" Cohen shares how much more optimistic and supportive people are in New York City than where he lived before in Tel Aviv. As an entrepreneur, he finds the diverse, positive support system helps him dream big dreams and work toward those dreams.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: Living in New York, it's an aspirational city. People here have big dreams. How has being around that community of people affected you?

Idan Cohen: So I think the main thing for me, moving here and being here, was the positive and optimistic approach that everyone has. You know, coming from Tel Aviv, which is a very entrepreneurial place or Israel in general, and a lot of people have a lot of aspirations, and they do something about it, and they are not afraid to shake things up, definitely more than anywhere else. They're always ready to cut corners and go around walls, and they have their own unique and successful way of doing that.

But the main difference of being here is, first of all, I feel that at the end of the day, it's just that people have more appreciation to what other people are doing. And I remember when I first moved here, when you would meet people and you'd tell them what you were doing or they would tell you what they were doing, and everyone is just, you know, “Wow, that's great. That's so awesome that you are doing that.” And in Israel, that was not like that. Everyone would start punching holes. It's kind of like the nature, that nature of, you know, “Yeah, it's great that you're doing that, but this is not going to work, this is going to work.” And it's not a bad thing. I mean, it's okay, but at some point, it starts grinding on you.

And here, even though sometimes it might be a little superficial, but that-- the fact that, like, everyone is a big support system, and in a place like New York, which is actually so big, and in a place like the US, then it's wonderful, and it helps a lot. And then combine that with being in a city that's extremely diverse and funnels the most talented people in the world, you know, in every domain, I think that's what makes it so interesting because where I came from, yeah, I was in a community that was doing-- you know, that was around technology, but even there, it's very segmented to very specific things just because you can achieve very specific things when you're, like, from there. Like, not every startup is the right startup. I mean yeah, I can give tons of examples, but things that you couldn't build in Israel. Or, I mean, you could move here and do them. Obviously I did that, but still, yeah, maybe even Boxee is not something that you can do from Israel. You have to be here. And that's the thing. Just in New York, you can find all these people, and they're all a big support system, and that's wonderful.

Idan Cohen on Building a Company Where Employees Love to Work

In Chapter 5 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "How Has Your Entrepreneurial Experience Helped You Grow as a Person?" Cohen finds starting and growing his company Boxee has that him about people and what sacrifices he is willing to make for others. In the six years growing the company before it sold to Samsung in 2013, Cohen finds reward knowing he helped create a place to work and a company culture that made a lasting positive impact on his employees.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How has your entrepreneurial experience helped you grow as a person?

Idan Cohen: I think you learn more about people. You learn more about your priorities. You learn more about how much you are willing to sacrifice for what you set out to do. You learn about strengths and abilities that you didn't think you had. I think that especially looking back now after the acquisition and looking back at six years of building Boxee, the most significant thing that we did was create an amazing family with an amazing culture. It’s just--People got connected in many different ways, and, you know, the culture is a little quirky and a little weird, obviously, like maybe in any place, but the connection between the people was fantastic.

And I've seen companies that spend more time after work going out drinking together, and they spend more time doing activities or-- so it seems like they are connected, but I think that we managed to foster some kind of weird, very straightforward Israeli culture mixed in with young, local, American, New York experience and people. And it worked really well. I was extremely touched when everything went down, and one of the guys from Israel that decided-- so the team is moving here, and he decided not to move. And he wrote an e-mail back, and he said, you know, "I really hope that one day, I'll be able to say, no, Boxee was not the best place I ever worked in."

And I heard that from several other people in many different ways, and it was very hard for people to do this because they understood that something might change in the process. And they got emotional, and they felt really-- that it's-- you know, this time was significant in their life, and I think for me, suddenly that struck me, how-- like, being able to affect people's life in that way. You know, way more than eventually what we built, that-- you know, products come and go, services come and go. But I hope that the experiences people had together are the one thing that actually stays, not what they built. And I think that that, for me, was extremely touching.

Idan Cohen on How a Founder Job Role Changes as a Startup Grows

In Chapter 6 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "In What Ways Did Your Responsibilities Change in the Six Years of Growing Your Startup?" When he and his two co-founders started Boxee, they needed to team up and do everything. As the startup grows, the founders keep the vision and hire more professional and talented employees to execute on that vision.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: In what ways did your responsibilities change in the six years growing your startup?

Idan Cohen: Well, starting a company and being three guys in a room, and the main difference, I think is just that you are doing everything. And as-- as things grow, and obviously, along six years, it changes a lot.

I think the main thing that changes is just that you can focus more on high-level strategy aspects of what you are doing and can have actually better professionals than you doing the things that you did before. And eventually I think that as an entrepreneur, that's what you bring to the table as the company grows, is you are the one who has the vision, and you set that vision, and you need to work with people in order to execute on it, but you can bring excellent people to help you execute it and people who are, frankly, more professional than you are. And that's great, like, this-- the feeling when you recruit someone who is better than you are, it's sometimes hard, like, at the beginning, before bringing him on, but then as he comes in and he does a better job, that's great. That's the best thing you can do.

And I think that's the second part of it is actually focusing on recruiting and bringing people in, just being able to identify those key members that you want in your team and bringing them over.

Idan Cohen on Hiring Product Developers Based on Cultural Fit

In Chapter 7 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "How Have You Learned to Better Assess Fit When Hiring New Employees?" Cohen shares how first you need to understand if candidate is technically competent to do the work. Second and more importantly, Cohen assesses cultural fit and whether or not the candidate will connect with the family feeling in the office.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How have you learned to better assess fit when hiring new employees?

Idan Cohen: I used to do a lot of the sourcing of new people. So after you kind of figure out that technically, professionally they are the right people for you, which is actually hard and not-- you know, you're not always able-- a lot of people that look good on paper and look good in interviews and extensive interviews-- it doesn't guarantee how they're going to be professionally. But because of that, I think that the most important thing is actually having a good fit culturally, fostering that company culture and creating this family feeling where everyone is really connected.

And it's not always that everyone is connected to everyone, but even-- like, there's just overlapping groups inside of the company. And you really want to find people that can not just find their place but find their place within the group.

And I think that affects also productivity. When someone is extremely connected to the group, he is much more connected to the product, he is much more connected to the vision, and he enjoys his job better, and he performs better. When it's someone that's very much an individual, it can be a much harder job to do-- or it's just-- it's more of a struggle on everyone's side.

Idan Cohen on How to Attract and Retain Software Engineering Talent

In Chapter 8 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What Has Your Experience Taught You About How to Attract and Retain Engineering Talent?" Cohen shares what he has learned about attracting and retaining top software engineering talent for product development teams. He finds three things help do this. The first is having a family-based culture where people love to work. The second is to provide a product vision and make sure developers feel connected to that vision. The third is to make sure the employee stays engaged in the work even when it may not necessarily be cutting edge.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What has your experience taught you about how to attract and retain engineering talent?

Idan Cohen: So there's kind of three main things. One is culture. The other is the product and their connection to the product and the vision. And the third is just technically keeping them, you know, engaged and interested and intrigued. And I think we were always able to do that. Everything we worked on was always somewhat cutting edge and trying to do things very differently and working on new things. So that was great.

The product was something that they were connected with, and obviously the culture was-- where it broke was when one of those was missing. You know, I've seen people that were just working on something that was a little boring, and especially if they are pretty ambitious people, they start looking aside. I've seen when we recruited people, you know, they were not connected to the vision. In a start up, the most important thing when you connect someone-- everyone needs to be cheerleaders. Everyone needs to feel that they are building something for themselves first.

And I think that's what makes it, for instance, much harder when you are building like a B-to-B product, because at the end of the day, people are working on something that they are personally not going to use. And when you are working on something that you are going to use at home-- and you know, everyone at Boxee uses Boxee daily when they go home, and their families use it. That's an amazing effect on the way that they perform, the way they view the company, the way they like what they're doing. In terms of attracting talent, that's not easy because I think there's always the newer, sexier thing.

So it was easier at the beginning, and then as you're working sometimes on new things, and suddenly you can kind of lure people because there's something that they would find interesting, but at some point, you're-- like, through the process, you have these plateaus sometimes that are just a little harder to go and find exactly those extremely talented people that you want because suddenly, there is something else that's shiny.

And then I think it comes to personal connections that you can make with them, and again, that connects to culture. And I've seen that many times where I met with people, especially when I kind of tried to poach someone who was already working somewhere else, and I meet with them.

So a lot of times-- I've seen it happen again and again. So we go and sit down for coffee, and you know, and we bring it up, and he's not ready, and he's thinking of something else, and he actually thought of moving away. And you give it time. And you meet again in two months, and suddenly you see that as he learns you and who you are, and what the company is and comes for a visit, it kind of starts brewing in his stomach, and eventually, that-- he jumps ship and comes along and joins you. And I think that-- I've seen that work really successfully for us. So I do that a lot, just pinpointing someone and creating that relationship, especially if it's someone that I don't know, and then bring him over.

Idan Cohen on What It Feels Like When Others See You as a Leader

In Chapter 9 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?" Cohen shares what it felt like to realize that moment when others see you as a leader. He shares what it was like with his employees and what it meant for him to be mindful of that responsibility and what it was like as a startup going into meetings with industry giants who saw him and his team as leaders.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What does it mean to be a leader in what do?

Idan Cohen: One thing is reminding yourself sometimes that other people look at you as a leader and view your thoughts, opinions, knowledge as, you know-- look up to it and wait to hear what you have to say. So eventually for me, I think one thing is reminding yourself that you have that power and that actually that you have that knowledge, that you've managed to acquire some understanding of this specific domain that other people don't have and you can lay it back and you can form opinions and you can set the agenda. I just-- I find myself a lot of times just needing to remind myself of that.

Erik Michielsen: At Boxee, when did you realize that you were looked upon as a leader?

Idan Cohen: I think pretty early on, but the difference was that, you know, we were always viewed as a leader when it came to, like, being on the cutting-edge of the TV experience and understanding what the future of TV is going to be like, but we never managed to really penetrate, obviously, kind of the mass-market exposure. And so in a way, I think that was what was a little harder for me, understanding that even though other companies are 100, 1,000 times bigger than you, they're actually still looking at you, and definitely when they meet with you, then they are looking to see what you have to say.

And it was interesting. Like, you would go into meetings with people who are, you know, much more senior and run huge operations and have a lot of power, way more power, and you need that power, that control that they have, you need that. You need their help. And eventually, you sit in a meeting, and you see them kind of, you know, kind of just taking whatever you are saying and really drinking that and appreciating it. And then you understand that actually, you have that power over them, not the other way around.

Idan Cohen on Selling a Startup After Six Years in Business

In Chapter 10 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What Was It Like to Sell the Company That You Co-founded?" On one hand, Cohen finds selling his company Boxee to Samsung a relief after six years grinding away in a startup life. Through the ups and downs he also finds going through the acquisition process a challenge, from managing uncertainty to managing expectations with employees.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What was it like to sell the company that you cofounded?

Idan Cohen: I think that the main thing was relief. It was a lot of responsibility that you felt like, “phew, it's now, you know, someone else's.” I don't need to get-- you know, wake up tomorrow or go to sleep tonight and think about this, that, you know, and all of those things that just keep grinding you daily when you run your own business. And I think that was the most-- that was the feeling, the most significant feeling that I had.

Erik Michielsen: Did you expect to feel that way?

Idan Cohen: No, I don't think so. Maybe I know that now, but, yeah, I wasn't expecting exactly that kind of feeling. You know, the whole processes can be gut wrenching, and there's ups and downs, and also, around acquisition, it takes time, and there is a lot of uncertainty. And it's also not-- just not easy to keep the team aligned as you are going through this because, you know, they don't know what's happening, but everyone feels what's happening, and it's hard to keep everyone going and you know, working at the same pace.

Idan Cohen on How to Improve a Startup Product Development Process

In Chapter 11 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What Were the Main Learning Points From Starting and Selling the Company?" Cohen shares ways he would improve the product development process based on what he learned. He finds focus and prioritizing quality are especially important when working in a resource and time constrained startup environment. He learns ways to test himself and others on separating essential and non-essential tasks, including building product features and managing product team and user expectations when features get cut.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What were the main learning points from starting and selling a company?

Idan Cohen:  I think that the main things for me were kind of the things that we could do better on. So for instance, just focusing the product and always being able to-- especially for our company, that we always did too much with too few people in a too short of a time. So obviously as a startup, time is always an issue. And also people and resources are always an issue. So you just need to reduce what you are doing, and that comes down to quality, which is important, and that comes down to market focus and being able to deliver the right product.

And I think that for a long time, we were trying to be a lot of things. And as much as I may have understood it then at some point, but I understand that much better now, is just always take things away. Like just every week, sit down and think, you know, what happens if we don't do this? Does it actually make the experience worse? Or maybe it actually makes the experience better? Or it doesn't change anything, and that's fine. It's just one less thing to worry about.

And it's not just developing the thing because then it's maintaining it, and then it's supporting it, and then it's answering questions about it, and then it sometimes, if you later decide to take it out, it's managing the community that's mad about something now being taken out of something that they love.

And I think that's one of the biggest lessons you can learn, because at the end of the day, whatever you're building, that's at the core of it. So that shapes how you build your team and who you are recruiting, and that shapes how you put your priorities, and that shapes how you raise your money, you know, how you raise your funding and what kind of funding you need, and I think that's the most important thing.

Idan Cohen on How Entrepreneurs and Lawyers Think Differently

In Chapter 12 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "What Has Working With Lawyers Taught You About Business?" While he respects lawyers, Cohen still has a hard time with the worst-case scenario mindset lawyers bring. He understands the need for safety but, as an entrepreneur, he also understands you can't achieve certain things without taking chances. He shares how lawyers are not alone offering a protective mindset and shares an example from a conversation with this mother.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What has working with lawyers taught you about business?

Idan Cohen: That they always think of the worst outcome. It's a very pessimistic way of life. I also-- It's funny, but I have a lot of lawyer friends, and just-- I really appreciate them and love them, but you know, they go through an education process where they always think of the worst thing, and it's just a horrible way to go through life, sadly. I hope I'm not hurting anyone. I can't say I'm in favor of that. I mean, that's their job, to think of the worst-case scenario and figure out what to do in that case, but first of all, usually, they don't figure out what to do in that case. They just throw it at you, you know, and you need to figure out, and then you just have more things that you need to figure out. But just, you can't always do that. You need to take chances-- that's exactly when you take chances. And in a way, when you always think of what's the worst thing, then you don't take chances.

Erik Michielsen: That's right, because the worst thing is usually pretty bad.

Idan Cohen: Exactly. Growing up, I remember that especially after I got my license, my driver's license, and every time I would go out of the house, my mother would say drive carefully, or, you know, she would say something like you should really be careful out there. It's like, if you always focus on what's the worst that can happen, you're not going to enjoy that. I remember a couple of years ago, I was talking on the phone, and I told her that I think we're going skiing over the weekend or something. "You should be careful." I was like, why-- like, I'm telling you were going skiing. Instead of focusing on, "Oh, it's gonna be awesome. Who are you going with? What are you going to do?" You know, she's focusing on the dangers of going skiing, and she's 5000 miles away. You can't do anything to affect that, and I think that in a way, that's the same thing with lawyers. Let's try and then figure out.

Idan Cohen on Searching for a Role Model Mentor

In Chapter 13 of 13 in his 2013 Capture Your Flag interview, technology entrepreneur Idan Cohen answers "At This Moment in Your Life, Where Are You Seeking Advice and Coaching?" Cohen shares how he feels the need to find a coach or mentor to provide support that complements what he receives from his wife, friends and peers. He recognizes he has a need and desire to do this and then shares his approach to thinking about what type of role model mentor would be best for him.

Idan Cohen is a technology entrepreneur and product management leader at Samsung Electronics. He co-founded Boxee, which was acquired by Samsung in early 2013. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: At this moment in your life, where are you seeking advice and coaching?

Idan Cohen: That's a good question because I could use someone a little older, a little wiser. I mean, obviously I have a support group and just friends and peers and Christina, but I do feel like I would benefit from having someone that I see as some kind of a role model that I can talk to and formulate a little bit more what I want my path to be. I've been thinking about it. I'm not sure how to do it. I'm not sure who is the right person. I've never approached anyone. I assume that anyone I would approach would be happy to help. I think that it's more that I want to figure out, like, what domain that person is coming from. And also is somewhat aligned with where-- what domain I want to see myself in the next 5 or 10 years. If and when I embark on something, on a new adventure that-- where is that going to be? Same path that I've been taking now-- I've taken now, or something different? So I think that that's one of the main kind of thoughts when I think about it-- I mean, threads

Idan Cohen on Why Your Career is Not Your Life

In Chapter 1 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "Where Do You Seek Inspiration Outside Your Career?"  Cohen challenges Erik's question, as he does not feel what he is does is a part of a "career".  Instead, he finds his family, past, present and future, and his work define his life.  This is not something linear, however, as he keeps himself open to new possibilities that plot on a timeline but not necessarily a specific career ladder.  It is less about progressing on a career and more about a life journey. 

This is Idan Cohen's Year 1 Capture Your Flag interview.  Cohen is co-founder and head of product at Boxee Inc, an online video software company.  Previous to Boxee, Cohen held telecom software innovation and developer roles at Comverse.  He was a Captain in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and graduated from Tel Aviv University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Geophysics and Art.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: Where do you seek inspiration outside of your career?

Idan Cohen: Okay, I think that the one important thing about this question is that I do not look at my—what I’m doing as a career. It’s just career is very, very boring. Anyone who’s—I’m sorry, I don’t wanna hurt anyone but anyone who’s, you know, focusing about his career then I don’t know—it’s okay, it’s great, but for me that’s the wrong choice because my work definitely defines my life.

I think there’s 2 things that kind of defines your life, and that’s family and the family that you’re gonna build, and work. ‘Cause at the end of the day, I can’t see myself not working, or not creating, doesn’t matter right now, so that’s why it’s not exactly working, I’m not going to work, I’m going to make things. And I choose what I’m going to make, and it’s not about career, it’s about building bigger things and better things and different things, and maybe going sideways and maybe going forward, and making steps into accomplishing more complicated tasks. But it’s definitely not about going to work, and it’s definitely not about career, the path and just, you know, thinking today I wanna be here and tomorrow— you know, today I wanna be this position and tomorrow I wanna be in that position, is that really interesting enough?

It should be about what you’re actually doing, it might be, you know, today I can accomplish this and tomorrow if I wanna build something bigger, I need to accomplish all of that. So it’s not about the title, it’s about what you make. And that’s how I look at it. I really don’t like to look at myself as going to work. I might say that day-to-day, you know, I’m at work but I’m just—I’m at life. I’m currently doing what I love doing.

Idan Cohen on Aspiring to Leave a Legacy Behind

In Chapter 2 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "To What Do You Aspire?"  Cohen aspires to create work that will be remembered when he is gone, referencing great art and architecture, from the Pyramids to Le Corbusier, to small tombstones.  

This is Idan Cohen's Year 1 Capture Your Flag interview.  Cohen is co-founder and head of product at Boxee Inc, an online video software company.  Previous to Boxee, Cohen held telecom software innovation and developer roles at Comverse.  He was a Captain in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and graduated from Tel Aviv University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Geophysics and Art.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: To what do you aspire?

Idan Cohen: I think I wanna be remembered after I’m gone. I was always fascinated with architecture because I think that that’s one of the only things that really survive—like that’s one of the few things that can really survive after you’re, you know, after you’re gone. And, so you can look at it from wherever, from the pyramids to, you know, Le Corbusier, in New York, or wherever. It’s kind of like the most amazing phallic thing that you can put out there and people will never be able to kind of forget it. And in some ways—Well, it will sound really weird but like tombstones are like very small architectural leftovers of—It might sound weird, but like of small people, and then big people can just get, you know, cremated and their ashes can be spread around, but they have these massive things that are remembered after they’re gone, or at least for a few hundreds of years. So, in some ways, I think that we all want—or I hope—I don’t know, for me, I know that I want to be—I wanna leave something behind me.

Idan Cohen on Why to Measure Success by the Change You Create

In Chapter 3 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "How Do You Define and Measure Success in What You Do?"  Cohen notes success should be measured by the delta, or incremental change, from where you start and where you want to go.  He notes this creates a great challenge for those born into privilege, who start at a much more advanced place and who have a lower penalty for failure.  To Cohen, life is far less about planning and more about measuring personal progress based on where you, as an individual, come from.   This is Idan Cohen's Year 1 CYF interview.  Cohen is co-founder and head of product at Boxee Inc, an online video software company.  Previous to Boxee, Cohen held telecom software innovation and developer roles at Comverse.  He was a Captain in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and graduated from Tel Aviv University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Geophysics and Art.

Transcript:  

Erik Michielsen: How do you define and measure success in what you do?

Idan Cohen: I think that success should always be measured by the delta, between where you started and where you are or where you started and where you wanna get to. It might sound a little bit weird but, you know, in some ways, I do not envy people who were born, for instance, into money, for them, it will be extremely hard to measure their success, it will not—‘cause the usual—one of the most common ways that we measure success is by wealth. And for them it will be extremely hard to kind of create even more of that, or even because—just because they had the tools then it will be very hard for them to justify what they managed to accomplish, because they started off from a very good starting point. And especially they started off from a starting point where it’s very hard to fail, or failure is not too painful. 

So I think that for most people, success is much more about the delta, so it doesn’t matter where you are, it matters where you are—where you got from to where you are. So for me, every time I try to measure myself, like 3 years ago, or 5 years ago, where was I and where am I now? I can kind of—then looking at that, where can I be in 3 years? I really try not to plan, where do I wanna be in 3 years, I have a lot of dreams, but it’s never—it’s never actually the path that I’m going to take. Because I just think that planning is useless. I think that today’s life, people try to plan a lot, and I think that something even about this, you know, this conversation, it’s about planning, and learning from people and how they got there. And I think it’s just useless. 

Develop these dreams because I think that the dreams are a very good preparation to actually being able to make these steps. I think that I dreamt for a long time to move to New York, by the time I was ready to make it, then, you know, in my guts that decision was already well – you know, kind of cooked already and ready and ripe to get done. For instance, me and Christina are dreaming of moving to the countryside at some point, you know, yes, it might happen in a few years, maybe it wouldn’t happen, but just by talking about it, and we constantly talk about it, I think we’re kind of preparing something in our guts. 

But at the end of the day, all this planning is completely useless, because there’s so many other factors that are gonna happen and change that – those decisions, so it doesn’t matter. Just try and always fantasize about a lot of things that you wanna do. And then, that will kind of guide you to where you’ll end up. That’s how I see it.

Idan Cohen on Balancing Work and Social Life Living in a Big City

In Chapter 4 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "How Do You Make the Most of Living in the City?"  After growing up in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, Israel, Cohen lives in Tel Aviv and embraces the casual nature of connecting with friends after work.  After relocating to New York City, Cohen finds connecting with friends after work more challenging and shifts his attention to making weekend plans.  

This is Idan Cohen's Year 1 Capture Your Flag interview.  Cohen is co-founder and head of product at Boxee Inc, an online video software company.  Previous to Boxee, Cohen held telecom software innovation and developer roles at Comverse.  He was a Captain in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and graduated from Tel Aviv University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Geophysics and Art.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How do you make the most of living in a city?

Idan Cohen: I grew up in Israel, and for about 20 years, I grew up in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. And then for about 10 years, I lived in Tel Aviv after I got out of the army, which was great because something about the life there, people hang out very late, and people are very spontaneous, so you can easily—you come back from work, and even if it’s around 8 or 9, it’s still, you know, what are you doing? What are you doing? You know, I’m just—I’m outside of your apartment. Should I come up? Should you come down? It’s very easy. 

In New York, it’s a little bit different, so I moved to New York just over 2 years ago. And it’s much more strict, I work a lot of hours, I mean very long hours so by the time I get home, there’s not a lot of things to do and people usually start hanging out and socializing around 6 and when I get home around 8 or 9, it’s already kind of past that time. And so I find myself not doing a lot of things, so I don’t take advantage of the city in that perspective. 

Weekends are definitely a great way and a great time for me to do that, and I try and do that mostly on the weekends, so I just—I usually just go around wherever my, you know, wherever I find myself, I just walk around. That’s the thing for me, but I, you know, living in New York which is the cultural kind of mecca of the world, and I still—I don’t feel that I see enough, you know, I go to enough museums and see enough exhibitions or access enough music, or whatever. I need to do that more. But that’s—if it was a, you know, if I could, I would just do that, all the time. 

Idan Cohen on the Reality of Managing Long Distance Relationships

In Chapter 5 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, Boxee co-founder and head of product Idan Cohen answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage Long Distance Relationships?"  As a New Yorker with many family and friends overseas in Israel, Cohen talks about his approach to maintaining relationships virtually and in-person as well as the sacrifices that sometimes come with moving away from friends. 

This is Idan Cohen's Year 1 Capture Your Flag interview.  Cohen is co-founder and head of product at Boxee Inc, an online video software company.  Previous to Boxee, Cohen held telecom software innovation and developer roles at Comverse.  He was a Captain in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and graduated from Tel Aviv University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Geophysics and Art.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are you learning to better manage long distance relationships?

Idan Cohen: So my long distance relationships are probably my family and my friends that are in Israel and I have a lot of them. And they’re all very close to me. What I do learn is that actually for me it doesn’t really work. I mean I’m here, I’m in my day-to-day life, and it’s very hard to stay in touch. I stay in touch with very few people on a daily basis, and I don’t think we share a lot of the day-to-day lives that we have. We try and stay in touch frequently on the phone and kind of just get a little bit updated – anything kind of like each other’s mood and what’s happening much more in a broader perspective.

And then I think that the relationships that I have are deep enough and close enough that even a visit or meeting every 6 months or a year can revitalize the relationship enough to kind of make it still relevant. I don’t think that long distance relationships work, so it’s about being able to revisit them every so often or otherwise they’re gonna get lost and that’s also okay, I think, you know, we have, we acquire new family and new friends, and it’s okay to understand that some friends will—might be left behind, doesn’t mean that you don’t love them but it’s just you’re in a little bit of a different place and they’re going in a different route and that’s the way it is.