When was the last time you felt excited about something?

Try putting yourself in more situations like that; find yourself pushing your boundaries. As I’m wrapping up a month-long visit at home, I’ve met amazing people, worked with some crazy companies, and given my first book keynote.

For me it was about finding gratitude more than anything.
I want to thank the hundreds of people who came to hear me talk and my friends and family. With over 100 meetings, this has been a great visit.

Next stop, Europe.

Brand talks

Success improves when we do less.
Focus starts when we say no, more than we say yes.
Light shines when everything looks dark.
The best stories come from a struggle, from hardship.

We can’t live without the negative, yet we avoid it at all costs when it comes to our brands and running our businesses.

I remember about twenty years ago, when I was just starting my creative journey, someone told me to avoid negative words when writing content. It stuck with me. I still believe it’s better to write with a positive voice, but behind the scenes, not so much.

When we want something, we also need to know what we don’t want. If you look at most brand books, chances are you’ll find vision, mission, tone, and audience, but rarely a list of what the brand is not. (If you’ve seen one, send it to me. I’d love to read it.)

So, create your Not List:

• What you are not

• What your brand is doing now that it shouldn’t

• Tasks or services to stop, and by when

• Words you don’t like and don’t want to use

• Weaknesses your brand currently has and yes, write them down

I worked with a brand that couldn’t understand why they were moving so slowly. Turns out, they never actually moved fast; it just wasn’t who they were. So we didn’t try to change that overnight. Instead, we created a realistic decision-making timeline. It’s working. They’re improving on their terms.

Another client needed to identify their strongest suit for 2025 campaigns. It came down to one thing: their people. We built everything around that. The message: the customer journey. Once the team understood what they were not, they leaned into what they are. And everything clicked.

Embracing the positive starts by defining the negative.

May 5th is Star Wars Day. May the Force be with you. It’s all about avoiding the dark side, but Master Yoda knew it well. Maybe we should, too.

Let me know what you think and how you felt while doing this exercise.

Building in public

Book Launch
This week marked, in a sense, the first real book launch in Israel,18 months after it became an Amazon bestseller. How crazy is that?

Well… sad, actually. For those who don’t know, the book launched just a few weeks after the horrific events of October 7th. While it was technically published, I didn’t post a single thing about it for almost a year.

On Tuesday, I finally took the stage to share the method behind the book: what a trailer pitch is, how to sell more, and how to measure a great pitch. Almost 500 people signed up, but with only 130 seats available, it was incredible to meet so many founders focused on improving their storytelling skill. The event was hosted by the Israeli Tech Association and Google for Startups.

Here are the key takeaways I want to leave you with:

• Storytelling is not a soft skill—it’s a must-have skill.

• Write your pitch. It’s the only way to measure and improve.

• Define the emotion attached to each part of the pitch.

• Practice. Help your body remember how to behave when it matters.

Social
It’s been a month of almost no social uploads on my end, and honestly, I enjoyed it. But now it’s time to start again. Time to shout my ideas into the world—so, back to work. Hopefully, the next Storyletter will be written somewhere in Europe, with a few good updates.

Writing
It’s been a full month since I wrote anything new for my next book. I’ve been scribbling ideas here and there, but no new chapters yet. That said, I’ve been doing a lot of work with new clients, so there will be some fresh case studies to include.
Also—thanks to Amazon—the book is now live in audio format. Go check it out.

Join me on my journey

Feeling very grateful for this community and this journey. Let’s keep learning, building, and improving together. 💡
My YouTube channel. Subscribe and support.

About Building in Public

Sharing the journey in an open, unfiltered way—the good, the bad, and the behind-the-scenes of scaling my next idea.

Just for Fun

Click for fun

🎧 Music
This week’s newsletter was created while listening to this great playlist, The Summer I Turned 17.

🎬 Airbike Ready to Fly
This is straight out of a Star Wars movie—and it’s a real flying motorbike.
Watch it here: Airbike on YouTube

🍿 Love These 70s Shows
We all have dreams, and all we need is someone to believe in us.
Check out the trailer for a great new movie: Dreams Movie Trailer