#288: Gal Ringel, Co-Founder and CEO of Mine, the Smart Data Assistant, on Creating the Future of Data Ownership, How to Manage Your Cyber Security, and VC as a Practical MBA

Gal Ringel is the Founder and CEO of Mine, a smart data assistant allowing you to enjoy the internet while feeling safe and secure. Mine is on a mission to create a new global privacy standard where people can manage their data and minimize online risks without changing their behavior. They are bridging the gap between people and companies by making regulations accessible to everyone. Gal is an accomplished leader with a rare fusion of technology (Cybersecurity, 6 years in the 8200 elite intelligence corps), entrepreneurship, VC experience, strategic thinking, and unique business skills. During his 4.5 years as a VC investor, Gal had the opportunity to deploy ~$50M in 20+ amazing early & late-stage companies in the Israeli eco-system. He also had the chance to help those companies excel in almost every aspect of their business and learned so much during this journey. Gal strongly believes that: "Success is a management of failures" and therefore his motto is: “Do not be afraid to take risks and experience failures. This is how we learn best!”

Some of the Topics Covered by Gal Ringel in this Episode

• What Mine is doing to enable you to take control of your data online

• The issue Mine is working to address and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected this problem

• The idea that privacy is dead

• How Gal and his co-founders decided to work together and start Mine

• Transitioning from engineering to VC to founding

• VC as a practical MBA

• Mine's business model and how it has shifted over time

• Creating the category of data ownership with Mine

• Fundraising a Series A remotely during a pandemic

• How the pandemic turned privacy into a hot topic

• How Gal approaches relationship building

• Launching on Product Hunt

• How they got to 200,000 users in the 12 months after launching using organic growth hacking

• Using influencer campaigns for performance marketing

• How they've approached building the Mine team by leveraging employees' networks

• The challenges of growing a team quickly and keeping the team aligned

• Gal's approach to personal and professional development as a CEO

• Navigating being a founder and new father during a global pandemic

• What we should know about cyber security

• The big vision for Mine

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