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Stevie – Turn your feed into an awesome TV channel
Yael Givon / Co-Founder, CEO at Stevie
Since moving away from the big city, Yael Givon and her husband Gil found themselves driving a lot more than before; consequently tuning in to the radio more often, they found it to be rather boring. This is when they had their eureka moment. They got an idea, built a prototype, raised money and created Stevie – a service that lets you generate your very own TV channel out of your Facebook and Twitter feeds.
Yael believes that viewers in the future will expect their TV to know who they are, who their friends are, and what they like to watch. Stevie is available on iOS, Android, Samsung TV, Windows 8 and the Web.
While Yael does not have any formal education in the field of marketing (she actually holds a BFA from Bezalel Academy of Arts), she managed to become the Director of Marketing in one of the most renowned Israeli companies – ICQ.
Gil Rimon / Co-Founder, Creative Technology at Stevie
Later on, Yael co-founded Sense of Fashion – the online marketplace for indie fashion, and served as VP Product for Speedbit and Director of Marketing for ICQ (AOL). She was a product strategy consultant for startups such as Innovid, Face.com (sold to Facebook), Yedda (AOL) and Foxytunes (Yahoo).
Yael’s lack of technical background does not stop her from being an expert in her field. On the contrary, she believes artists are builders and that this is why they have a good chance of becoming good product managers in the startup scene.
Yael credits her connections and friends from the local startup scene for significantly contributing to her venture. One of them, who supported her all along the way, and is also the closest thing to a mentor that she has is Yossi Vardi – A well-known Israeli investor. She pointed out that a significant thing she learned from him was his approach to people that enables them to express themselves.
As for today, Yael has her hands full nurturing her two babies – her young son and her startup company. Surprisingly, she also gets to sleep sometimes in between.
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