Onn Haran is the co-founder and CTO of Autotalks, which is the world pioneer and leader in V2X communication. Autotalks helps reduce collisions on roadways and improve mobility with its automotive qualified chipsets, which will be mass-deployed in the coming years. With Onn’s vision, Autotalks created an industry-recognized technological lead. Onn started his career in the elite R&D unit in IDF as a VLSI and system engineer. Onn served as Bluetooth Solution Architect at Texas Instruments, building one of the first Bluetooth solutions and taking part of standardization. Onn continued his career path to Passave, pioneer of fiber-to-the-home market, as CTO, where both his development and customer-facing efforts contributed to capture the worldwide market and M&A by PMC-Sierra, where he was nominated as a fellow.
1. What Are The Three Skills That Are Essential For Great Founders, And Why?
Patience, stamina, and persistence. No matter how you imagine the road ahead, it will be more challenging and frightening. Rarely does your plan actually materialize as you imagine. Of course, a fruitful mind, the ability to create and execute innovative ideas and great management skills are essential. But the mental strength to adapt and battle the unknown is the key to success.
2. What Practice Helps You Become Comfortable With The Unknown?
Lowering the intensity of emotions. Don’t be too happy after a major achievement and don’t be so sad after a blowout. Sometimes an achievement will eventually fade, while the blowout can turn into something positive. Don’t give up. Just focus on the next steps, after a good event or a bad one. Don’t dwell in the past. Just make sure to take the necessary time required to learn lessons.
3. What’s One Of The Best Decisions You Have Ever Made?
Founding Autotalks is one of the best decisions I ever made. Autotalks is making a great contribution to the commercialization of V2X. Without us, the market would have been years behind. Our products will make our roads safer. Road fatalities and injuries will decrease. In addition, traffic mobility will improve. People will spend less time in traffic, and emissions resulting from transportation will decrease. These noble goals give us a strong sense of purpose and motivation, encouraging us to strive forward.
"Don’t be too happy after a major achievement and don’t be so sad after a blowout. Sometimes an achievement will eventually fade, while the blowout can turn into something positive."
4. What Is A Hobby Others Do Not Know You Have A Passion For?
Many people in the company know that I practice yoga. But the part of meditation is unknown.
Every yoga class begins with a meditation. When I started practicing yoga, I struggled to sit and think about nothing. It drove me crazy. I prepared a list of tasks to solve, and used the meditation time to think about those. It took me years to surrender myself to the meditation. And a few more years until I enjoyed clearing my mind. Now, I feel a need to meditate regularly to help me focus.
5. What Habits Do You Have At Autotalks That Help You Develop A Brilliant Company Culture?
It’s beyond a specific single habit. It’s a bit corny to say the DNA of a company, but in our case, that’s the truth. Key people have great personalities, and their impact on the company is contagious. We make sure the atmosphere is positive and warm. We embrace the other, even if different. We support each other and cooperate. The employees’ feedback is proving that consistently. All the employees really like to work in the company. I think most of us feel that it is the best work environment we ever had.
