The Founder and The Investor

Israeli startup Papaya Global find themselves in a very unusual and challenging situation. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Investor floats dumping Papaya Global shares in row over judicial reform -Jewish News Syndicate >> Group 11's Dovi Frances accuses Papaya Global CEO of making business decisions based on her personal ideology.

I actually wanted to talk about their investor, Dovi Frances , who has proven to be a very successful businessman and investor. What's interesting about him is how he really stands out in the business arena. It's rare to find people in this highly competitive sector with a such level of sensitivity that is far beyond anything we normally see in business.

Dovi Frances is a very positive person and that's the added value he brings with him everywhere he goes.

In a world where everyone has an 'all the means justify the goal' attitude - there's something different going on with this guy. I can't even really put my finger on it since I don't know him very well. But I'm usually right when it comes to reading people. Dovi Frances is a very positive person and that's the added value he brings with him everywhere he goes.

I'm happy to see his continued success but it's not the numbers that impress me. What impresses me the most are his outstanding human capabilities that are expressed in a better way than most in his professional dealings. And the reason why I'm talking about this right now is to explain how in war - there are only losers. Some lose a little and some lose a lot.

A CEO is a very special leader. This is someone who needs to be constantly scanning their entire environment with great sensitivity to discover future trends and special individuals, to leverage them in a powerful way for the good of the company. So you would have expected the leaders of Papaya Global - the moment they discovered they had such a special investor with such amazing vibes, they should have been all over him. If they hadn't been so distracted by the negative things they're involved in, Dovi Frances could have taken them to the moon and back. Their leading position in the global economy would have been set in stone. Instead of that they got stuck in a political/capital scuffle - one of the main problems we're dealing with today in the current format of man and world.

So there is a lot of spilled milk in this situation and I hope that at the very least others will learn from this example. Any situation can always be transformed to very positive or very negative. It's all only a matter of attitude. If Eynat Guez had been able to slightly overcome her ego and righteousness, and rise above her initial instinct to react in such an antagonistic manner to Dovi's brave statements:

“What bothers me is the use of a bank account of a company that raised money from investors from across the political spectrum. Taking money from deposits and using the implied, or not implied, threat for political purposes doesn’t find favor in my eyes,” Frances told Channel 12.

“I have a lot of professional respect for Eynat, but if you want to play politics, take off your CEO’s hat and put it aside,” he said. “If you want to be the CEO of a company, then manage the company.”

If she had made a conscious decision to focus purely on business success - everyone would have gained from this. Unfortunately it's not the people at this level that are harmed by these things but rather all the people around them.

The bottom line is that war is not a good strategy. In war there are only losers.

And my message to entrepreneurs - when you discover such a special individual like Dovi Frances in your midst - especially since it's so rare in economic circles - do everything in your power to have such a positive individual involved in the most critical strategic moves your company makes. Involve him as much as possible in everything you do.