Ep.570 | How Waze Co-Founder Uri Levine Built Two Billion-Dollar Startups

In this episode of The Business Method Podcast, host Chris Reynolds sits down with Uri Levine, the co-founder of Waze, a GPS navigation app acquired by Google for $1.1 billion, and Move It, a public transit app acquired by Intel for just shy of $1 billion. Uri shares invaluable insights on the rollercoaster journey of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the importance of creating value, falling in love with the problem, and building strong teams. He discusses strategies to identify problems worth solving, iterating based on customer feedback, and fostering a company culture that encourages value creation and hard decision-making. Listen in for Uri's practical advice on scaling companies from early-stage ideas to global impact, and his thoughts on maintaining high user engagement and overcoming challenges in the startup ecosystem.   Episode Highlights: 00:00 Introduction to Billion Dollar Founders 00:34 Meet Uri Levine: The Billion Dollar Exit King 01:40 The Essence of Entrepreneurship: Creating Value 02:07 Falling in Love with the Problem 03:48 The Journey of Failures and Iterations 08:24 Discovering the Idea for Waze 09:46 The Evolution of Waze 11:57 The Importance of Product-Market Fit 14:02 Strategies for Growth and User Acquisition 19:49 The Role of Word of Mouth in Waze's Success 28:55 The Unique Value of Waze 30:06 Maintaining Customer Engagement 31:26 The Importance of Experimentation 32:33 Meeting Steve Wozniak 34:02 Understanding User Behavior 36:54 The Challenge of Hiring and Firing 38:37 Building a Winning Team 43:10 Creating a Positive Work Culture 47:51 The Role of Value Creation 53:31 Final Thoughts and Advice   Connect with Uri Levine Website: https://urilevine.com/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ulevine/ LinkedIn: https://il.linkedin.com/in/uri-levine Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/UriLevine1 Subscribe to The Business Method Podcast  Website: thebusinessmethod.com  Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/TheBusinessMethod  Google Podcasts: bit.ly/TheBusinessMethodGooglePodcasts  Spotify: bit.ly/SpotifyTheBusinessMethod    Follow Chris Reynolds: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn — @chrisreynoldslive  https://linktr.ee/ChrisReynoldsLive