"The more the entrepreneurs take care of their physical and mental condition, the better off the company and its performance will be"

The venture capital fund State of Mind Ventures (SOMV) held a roundtable event in Brooklyn, New York for dozens of entrepreneurs and members of the high-tech community where they presented their new project, “The Well-being initiative”.

General partner Nir Adler and Omer Kalderon, Head of Value Creation at SOMV, presented the initiative: "The Well-being initiative is a move that we are launching after a deep understanding that business is a very personal thing. Precisely in this period of economic instability, we want to create a new standard. It is right to start a deeper conversation about the well-being of the entrepreneurs, and the ways in which they and we can improve it. In recent years, as a fund, we have engaged quite a bit in trying to understand what this means. What are the conditions and circumstances required in order for the entrepreneurs to give the right weight to their personal well-being and understand the connection between it and their personal growth and business performance over time. Our years of experience working with entrepreneurs have shown that the more entrepreneurs are aware of and take care of their emotional, physical and mental state, the better the company's condition, performance and other parameters.

<span style="font-weight: normal;">Right to left:</span> Nir Adler, Omer Kalderon, Merav Rotem Naaman - SOMV

"This realization caused us to embark on an in-depth study. With the help of Get Wizer's research platform, an examination of comparative studies, and dozens of interviews with entrepreneurs, we created a questionnaire that breaks down seven of the essential elements that define the welfare and well-being of entrepreneurs: Movement: Do I take care of my body? Mental health: Am I dealing with the stress caused as a result of being an entrepreneur? Sleep: Am I getting enough sleep? Nutrition: Am I providing my body with the right nutrients? Belonging: Am I connected to people who help me achieve my goals? Knowledge & inspiration: Am I learning how to grow and succeed? Fun: Am I laughing and having enough fun?”

Merav Rotem Naaman, a partner at SOMV, added: "We tend to focus on the successes of entrepreneurs and companies, their ability to offer a suitable and correct product, to grow and increase value - but all of these are retrospective results. In order to achieve these results, entrepreneurs need to bring a variety of multidisciplinary capabilities while at the same time making sure to nurture their well-being, health and stability. We researched the issue in depth, segmented it into seven main issues, and we intend to invest in all of these in creative and effective ways as part of the well-being initiative."

SOMV will conduct a comprehensive survey once every few months, which will be distributed to hundreds of entrepreneurs, in order to examine in-depth, and give a broad perspective to the program that was launched. "We hope that the insights from the survey will allow the entrepreneurs to see where they stand in relation to their friends and in relation to the personal goals they have set for themselves. Above all, we hope that the questionnaire itself will help each and every one of them develop vigilance for these issues and questions, and no less will encourage the wider ecosystem to accept the importance of the well-being of entrepreneurs, and its effect on the performance of the various companies.

"As part of the move, the fund will continue to research the issue and integrate the issue in all its interactions with the entrepreneurs, starting from the stage of investment in the company, through the regular interactions and initiatives of the fund with the entrepreneurs and the community. The fund will allocate resources both for deepening the research and for the purchase and development of practical tools (that will be published in open source) for the entrepreneurs to invest and improve their well-being. Also, as part of the move, each of the components will receive a broad and comprehensive action plan, which, apart from measuring it over time, will help the fund connect investment in the entrepreneurs themselves, and the success of a company in various fields - raising capital additional, marketing and sales success, talent recruitment and more.”

The event also featured a panel on Founders Well-being moderated by Noa Oron, VP of Business Development and Partnerships at Kaltura, with the participation of Itamar Ben Hemo, CEO & founder of Rivery and Maiy Piamanta, CEO & co-founder of Vee. The two entrepreneurs presented ways to deal with the pressure and release tensions.