Spring breakthrough
Freedom starts when you stop waiting for permission.
Welcome back to YKC. For those who celebrated, I hope you had a meaningful Passover and Easter filled with freedom, renewal, and time with those who matter most.
Thinking of everyone in Israel and hoping you and your loved ones are safe during this difficult time.
LinkedIn ghostwriting: Most people treat LinkedIn like a posting platform. The best founders + investors treat it as their #1 distribution channel. If you want to win in 2026, you build that distribution now. I’m opening up a few 20-minute LinkedIn Distribution Diagnosis calls this week. Reply “Call” and I’ll send times.
“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
-Charles R. Swindoll
The Choice: Embrace the Possible by Dr. Edith Eva Eger: No surprise that I have not been interested in reading books on improving my happiness, but opt for books which look to make sense of suffering. Not in the “everything happens for a reason” kind of toxic positivity, but in creating meaning around even the most catastrophic and tragic events. Dr. Edith Eva Eger is the living torch bearer of Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, and is an embodiment of living thru the closest thing to hell on earth, and still thriving.
I’m usually not a fan of reading Holocaust books, as their descriptions can be traumatic, but we need to bear witness (especially today). The Choice starts as an autobiography of life in Hungry before the war, the author’s time in Auschwitz, and her miraculous story of survival. We throw the word “trauma” around a lot today, especially on the internet, but what some of these survivors went through during, and after the Holocaust, is unbelievable. That is real trauma with a capital T. It is obviously easy to be grateful for one’s situation when we compare our lives to what Dr. Eger went through, and how she chose (after many years of trauma) to rewrite her own story. To make meaning of what happened to her. But comparison can take away from our own experiences, we all suffer alone, it’s a subjective experience, and it can consume us. But we can also choose what meaning we want to ascribe to life, whether we want to remain victims to circumstances often outside of our control, or be the hero in our own story. I don’t believe anything I am writing here is ground breaking, but it’s worth repeating. And sometimes that’s enough.
It’s easy today to fall into victimhood as society and social media love to push that narrative. It takes real courage to take a hard look at our lives and situations, and catch ourselves when we play the victim card, even in our minds. When it comes to making a choice, I personally rather choose to not feel sorry for myself and to play a hero in my own story, as difficult as it may be.
Street Art Tour + Wine and Cheese picnic: Tribe Tel Aviv invites you to Street Art Tour + Wine and Cheese picnic. Friday, April 17th, 2026 10:30 am - 12:30 pm followed by wine & cheese picnic in the park. מתחם התחנה Tel Aviv-Yafo. Register here.
Raising Your Seed Round: How Investors Actually Decide If You’re a Good Bet: Most fundraising advice is noise. Charlie O’Donnell (Brooklyn Bridge Ventures) joins them to cut through it with insights from his new book, Founder Unfriendly. Learn to master investor incentives, build momentum signals that actually matter, and treat your round like a high-stakes enterprise sale. No fluff; just the logic of the first check. Apr 23, 6:00 – 9:00 PM (EDT). Civic Hall, 124 East 14th Street, New York. Register here.
Israel Tech Week 2026: Israel Tech Week 2026 is opening its Startup Showcases across AI, Cyber, FinTech, DefenseTech, HealthTech, Climate, PropTech, and Travel & Hospitality. Pitch in front of investors, meet enterprise partners, and build real momentum in the U.S. market. Founders: this is your stage. April 27–30, 2026 | Miami. Apply here.