The Profit or Pivot Podcast

On October 7, the roads of southern Israel became killing grounds for murderous terrorists and ordinary people became heroes. Filmmaker Igal Hecht joins Matan to discuss the Hamas attacks through the stories at the heart of his documentary, The Killing Roads: people caught on the roads, survivors recounting what happened, and Israelis who risked their lives to save others. How do you document atrocities without turning suffering into spectacle? And can evidence change the mind of someone determined not to believe it? Igal takes us behind the documentary, from interviewing survivors where the events unfolded to searching 50 hours of ambulance footage to connect their testimony with what cameras captured. The conversation moves from October 7 to its aftermath: antisemitism in the West, Igal’s criticism of media coverage of Israel, Islamist extremism, and the battle over how the attacks are remembered. Matan challenges broad generalizations and asks what a documentary can accomplish in a deeply divided world. Do the facts even matter anymore? IN THIS EPISODE October 7 beyond the kibbutzim and Nova festival: what happened on the roads Stories of survival and ordinary Israelis who became rescuers Using ambulance footage to help reconstruct events Antisemitism in the West after October 7 Biased media coverage and whether evidence can change minds _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ABOUT THE GUEST In 1999, Igal Hecht founded Chutzpa Productions Inc., establishing himself as a filmmaker known for bold, thought-provoking storytelling. His award-winning work spans a wide range of subjects, from urgent human rights issues to pop culture phenomena, consistently sparking meaningful discussion and debate. With a career spanning more than two decades, Igal has produced over 70 documentary films and 20 television series, many of which have reached global audiences. His work has been featured on major international platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC, Documentary Channel, CBC, YES-TV (Israel and Canada), HBO Europe, and Vice TV, earning him both national and international recognition. Igal’s most recent film, The Killing Roads, has received widespread critical acclaim and garnered millions of views across multiple platforms, further solidifying his reputation as a filmmaker unafraid to confront difficult and uncomfortable realities head-on. His new series, Beyond the River, is set to be released in 2027. His production company: www.chutzpaproductions.com To watch The Killing Roads: www.thekillingroads.com He is currently working on a new series called 'Beyond The River' and are fundraising for it. Anyone can help: https://gofund.me/66f04a3de

What happens when AI stops helping employees and starts replacing them entirely? Sam Pasupalak joins Matan to explain his plan to build an AI CEO, why he believes today’s LLMs fall short, and how buying small businesses could help test his thesis. Sam co-founded Maluuba, the AI startup acquired by Microsoft for $160 million. In this conversation, he traces the evolution from early voice assistants to deep learning and ChatGPT, then explains his next bet: combining world models, continual learning and LLMs to operate businesses with no human involvement. Matan challenges him on the practical questions: Why couldn’t OpenAI or Anthropic build this? What would prove the technology actually works? And if AI handles the operations, what happens to employees? The conversation ends with a spirited disagreement about universal basic income, human creativity, consciousness and the path to artificial general intelligence. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ EPISODE PARTNER - pulsefx.com PulseFX is a Canadian foreign exchange and global payments consultancy that helps private clients and small‑to‑medium businesses move money across borders more efficiently. The firm focuses on reducing hidden FX costs, improving exchange rates, and helping clients manage currency risk when dealing with international real estate, suppliers, or global revenues. PulseFX combines modern payment technology with hands‑on, human guidance so clients can make better decisions when moving large sums internationally Get 25% off your FX today by visiting my link: www.thatfxguy.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ABOUT THE GUEST Sam Pasupalak previously co-founded Maluuba, an AI research lab acquired by Microsoft for $160M, where he worked alongside Turing Award winners Yoshua Bengio and Richard Sutton to build foundational deep learning technology. Sam is now building Skyfall to solve the hardest open problems in frontier AI: long-horizon planning, data inefficiency, and brittle performance in dynamic real-world environments. To achieve the team's vision of a completely autonomous enterprise, the team is developing a next-generation frontier model using Continual Learning and World Modeling. The team spans San Francisco, Toronto and Bangalore, working at the intersection of world modeling, continual learning, and autonomous systems. Connect with Sam X: https://x.com/spisallyouneed LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-pasupalak-57b4a220a/ Learn more about Skyfall https://x.com/skyfallai https://www.linkedin.com/company/skyfallai/ https://skyfall.ai/ S kyfall AI is buying SaaS businesses for up to $1million to automate them. Those interested should reach out to their team at [email protected] to submit their business. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ABOUT THE SHOW The Profit or Pivot Podcast features candid conversations about building businesses, investing and the decisions that shape both. Subscribe for more conversations with founders, operators and investors. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Would you trust AI to run your business? What’s the first decision you would, and wouldn’t, delegate?

Yishay Waxman built Platterz into a Canadian tech success story with roughly a $100 million run rate. Then COVID hit. Offices shut down, revenues disappeared, and the company was forced to lay off more than 70% of its employees. Instead of shutting the company down and returning the remaining capital, Yishay and his co-founder pivoted. Years later, the business was acquired by Gusto. But Yishay's story goes much further than Platterz. Over a 30-year career in technology, he helped build and scale companies through the dot-com era, the 2008 financial crisis and COVID. Along the way, he worked with companies including Angry Birds and Candy Crush and helped build another business that was acquired for $240 million. After October 7th, Yishay decided to make another major change. The attacks affected his family personally. His wife landed in Israel that morning, his nephew was at the Nova festival, his cousin was taken hostage, and a close friend's son was killed. Eventually, Yishay decided there was something more important he wanted to do with the next chapter of his career. Today, he runs Clarim Ventures, investing in Israeli technology companies and helping Israeli founders access North American capital and relationships. In this conversation, we discuss: Building a $100M business and watching revenue disappear Why Yishay refused to quit Angry Birds, Candy Crush and the early mobile internet The impact of October 7th on his family Why he believes Israeli entrepreneurs are different Why he's investing his capital in Israel What's gone wrong with Canada's economy and tech ecosystem Why he thinks founders shouldn't expect a 9-to-5 The biggest lessons from 30 years as an entrepreneur This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, resilience, Israel, Canada, success, failure and what actually matters after decades of building companies. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ EPISODE PARTNER - pulsefx.com PulseFX is a Canadian foreign exchange and global payments consultancy that helps private clients and small‑to‑medium businesses move money across borders more efficiently. The firm focuses on reducing hidden FX costs, improving exchange rates, and helping clients manage currency risk when dealing with international real estate, suppliers, or global revenues. PulseFX combines modern payment technology with hands‑on, human guidance so clients can make better decisions when moving large sums internationally Get 25% off your FX today by visiting my link: www.thatfxguy.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ABOUT YISHAY WAXMAN Yishay's tech career began in 1996 in Israel, where he sold voicemail, SMS and ringtones to Telecom companies in over 85 countries. In 2005, Yishay co-founded Jumptap, one of the leading mobile advertising platforms, a company that spanned Boston and Israel, achieving revenues of $100M +, employing over 300 people, and culminating in a $240 million exit. In 2015, he co-founded Platterz, now known as Thriver Inc., which grew to over 200 employees and reached a $100 million run rate pre-COVID before being acquired by Gusto in 2024. Today, Yishay is laser focused on his 2 funds Clarim Ventures, a seed-stage fund backing the next generation of Israeli AI companies & Triple Threat Partners exclusively investing in the top Israeli cybersecurity companies. Reach out to Yishay:https://www.linkedin.com/in/yishaywaxman/ Learn more about Clarim VC

Building a consumer brand is one of the hardest things an entrepreneur can do.   Margins are tight. Inventory is expensive. Customer acquisition costs keep rising. And in Canada, raising venture capital for consumer products is almost impossible. In this episode of The Profit or Pivot Podcast, I sit down with Dani Kagan, co-founder of Mave & Chez, to discuss what it really takes to build a premium consumer brand from scratch. What started as frustration during pregnancy became a luxury slipper company backed by investors, featured on Dragons' Den (getting a deal with 2 Dragons), and built around premium manufacturing, thoughtful branding, and obsessive product design. We also discuss one of the most overlooked parts of fundraising: choosing the right investors. We cover: Why consumer startups are so difficult to build Why founders should be careful who they take money from Dragon's Den behind the scenes Building a luxury brand customers actually trust Building a business while raising a family Why Canada is such a difficult place to build startups Whether you're a founder, investor, or simply interested in how great brands are built, this episode offers an honest look at entrepreneurship beyond the headlines. THIS IS NOT SPONSORED by Mave & Chez but they graciously offered a promo code to our viewers: Mave & Chez slippers are available now - perfect for gifting or cozying up at home. Use the code PROFIT20 for 20% off your first order of MAVES.    _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  EPISODE PARTNER - pulsefx.com   PulseFX is a Canadian foreign exchange and global payments consultancy that helps private clients and small‑to‑medium businesses move money across borders more efficiently. The firm focuses on reducing hidden FX costs, improving exchange rates, and helping clients manage currency risk when dealing with international real estate, suppliers, or global revenues. PulseFX combines modern payment technology with hands‑on, human guidance so clients can make better decisions when moving large sums internationally   Get 25% off your FX today by visiting my link: www.thatfxguy.com   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _    ABOUT DANI KAGAN Dani Kagan is a serial entrepreneur, community builder, and mom of two. She’s the Co-Founder & CEO of Mave & Chez, a luxury lifestyle brand known for ergonomic slippers for women. Dani has raised $1M+ in venture capital, appeared on Dragons’ Den, and been featured in Vogue, The Globe & Mail, and more. Passionate about empowering women through business, she also hosts the podcast *Raise it Up*.   Website: www.maveandchez.com Instagram: @maveandchez https://www.linkedin.com/in/danikagan/

Roman Baber was excommunicated from the Conservative movement in Canada because he stood up to COVID related government tyranny in 2021. He was kicked out of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, and spent several years in the political wilderness. In hindsight, his stance was measured, appropriate, and necessary, during a time of fear, mass delusion, and government lies. And fortunately, his story doesn't end there. He was elected to the Federal Parliament in 2025 as the Member of Parliament for York Centre. Not only was York Centre the only Toronto riding won by the Conservative Party of Canada, but he also successfully flipped the seat from the Liberals. Roman is one of those rare politicians that acts from principal rather than political expediency. And in this conversation he doesn't hold back: Carney's failed economic agenda The rise of anti-Semitism Immigration DEI And many other important topics... Watch on YouTube _________________________________________________________ EPISODE PARTNER - pulsefx.com PulseFX is a Canadian foreign exchange and global payments consultancy that helps private clients and small‑to‑medium businesses move money across borders more efficiently. The firm focuses on reducing hidden FX costs, improving exchange rates, and helping clients manage currency risk when dealing with international real estate, suppliers, or global revenues. PulseFX combines modern payment technology with hands‑on, human guidance so clients can make better decisions when moving large sums internationally Get 25% off your FX today by visiting my link: www.thatfxguy.com _________________________________________________________ ABOUT ROMAN BABER Roman Baber is the Member of Parliament for York Centre, located in North York. He is a member of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Roman previously represented York Centre in the Provincial Legislature from 2018 to 2022. Roman is a lawyer, called to the Ontario Bar in 2006 and until his election to the Provincial Legislature in 2018, practiced commercial and insurance litigation. He attended high school at W.L. Mackenzie, obtained a B.A. from York University and graduated law school at Western. Roman was born and lived in the Soviet Union until age eight. He moved with his family and lived in Israel until age fifteen. In 1995 along with his family, Roman immigrated to Canada, directly to the heart of York Centre at Bathurst & Sheppard. Roman is an avid fan of the City of Toronto, subways and the Raptors. https://romanbabermp.ca/