Who are you and what's your business?

I'm Yael Morris and I made Aliyah from Canada. I started Decode Insights to help companies understand what their customers really think through third-party customer interviews. We interview their closed lost customers, their churned customers, and their existing customers to understand their value drivers, unmet expectations, and what caused them to buy or not buy. We serve startups, later-stage businesses, and enterprise companies to help them get closer to their customers and reduce the gap between internal perceptions and customer reality. Most of the time, customers won't actually share the truth behind what they really think or feel because they know that the business is attached to a sale. But they will speak openly to a third party who just wants to listen and is detached.

What inspired you to make Aliyah, and did you always know you wanted to start a business in Israel?

I've always wanted to live in Tel Aviv. It's been a dream of mine. My name is Yael, so growing up and throughout my life, I've had to always explain my name to people, and I've always had this inherent deeper connection with Israel and my Jewish identity. Tel Aviv specifically is a startup nation, and I gravitate towards entrepreneurs, innovation, and thinking big—the energy of the city really attracted me, and I just made the call that I needed to move to Israel.

I didn't know I wanted to start a business in Israel. I actually started my business prior to moving to Israel, so I just saw it as an opportunity to grow and improve my business while being in Tel Aviv.

What was the lightbulb moment or experience that led to the idea for your business?

The lightbulb moment came when I had a marketing agency and we would interview our clients' customers. Every single time we went back to our clients with feedback, 9.9 times out of 10 they would say, "Really? That's what they think?" They would be shocked about the feedback they'd get through us as a third party, and would actually make changes to their business and rethink their whole business strategy. Over time, working with more companies and conducting these customer interviews, we realized customers share things with us they don't share with others.

What were the biggest cultural or logistical challenges you faced as an Olah starting a business in Israel?

The biggest challenge I've faced building my business in Israel is that many Israelis think they know everything and won't find anything new through a third party. It's a mentality where Israelis believe they know the truth about what's going on, and because I'm in the insights business, it's sometimes very hard to convince them that they actually don't know many things about their customers because customers aren't telling them the whole truth.

Did your background or previous experience help you, or did you have to reinvent yourself in a new industry?

This is a service that is not common at all. Most people have never heard of interviews with lost customers, so there's a lot of education involved. But as I've refined the messaging, people have started to understand the service better.

In terms of my background, I started my career in sales. We had a churn problem, and I interviewed customers to understand why they left or why they weren't repurchasing. I think it's more my intuition and instinct to solve problems through speaking with people that has led to where I am today with my business.

How did you get your first customers or clients? Was there a moment when you realized, 'This is really working'?

My very first customer ever was a dental practice, which happened to be my mom's business. But the first customer for customer interviews specifically was a legacy suit manufacturing brand that was experiencing churn. I met him for coffee through a friend's introduction, and we just started working together.

The moment I realized this was really working was when I found out that we saved them $4 million in revenue, increased their ARR by millions, and improved their retention to a record 98%—all just through speaking with their customers.

How did Israel's unique business environment—its startup culture, bureaucracy, or community—impact your journey?

I think the one thing about Israel is that you can do "speed dating" here, where meeting many people really quickly can actually happen because there's an emphasis on personal connections and meeting for coffee. That has really helped me test my messaging and get in front of customers like monday.com and Taboola.

If you're comfortable sharing, how is the business doing financially? Has it reached profitability, and what have been the biggest financial challenges?

I won't share specific financial numbers, but because it's a service-based business, it is very profitable. It's mostly about communicating the value you get from the service as opposed to the price tag. You should be getting much more value than you're paying for—that's the principle. And if you're not, then we shouldn't be doing business together.

The biggest challenge is less financial and more about growth—specifically getting in front of the right people who really understand the value proposition.

What's one mistake or tough lesson you learned along the way that you'd warn other Olim entrepreneurs about?

It's really not easy. Israelis are not easy spenders—they don't like to spend their money. That's just a fact, and I think if someone tells you otherwise, they're not being truthful. A lot of Israelis think they can do things by themselves when they actually can't. You need to be able to prove right off the bat that they are not capable of doing what you're capable of doing for them, and clearly lay out the return on investment.

What role has the Olim community or Israeli networking culture played in your success?

As I mentioned previously, there are a lot of entrepreneurs here and many people are open to having coffee with you. The natural way of introducing people and establishing connections has always been really helpful. I got my biggest and best customers through introductions or from people who were just willing to have coffee for a chat.

What's next for your business, and what's your long-term vision for its growth?

What's next for my business is building the technology and scaling it as much as possible in terms of efficiency, as well as hiring people to execute on customer interviews.

What advice would you give an Oleh/Olah thinking about starting a business here?

My advice to any Olim thinking about starting a business here is first, solve a meaningful problem that Israelis actually experience. Show value very clearly. Be willing to do some things for free to get good testimonials. Word of mouth and social proof are very important here because people trust each other. And go hard—go really hard at networking and meet as many people as you possibly can to position yourself as a thought leader in the specific domain of your business.

To learn more about Decode Insights, please visit https://decodeinsights.com/