Ep. 59 - Evolving and Disrupting Traditional Finance with Litan Yahav The Art of Winning

Litan Yahav is a former officer in the Israeli Navy, together with his co-founder Tomer
Salvi, established and successfully sold "Segoma", a revolutionary diamond display technology that disrupted the global diamond industry. Following their exit, they became passive RE/PE investors with complex & diverse investment portfolios. With no existing technological solution to manage, track, and monitor their wealth and a full range of investment assets, they decided to build a startup for planning and controlling their wealth and the wealth of others like us, and so Vyzer was born. If you wish to simplify your finances, definitely check Vyzer.
 
In this episode, Litan shares his journey of success and how he has managed to take advantage of life’s blessings while working hard. He discusses the challenges of entering the diamond industry without any prior knowledge, and the luck, curiosity, and preparation it took to create a machine that allowed customers to buy diamonds online with confidence. Additionally, he shares how he has transitioned from being an entrepreneur to becoming an investor by investing in passive asset classes such as index funds. The conversation then shifts to the structure of investments and understanding the implications and expectations before deciding on one. Litan also emphasizes the importance of building a reputation and trusting those you partner with in the real estate industry. Finally, Litan talks about his journey to better health and wellness and how he has incorporated mindfulness practices into his daily life
 
[00:00 - 10:17] Entrepreneur and Investor Litan Yahav!
Litan Yahav is introduced to the show. Litan is a 40-year-old entrepreneur, former military officer, and investor who sold his startup in 2018 and is now creating new software to manage wealth.  
[11:12 - 23:38] Curiosity and Preparation That Led to an Opportunity
Litan Yahav and his co-founders were part of an entrepreneurship program funded by Sam Zell. The program aimed to help participants find a business problem to solve. The team had an experience of walking down long hallways with brokers carrying suitcases filled with diamonds. They were amazed by the whole experience and felt surreal to them. They were not experts in the diamond industry but decided to try and solve the problem anyway. Their ignorance of the industry gave them the gumption to go after the problem. That ignorance helped them approach the problem with fresh eyes and they saw an opportunity to create an online platform for buying and selling well-inspected diamonds.

[26:14 - 51:09] Finding Purpose and Building Wealth
Litan and his associate initially established an LLC in the US to invest in syndications. This structure allowed them to diversify their investments and avoid having to meet the minimum investment requirements in each opportunity. However, they later realized this increased the reporting requirements and did not provide any value. He has since shifted to making new investments directly. Litan has noticed that many LPs have the desire to become GPs. LPs tend to try to learn about the nitty-gritty of real estate analysis and spreadsheets in order to perform better as GPs. Litan, however, has no ambition to become a GP and is focused on building tech companies in the southern hemisphere. He understands why someone would become a GP, as there is more money to be made, but also more risk and work involved. Litan prefers to invest personally with smaller operators in the real estate market, as opposed to bigger, more established syndications. Litan notes that the biggest challenge in finding the right investment opportunity is finding people you can trust. Litan suggests that bigger operators may not want their LPs to share information about their investments, whereas smaller operators are more open to transparency.  
[53:33 – 01:02:23] Closing Segment
What are the key elements you look for when investing and what is your str