Shopify President Harley Finkelstein launched his passion project, a podcast titled ‘Big Shot‘ on March 23, 2023. While announcing the launch of the project Finkelstein made it clear that the podcast will focus on Jewish entrepreneurs and their journey. Lately, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Finkelstein explained the reason behind starting this podcast. The podcast seeks to shed light and act as an archive of the extraordinary journey of Jewish entrepreneurs and philanthropists across the globe.
“They won’t be around for another 20 or 30 years. There is no archive of them because they’re not on the Joe Rogan podcast or mainstream media outlets,” said Finkelstein. Many of these entrepreneurs are even in their 80s and 90s. The advice shared by them will help future generations in multiple ways.
It is also about preserving culture and telling their stories, hence this podcast. The co-founder of this podcast David Segal said, “if you want to preserve your culture and make people proud of it, you need to tell your story. Therefore we need to tell our stories, our legends, our fables. ‘Big Shot’ is about how we want to archive those stories that give us a connection to who we were and who we are”.
Jewish Entrepreneurs: Childhood Heroes
Both Finkelstein and Segal grew up in middle-class families and were fascinated by the journeys of business moguls. Their admiration for these entrepreneurs motivated them in their journeys and inspired them to create this podcast. Segal says that these entrepreneurs were their heroes when they were kids. They “idolize the people we’re interviewing now, who are essentially people that we idolized as kids,” he said.
Earlier while announcing the launch of Big Shot on Linkedln, Finkelstein wrote, “Today, a very personal passion project that I’ve been working on for over a year launches. It’s called Big Shot. It’s my own personal project, or some would call it… a podcast. Big Shot is an archive of the best entrepreneurship stories from the best Jewish entrepreneurs that have never been told. Alongside my good friend David Segal, we sit down with the most influential Jewish entrepreneurs in the world to hear their stories. These are people who have changed how people build businesses and created entire industries.”
“Big Shot looks like a documentary but it feels like you’re sitting and having a conversation in a classic Jewish deli. Big Shot is one of my contributions back to the Jewish community. These entrepreneurs have inspired me and changed my life. They have Chutzpah and insane wisdom that you need to hear for yourself,” he added.
Guests On Podcast
The podcast also aims to highlight the perseverance of several Jewish entrepreneurs who faced hardships in their initial years. Quoting a story of a guest on their podcast, Edward Sonshine, Finkelstein said his journey showcases “the indomitable spirit of many Jewish individuals who have triumphed despite starting with very little”.
In his early years, Sonshine had to stay in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He later established a real estate empire in Canada
“Our parents never owned real estate but we were always so fascinated by these, like multi-generational real estate families in New York, Austin, and Toronto. So we’re sort of entrepreneur geeks,” added Finkelstein.
So far, they have interviewed Charles Bronfman, the man who introduced baseball to Canada also co-founder of Birthright Israel. The podcast also has an interview with Aldo Bensadoun who built “a billion-dollar shoe brand from scratch”. An immigrant from Morocco, he founded ‘Aldo’. Segal and Finkelstein have also interviewed Jonathan Wener, chairman and chief executive of Montreal-based property development firm Canderel, who “turned a 10k loan into a $15 billion empire”.
Jewish Philanthropy
Besides its primary focus on Jewish entrepreneurship, the podcast will also talk about the philanthropic activities undertaken by these businessmen. According to The Jerusalem Post, several entrepreneurs contribute to noble causes such as building schools, hospitals and research institutes. However, their contribution is rarely appreciated and often goes unnoticed. Apart from their personal journey, Finkelstein and Segal emphasize that it is important to celebrate their achievements and create awareness not only among the non-Jewish but also the Jewish community.
Along with a positive response, Finkelstein and Segal also received suggestions for their future interviews. Both the entrepreneurs plan a tour to Israel, the US and possibly Europe to interact with other “legends”.
Firebelly Tea
Segal and Finkelstein co-founded Firebelly Tea which was previously DAVIDsTEA. Finkelstein and Segal met in 2015. Talking about their friendship, Finkelstein said, “David had built David’s Tea, took it public, and he left shortly thereafter. I had just taken Shopify public when we met and we became friends. We were both living in Ottawa and now we’re best buddies. We spend most of our time together, our families even go away together.”
“What connects us in terms of the centerpiece of our friendship and relationship is entrepreneurship, that’s what we talk about all day long. Every single day,” added Finkelstein.
Finkelstein joined Firebelly Tea as a side hustle in January 2022 along with his full-time job at Shopify. The same year in September, he spoke about his venture on LinkedIn, cherishing the good nine months of his entrepreneurial journey. Elated to become an entrepreneur again, the Shopify President explained how the journey started six years ago and took shape during the coronavirus pandemic.
Finkelstein continued his post by sharing how he became a daily tea drinker from an avid coffee drinker. “Six years ago, I met David Segal, and he introduced me to tea. But it wasn’t until the pandemic when I was experiencing a lot of anxiety (and drinking a lot of coffee) that David suggested I start drinking tea every day. I made a slight change in my habits and saw my anxiety go way down. I converted from a heavy coffee drinker to a daily tea drinker,” he wrote.
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Firebelly Tea claims to sell products made of 100 percent real ingredients with no artificial sweeteners, flavouring agents or sugar. It also promises fast delivery and sustainable packaging as the brand’s resealable pouches are home-compostable. The company claims that pouches degrade in the compost area of the garden within one year.
