Ori Soen, CEO at Kampyle
Age: 43
Lives in: Ramat Hasharon
Significant others: Married + 3
Company’s main offices:
Our HQ is in Ramat Gan, right on the Arlozerof train station (95% of our employees use the train!). We also have teams in Australia, Europe and the US.
What does your company do and why is it unique?
We help brands and enterprises understand the customer experience they provide to their users, and give them the tools to improve it and their bottom line results.
What are you most proud of in your company?
Our ability to execute well while giving employees the time and peace of mind to have a life outside of work. After living in the US for 8 years I came to appreciate the importance of work/life balance and at Kampyle we try hard to enable our employees to maintain that balance.
Who inspires you/who do you admire and why?
Ben Horowitz, who was CEO of Opsware (sold to HP), is an inspiration. His book, “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” should be mandatory reading for every CEO.
Which other companies do you admire?
IKEA for revolutionizing the market they are competing in, while maintain design aesthetics and quality.
Lego for thriving in a digital world with a physical toy (I hope every kid spends at least an hour a day building dreams out of Legos)
What do you do for fun?
I love hanging out with friends, traveling, swimming…
iPhone or Android? iPhone
Favorite Food:
Mexican. It’s a shame there are no “real” Mexican restaurants in Israel…
Favorite TV Show:
Currently Mad Men (I watch very little TV, so I’m a bit behind…)
Favorite technological gadgets/apps right now:
I love the app Elevate – for training your brain. It’s both fun to use and has the most amazing UI I’ve seen in an app.
Dropcam by Nest – it’s a WiFi webcam that’s really easy to setup and it has an accompanying web app. All gadgets should be this simple to setup and fun to use.
Favorite go-to websites/blogs for news on your industry/technology:
Techmeme. I scan it at least 3 times a day.
I also have multiple Google alerts configured so that industry updates come to me, instead of the other way around.
The best business advice you ever received:
This Benjamin Franklin advice was true during army days, and I believe it is true in the startup world as well:
What do you think would really surprise people to learn about you?
I grew up in the Jewish Quarter in the Old City in Jerusalem.
I don’t have a university degree. I quit my Computer Science degree a few month before graduating from Hebrew University to start a startup and never came back to finish my degree. My wife has both a law degree and an MBA, so I always joke that on average we both have one degree.
I almost became a TV star! In the early 80’s when Israel’s Channel 1 imported Sesame Street they needed a few kids to chase “Kipi” (Israel’s equivalent of Big Bird, only Kipi was a porcupine) in the opening sequence and I was one of those kids 
Some of the folks at Kampyle (click to enlarge)
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