Aggaeus

Hosted by Haggai Klorman-Eraqi
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It’s 3 a.m., an entrepreneur is staring at the ceiling, wondering if they’ve just made the best—or worst—decision of their life. Welcome to the Aggaeus Podcast, hosted by Haggai Klorman-Eraqi. Here we share the messy experiments, the surprising wins, and the failures that cut deep but leave lessons worth carrying. You’ll get strategies, models, and insights from people in the arena—building, stumbling, and pushing forward.

  1. 1 HR AGO

    Rachel Ten Brink’s Wild Entrepreneurial Journey: From Selling Perfume Subscriptions to AI Investing

    Rachel ten Brink has lived the full loop: corporate operator → YC-backed founder → GP at Red Bike Capital. She co-founded Scentbird, helped pioneer early DTC growth (before “playbooks” existed), and now backs founders at pre-seed and seed as a VC. In this episode, Rachel shares thestory behind the wins: the awkward first meetings, the bad business models, the “almost gave up” moment, and the tactical moves that finally made Scentbird click—pricing discipline, retention-first subscription thinking, and early influencer marketing before it was crowded. Then we flip to the investor lens: what she actually looks for in founders, why traction beats storytelling (especially for first-timers), and how AI changes the game—without replacing the fundamentals. You’ll hear: • The early Scentbird pivots that failed—and the one that finally worked • Subscription survival: voluntary vs involuntary churn (and why card failures can kill you) • What YC was like when growth expectations were brutal and simple • The real advantage of “doing things that don’t scale” to land the first enterprise customers • Rachel’s founder filter: learning speed, commercial sense, and distribution Check out the full episode notes, transcripts, and all links on Substack: 👉https://aggaeus.com/ SPONSORS - EXCLUSIVE FOR AGGAEUS PODCAST LISTENERS: KARDZ.BIZ BUY 2, GET 3 ON KARDZ.BIZ — UP TO $479 VALUE. AGGAEUSB2G3PREMIUM - for PREMIUM cards AGGAEUSB2G3PRO+ - for PRO+ cards When face-to-face impressions matter, pull out Kardz.Biz, the “business card too good to give away”. Use this link: https://kardz.biz/?ref=yqrmczty BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE SAVE 10% ON BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE’S GLP-1 PROGRAMS WITH CODE AGGAEUS10 (LIMITED TIME). Better Weight For Life is a transformational weight loss program led by a U.S. board-certified physician—designed to keep it simple: personalized GLP-1 treatment, expert support, and discreet delivery. They offer options including Ozempic®, Wegovy®, Zepbound®, Mounjaro®, plus compounded semaglutide and compounded tirzepatide (eligibility depends on your medical evaluation). Claim the offer here: https://www.betterweightforlife.com/partners/aggaeus CONNECT WITH RACHEL TEN BRINK LinkedIn Website CONNECT WITH HAGGAI LinkedIn FOLLOW AGGAEUS Instagram TikTok YouTube SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Apple Podcasts INQUIRIES 💼 Sponsorships / Business: talktous@aggaeus.com 🎙 Podcast: DM via Instagram DISCLAIMER Some links may earn affiliate commissions. Offers, terms, and availability may change without notice. Aggaeus content is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should conduct your own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions. We may feature companies, products, or entities in which Aggaeus, its affiliates, or the author have invested or may invest, or with which they have had, have, or may have a financial, professional, or other relationship.

    1hr 17min

  2. 19 MAR

    Yuval Odem (PlayerMaker): The FIFA-Approved Sensor Helping Athletes Perform Better & Avoid Injury

    PlayerMaker didn’t build “another sports gadget.” They built a FIFA-certified, footwear-mounted sensor system used by top football organizations—the kind of product that takes years of R&D, brutal accuracy standards, and relentless credibility to earn trust. In this episode, Yuval Odem (Co-founder & COO) shares how two tiny sensors that clip onto an athlete’s shoes and track foot motion at 1000Hz—then translate raw signals into performance insights that coaches and players can actually use. But the path there wasn’t glamorous. It started with… kayaks. Then a pivotal hire: a former Nike performance lab leader. Then two years of painstaking development: athletes wearing prototypes while being filmed, students tagging events in slow motion, and algorithms learning how to “understand” every stride, sprint, cut, and touch. You’ll hear: • Why PlayerMaker chose football first (even though it’s the hardest sport to put hardware on) • The breakthrough metrics that change performance: ground contact time, stride length, flight ratio • How gait asymmetry can flag injury risk before an athlete admits something’s wrong • The behind-the-scenes reality of landing pro clubs: trials, skepticism, superstition—and earning trust session by session • The 4-year FIFA certification marathon (safety + accuracy) and why it matters commercially • The brutal prioritization dilemma of running B2B + B2C at the same time (“I do not recommend it.”) Check out the full episode notes, transcripts, and all links on Substack: 👉https://aggaeus.com/ SPONSORS - EXCLUSIVE FOR AGGAEUS PODCAST LISTENERS: KARDZ.BIZ BUY 2, GET 3 ON KARDZ.BIZ — UP TO $479 VALUE. AGGAEUSB2G3PREMIUM - for PREMIUM cards AGGAEUSB2G3PRO+ - for PRO+ cards When face-to-face impressions matter, pull out Kardz.Biz, the “business card too good to give away”. Use this link: https://kardz.biz/?ref=yqrmczty BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE SAVE 10% ON BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE’S GLP-1 PROGRAMS WITH CODE AGGAEUS10 (LIMITED TIME). Better Weight For Life is a transformational weight loss program led by a U.S. board-certified physician—designed to keep it simple: personalized GLP-1 treatment, expert support, and discreet delivery. They offer options including Ozempic®, Wegovy®, Zepbound®, Mounjaro®, plus compounded semaglutide and compounded tirzepatide (eligibility depends on your medical evaluation). Claim the offer here: https://www.betterweightforlife.com/partners/aggaeus CONNECT WITH YUVAL ODEM LinkedIn Website CONNECT WITH HAGGAI LinkedIn FOLLOW AGGAEUS Instagram TikTok YouTube SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Apple Podcasts INQUIRIES 💼 Sponsorships / Business: talktous@aggaeus.com 🎙 Podcast: DM via Instagram DISCLAIMER Some links may earn affiliate commissions. Offers, terms, and availability may change without notice. Aggaeus content is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should conduct your own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions. We may feature companies, products, or entities in which Aggaeus, its affiliates, or the author have invested or may invest, or with which they have had, have, or may have a financial, professional, or other relationship.

    59 min

  3. 12 MAR

    Ori Lahav (Outbrain): Build Trust at Scale — From Kibbutz Kid to $1B Adtech Pioneer

    Before Facebook, before Twitter, and before Chrome became what they are today, Outbrain helped shape the modern internet—and grew into a $1B+ revenue, public company with 1,000+ employees. Ori Lahav, Outbrain's former CTO and Co-Founder, opens our conversation with: “Entrepreneurship is like living with a chronic disease.” Not because it’s “morbid” — because it’s constant. It never stops calling. And if you’ve felt that “bug,” you’ll recognize yourself instantly. In this episode, Ori tells the unlikely story: a kid raised in a kibbutz (where “business” and capitalism didn’t exist) secretly learns to code on a PDP computer (a “washing machine” sized relic), disappears from keyboards for a decade… and then gets pulled back in by the dot-com wave — until a sailing trip and a friend’s idea turns into Outbrain. You’ll hear the behind-the-scenes lessons most founders miss: • Why Outbrain started as a simple 5-star rating widget (and why bloggers loved it) • The brutal truth of early-stage: ~2.5 years to get distribution, then 3 pivots in 18 months to find a business model • The “lighthouse” framework Outbrain used to pivot fast without losing the mission • The moment Outbrain fired its biggest client to protect “trust” (and the cost of doing the right thing) • How to build culture when you scale across oceans • Ori’s core rule: “Trust the other side” Check out the full episode notes, transcripts, and all links on Substack: 👉https://aggaeus.com SPONSORS - EXCLUSIVE FOR AGGAEUS PODCAST LISTENERS: KARDZ.BIZ BUY 2, GET 3 ON KARDZ.BIZ — UP TO $479 VALUE. AGGAEUSB2G3PREMIUM - for PREMIUM cards AGGAEUSB2G3PRO+ - for PRO+ cards When face-to-face impressions matter, pull out Kardz.Biz, the “business card too good to give away”. Use this link: https://kardz.biz/?ref=yqrmczty BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE SAVE 10% ON BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE’S GLP-1 PROGRAMS WITH CODE AGGAEUS10 (LIMITED TIME). Better Weight For Life is a transformational weight loss program led by a U.S. board-certified physician—designed to keep it simple: personalized GLP-1 treatment, expert support, and discreet delivery. They offer options including Ozempic®, Wegovy®, Zepbound®, Mounjaro®, plus compounded semaglutide and compounded tirzepatide (eligibility depends on your medical evaluation). Claim the offer here: https://www.betterweightforlife.com/partners/aggaeus CONNECT WITH ORI LAHAV LinkedIn Website CONNECT WITH HAGGAI LinkedIn FOLLOW AGGAEUS Instagram TikTok YouTube SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Apple Podcasts INQUIRIES 💼 Sponsorships / Business: talktous@aggaeus.com 🎙 Podcast: DM via Instagram DISCLAIMER Some links may earn affiliate commissions. Offers, terms, and availability may change without notice. Aggaeus content is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should conduct your own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions. We may feature companies, products, or entities in which Aggaeus, its affiliates, or the author have invested or may invest, or with which they have had, have, or may have a financial, professional, or other relationship.

    1 hr

  4. 9 MAR

    Daniel Hulme: Michelin Chef to Private Jet Catering Exit — The “No Contracts” Business of Perfection

    A Michelin-trained chef builds a premium private aviation catering company, serves royalty + “flying palaces,” survives COVID, then exits. All this while operating in a cutthroat market that is private aviation, where there are basically no contracts, you get 48 hours' notice, and you are just as good as your last meal. Daniel Hulme takes you inside a world most people never see: business jets that act as a “time machine” for executives, where flight attendants are the real decision-makers, and why the hardest part isn’t the food—it’s the logistics, systems, and reliability. This episode is where we unpack: • How Daniel went from Michelin kitchens → superyachts → America’s Cup chaos → private jets • The system he built to scale from 5 flights to 70+ flights in a day • “Heavy metal” wide-body missions (royal fleets, teams, tours) and what those orders actually look like • Why food tastes different in the air (humidity + salt loss) — and how he engineered for it • The unexpected COVID pivot: turning aviation infrastructure into a premium home-delivery brand that dominated the press • The hidden side of exits: burnout, identity crash, and what nobody tells you after the deal closes Check out the full episode notes, transcripts, and all links on Substack: 👉https://aggaeus.com/ SPONSORS - EXCLUSIVE FOR AGGAEUS PODCAST LISTENERS: KARDZ.BIZ BUY 2, GET 3 ON KARDZ.BIZ — UP TO $479 VALUE. AGGAEUSB2G3PREMIUM - for PREMIUM cards AGGAEUSB2G3PRO+ - for PRO+ cards When face-to-face impressions matter, pull out Kardz.Biz, the “business card too good to give away”. Use this link: https://kardz.biz/?ref=yqrmczty BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE SAVE 10% ON BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE’S GLP-1 PROGRAMS WITH CODE AGGAEUS10 (LIMITED TIME). Better Weight For Life is a transformational weight loss program led by a U.S. board-certified physician—designed to keep it simple: personalized GLP-1 treatment, expert support, and discreet delivery. They offer options including Ozempic®, Wegovy®, Zepbound®, Mounjaro®, plus compounded semaglutide and compounded tirzepatide (eligibility depends on your medical evaluation). Claim the offer here: https://www.betterweightforlife.com/partners/aggaeus CONNECT WITH DANIEL HULME LinkedIn CONNECT WITH HAGGAI LinkedIn FOLLOW AGGAEUS Instagram TikTok YouTube SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Apple Podcasts INQUIRIES 💼 Sponsorships / Business: talktous@aggaeus.com 🎙 Podcast: DM via Instagram DISCLAIMER Some links may earn affiliate commissions. Offers, terms, and availability may change without notice. Aggaeus content is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should conduct your own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions. We may feature companies, products, or entities in which Aggaeus, its affiliates, or the author have invested or may invest, or with which they have had, have, or may have a financial, professional, or other relationship.

    1hr 18min

  5. 5 MAR

    Mor Assia: How iAngels Turned “Shabbat Deal Flow” Into 27 Exits & $550M Deployed

    Before Mor Assia ever wrote a term sheet, she already had a fascination with tech companies. As a kid, she’d flip to the tiny “Israelis on Nasdaq” section of the newspaper and track the numbers. At home, dinner conversations were about who founded what, who raised, who exited, and who’s building next. Fast-forward: Mor becomes a Technion-trained engineer, serves in 8200, codes, climbs corporate strategy at IBM/Amdocs… and still, something nags at her. She keeps hearing the same frustration from smart global investors: “We only see Israeli deals after they cross the Atlantic—when the insiders already took the best entry.” It felt like a broken bridge. A market inefficiency. A network problem. So Mor and her partners built iAngels to fix it—starting with a brutal cold start: no platform, no capital flywheel, founders asking “how much can you really commit?”, and a model that didn’t yet exist in Israel. They took risk, stitched supply and demand together, and built what Mor calls “a network of networks”— a global base of ultra-high-net-worth operators and builders. Today, iAngels is an early-stage VC with: • 120+ investments • $550M+ deployed • 27 profitable exits • experience from seed to IPO and public boards In this episode, Mor breaks down what most people don’t see: • Why Israel’s “startup dinner table” culture is an unfair advantage • How iAngels evolved from co-investment into a true early-stage VC platform • What founders misunderstand about dilution vs. partnership • Why “over-engineering” kills startups (especially now) • How AI is rewriting the rules of competition—and what she expects from founders next Check out the full episode notes, transcripts, and all links on Substack: 👉https://aggaeus.com/ SPONSORS - EXCLUSIVE FOR AGGAEUS PODCAST LISTENERS: KARDZ.BIZ BUY 2, GET 3 ON KARDZ.BIZ — UP TO $479 VALUE. AGGAEUSB2G3PREMIUM - for PREMIUM cards AGGAEUSB2G3PRO+ - for PRO+ cards When face-to-face impressions matter, pull out Kardz.Biz, the “business card too good to give away”. Use this link: https://kardz.biz/?ref=yqrmczty BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE SAVE 10% ON BETTER WEIGHT FOR LIFE’S GLP-1 PROGRAMS WITH CODE AGGAEUS10 (LIMITED TIME). Better Weight For Life is a transformational weight loss program led by a U.S. board-certified physician—designed to keep it simple: personalized GLP-1 treatment, expert support, and discreet delivery. They offer options including Ozempic®, Wegovy®, Zepbound®, Mounjaro®, plus compounded semaglutide and compounded tirzepatide (eligibility depends on your medical evaluation). Claim the offer here: https://www.betterweightforlife.com/partners/aggaeus CONNECT WITH MOR ASSIA LinkedIn iAngels LinkedIn The best wat to reach Mor is via email, and you can find her email at the end of the episode :) CONNECT WITH HAGGAI LinkedIn FOLLOW AGGAEUS Instagram TikTok YouTube SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Apple Podcasts INQUIRIES 💼 Sponsorships / Business: talktous@aggaeus.com 🎙 Podcast: DM via Instagram DISCLAIMER Some links may earn affiliate commissions. Offers, terms, and availability may change without notice. Aggaeus content is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should conduct your own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions. We may feature companies, products, or entities in which Aggaeus, its affiliates, or the author have invested or may invest, or with which they have had, have, or may have a financial, professional, or other relationship.

    1hr 14min

  6. 26 FEB

    Dor Skuler: ElliQ’s “AI Grandma Companion” — 80 No’s, NYT Front Page, Real Impact

    After ELLI•Q™ landed above-the-fold on the New York Times front page, Dor Skuler—CEO & Co-Founder of Intuition Robotics—joins Haggai Klorman Eraqi to unpack how you build trust, etiquette, and real companionship with a machine. Dor shares the decade-long journey that started long before Amazon even shipped Alexa, survived 80+ investor “no’s,” and finally created ELLI•Q™, a proactive AI robot designed to reduce loneliness, improve wellness behaviors, and connect families—without turning people into “the product.” If you’re interested in AI, robotics, health, or any mission-driven market, this episode is a masterclass and a must-listen. Check out the full episode notes, transcripts, and all links on Substack: 👉https://aggaeus.com/ CONNECT WITH DOR SKULER LinkedIn Website CONNECT WITH HAGGAI LinkedIn FOLLOW AGGAEUS Instagram TikTok YouTube SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Apple Podcasts SPONSORS EXCLUSIVE FOR AGGAEUS PODCAST LISTENERS: BUY 2, GET 3 ON KARDZ.BIZ — UP TO $479 VALUE. AGGAEUSB2G3PREMIUM - for PREMIUM cards AGGAEUSB2G3PRO+ - for PRO+ cards  When face-to-face impressions matter, pull out Kardz.Biz, the “business card too good to give away”.  Use this link: https://kardz.biz/?ref=yqrmczty INQUIRIES 💼 Sponsorships / Business: talktous@aggaeus.com 🎙 Podcast: DM via Instagram Disclaimer Some links may earn affiliate commissions. Offers, terms, and availability may change without notice. Aggaeus content is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should conduct your own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions. We may feature companies, products, or entities in which Aggaeus, its affiliates, or the author have invested or may invest, or with which they have had, have, or may have a financial, professional, or other relationship.

    1hr 3min

  7. 19 FEB

    Roi Bar-Kat (Intel Capital Israel): How to Pitch, Build Defensibility & Win in the AI Era

    Roi Bar-Kat leads Intel Capital’s investing in Israel—and he’s helped back companies across AI, deep tech, cybersecurity, and more. In this conversation with Haggai Klorman Eraqi, Roi breaks down what consistently separates the startups that earn conviction (and outcomes) from the ones that don’t: founder quality, storytelling, and defensibility in an AI-accelerated world. We go from Roi’s “non-traditional” path into venture to Intel Capital’s unusually strong model for combining financial discipline with long-term strategic value. Along the way, Roi shares a practical pitching framework, two lists every founder should write, why deep tech is getting even more compelling, and what AI could mean for the next wave of companies. In this episode you’ll learn: • Why Intel Capital shifted toward investing in “the best companies first”—and how that creates strategic value • What makes a founder investable • How AI is reshaping SaaS risk and boosting deep tech opportunity • Why single-founder companies are harder to bet on • What “physical AI” looks like and why it’s defensible Check out the full episode notes, transcripts, and all links on Substack: 👉https://aggaeus.com/ CONNECT WITH ROI BAR-KAT LinkedIn Website CONNECT WITH HAGGAI LinkedIn FOLLOW AGGAEUS Instagram TikTok YouTube SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Apple Podcasts SPONSORS Kardz.Biz — “A business card too good to give away.” INQUIRIES 💼 Sponsorships / Business: talktous@aggaeus.com 🎙 Podcast: DM via Instagram Some links may earn affiliate commissions. Offers, terms, and availability may change without notice. Aggaeus content is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should conduct your own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions. We may feature companies, products, or entities in which Aggaeus, its affiliates, or the episode participants have invested or may invest, or with which they have had, have, or may have a financial, professional, or other relationship.

    1hr 8min

  8. 6 FEB

    From SafeDK Exit to ClarityQ: Orly Shoavi on PMF, Co-Founders & Trustworthy Data AI

    Orly Shoavi has done what most founders only talk about: built through the “two years in the desert,” found a breakout wedge, and exited—then came back for round two with ClarityQ. In this episode, Orly (Co-Founder & CEO, ClarityQ) sits down with Haggai Klorman Eraqi to unpack the real founder journey: choosing a co-founder like a marriage, surviving the emotional whiplash of acquisition talks, and the moment SafeDK unlocked growth by shifting from “everyone loves it” to “everyone pays.” Then we fast-forward to ClarityQ—the pain Orly felt firsthand at scale: teams drowning in data but blocked by bottlenecked analysts. She explains why GenAI made this problem solvable now, how ClarityQ builds trust (transparency, SQL visibility, human-in-the-loop), and what it means to move from prompt engineering to context engineering. What you’ll learn: How Orly vetted a co-founder—and why alignment beats “perfectly different skill sets”The SafeDK wedge: monitoring SDKs → ad intelligence → explosive demand (and why it started as “just a feature”)The acquisition roller coaster: term sheet, sudden freeze, brutal uncertainty… then a better all-cash offerWhy “waiting on analysts” slows decisions—and how ClarityQ helps teams move fasterHow to trust AI analytics: plans, steps, SQL, guardrails, and analyst verification workflowsOrly’s advice to her younger self: start earlier Check out the full episode notes, transcripts, and all links on Substack: 👉https://aggaeus.com/ CONNECT WITH ORLY SHOAVI LinkedIn Website CONNECT WITH HAGGAI LinkedIn FOLLOW AGGAEUS Instagram TikTok YouTube SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Apple Podcasts SPONSORS Kardz.Biz — “A business card too good to give away.” INQUIRIES 💼 Sponsorships / Business: talktous@aggaeus.com 🎙 Podcast: DM via Instagram Some links may earn affiliate commissions. Offers, terms, and availability may change without notice. Aggaeus content is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should conduct your own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions. We may feature companies, products, or entities in which Aggaeus, its affiliates, or the author have invested or may invest, or with which they have had, have, or may have a financial, professional, or other relationship.

    1hr 5min
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About

It’s 3 a.m., an entrepreneur is staring at the ceiling, wondering if they’ve just made the best—or worst—decision of their life. Welcome to the Aggaeus Podcast, hosted by Haggai Klorman-Eraqi. Here we share the messy experiments, the surprising wins, and the failures that cut deep but leave lessons worth carrying. You’ll get strategies, models, and insights from people in the arena—building, stumbling, and pushing forward.

Information

  • Creator
    Hosted by Haggai Klorman-Eraqi
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Hosted by Haggai Klorman-Eraqi
  • Show Website
    Aggaeus