After stepping down as CEO of Playbuzz last October, Shaul Olmert is back with a new startup called Flying Pigs and a planned product called piggy.
The new project was revealed in as post on Facebook earlier this week by Olmert's partner Ilan Leibovich who described the new company as, "A B2C startup that has developed a revolutionary app for the Z generation, which combines creativity, social media, writing and some of the most advanced technologies for today and the day after tomorrow."
Olmert will serve as CEO in the new startup and Leibovich as CTO. In the post Leibovich added, "We are already well financed (yes that was fast) and now we are looking for our first staff members."
Olmert told "Globes" that the idea for the startup first began forming six months ago but. "We are still in the stage of writing the first lines of code and we're not making any declarations yet."
In an interview with "Globes" following his departure from Playbuzz, Olmert explained that among other things he was worn out from the rollercoaster ride of managing a startup, especially when Playbuzz had to implement layoffs. "I felt a lot of pressure. You go to sleep at night and you know that you now have to hire 20 new people for work but you understand that revenue has fallen and perhaps you cannot employ them. They had left jobs for me and given up on other opportunities. It was very high intensity."
He added, "I felt that I had to take some time out, I wanted some quiet but I didn't leave for something else, it was not as though I suddenly decided to be a chef or travel around the world. I didn't know then exactly how long the time out would last. There was a previous idea that I checked but it didn't work out and six months ago this idea began to form."
Olmert, the son of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, set up Playbuzz in 2011 with Tom Pachys, who now serves as CEO. The company, which has changed its name to EX.CO has developed an interactive content creation platform and at its peak it had 150 employees.
Leibovich was one of the founders of Rounds, which developed a video-chat platform and was sold to Canadian company Kik in 2017. He subsequently worked at AI company Resonai and OpenWeb (formerly Spot.IM).
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 8, 2020 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2020 .