Daniil Chernov, Co-Founder of Reboot Startup Nation, on Moving with a Job, Building a Community for 14K Russian Olim, and the 1,000 Rides That Followed October 7

In this episode of Yalla, Let’s Go!, Erica and Abbey sit down with Daniil Chernov — Russian-born oleh, co-founder of The Reboot Startup Nation, Nevo Network board member, and an analytics leader who has worked at some of Israel’s biggest tech companies — for a conversation about arriving with a job but no network, building community from scratch, and what eight years in Israel taught him about impact.

Daniil grew up in a small city near Moscow, studied theoretical physics, decided it was too theoretical, and moved into tech. He made aliyah in 2018 while working at Gett — an arrival so smooth he calls it his “golden aliyah” — and then discovered that having a job is not the same as having a professional network. He and Katerina Greenstein launched The Reboot Startup Nation the day before Russia invaded Ukraine, and pivoted overnight from serving Russian-speaking olim already in Israel to absorbing an entire new wave of them. After October 7th, he turned that same community into Israel Delivery Aid, a volunteer logistics operation that ran roughly 1,000 rides carrying gear, food, water, mattresses, and evacuees across the country.

Also in the episode:

• Making aliyah from Moscow in 2018 with Gett — and why he calls it a “golden aliyah”

• The specific loneliness of arriving with a job but no professional network

• Launching The Reboot Startup Nation the day before the war in Ukraine began

• Israel Delivery Aid: 1,000 volunteer rides organized out of a tech community after October 7th

• Co-founding with a Ukrainian partner while Russia and Ukraine were at war

• Moderating 14,000 community members through the hardest conversations

• Why he has more ability to create impact in Israel than he ever had in Russia

• Hit by a car on an electric scooter — and what the Israeli healthcare system did next

• His wife Ksusha and the reality of building a music career in Israel

• Aliyah advice: learn Hebrew, even if it’s only the alphabet

This is a practical, funny, and quietly moving conversation about networks, generosity, and what one person can actually build in a country this small.

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KEY TOPICS 

0:00 – Intro

0:56 – Meet Daniil Chernov: Russian Oleh, Israeli Tech Leader, and Community Builder

2:19 – Life Story in One Minute: Theoretical Physics to Israeli Tech

2:59 – Making Aliyah from Moscow in 2018 with Gett: The “Golden Aliyah”

4:02 – Two Very Different Aliyahs: His Experience vs. His Wife’s

5:16 – The LinkedIn Party That Showed Him He Had No Network in Israel

6:00 – Launching The Reboot Startup Nation the Day Before the Ukraine War

6:08 – Building a Russian-Language Tech Community for Olim in Israel

8:11 – After October 7th: How Israel Delivery Aid Was Built

9:30 – 1,000 Volunteer Rides: Gear, Food, Water, and Evacuations

11:39 – Co-Founding With a Ukrainian Partner While Russia and Ukraine Were at War

11:57 – Moderating 14,000 Community Members Through the Hardest Conversations

13:26 – Why He Has More Impact in Israel Than He Ever Had in Russia

14:32 – How Israelis Help Strangers: One Cold LinkedIn Message

15:28 – Hit by a Car on an Electric Scooter in Tel Aviv

15:59 – The Doctors’ Protest, the Ambulance, and the Emergency Room

17:29 – Waiting a Week for Surgery: Inside the Israeli Healthcare System

19:25 – Shoulder Surgery, Private Clinics, and Insurance Through Work

19:48 – Would He Ever Leave Israel? Not Back to Russia

20:52 – His Wife Ksusha and the Israeli Market for Non-Mizrahi Music

22:13 – What He Loves Most About Israel: Freedom and People Who Show Up

23:03 – Aliyah Advice: Learn Hebrew, at Least the Alphabet

23:34 – How Good Is His Hebrew After Eight Years?

23:59 – Rapid Fire: Entrecote in a Tortilla, Tachles & “Who Is a Jew?”

RESOURCES

Follow Daniil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniilchernov/

Learn more about The Reboot Startup Nation: https://www.israel-reboot.com/

Subscribe to Yalla, Let’s Go here: https://www.aleph.vc/yalla-lets-go 

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CREDITS

Hosts: Erica Marom, Abbey Onn 

Executive Producer: Sarah Bard

Producer: Sofi Levak, Dalit Merenfeld, Myron Shneider

Video and Editing: Nadav Elovic

Music and Creative Direction: Uri Ar 

Content and Editorial: Jackie Goldberg

Design: Nimrod Sapir