Roei Ganzarski, CEO of Alitheon: $30 Million Raised to Help Organizations Trace the Untraceable

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Roei Ganzarski, CEO of Alitheon, a company that builds solutions for authentication, identification, and traceability of parts, products and people, about how counterfeiting and piracy have emerged as a global challenge for businesses across almost every sector, and the new tools needed in the fight against them. By protecting their client’s products from black market competition, as well as detecting and tracking down costly fakes, Alitheon makes sure that authenticity is rewarded, the way things should be. We also talk about Roei’s upbringing in Asia and how his father’s work in shipping took him around the world before coming back to Israel, the culture differences he’s experienced in the Pacific Northwest of America, just how ubiquitous fakes and forgeries are in the modern economy, and why making sure products are what they claim to be doesn’t just help customers, but can fight crime and save our environment as well. Topics Discussed: Roei’s youth spent traveling around the world with his parents before moving back to live in Israel The culture shock of moving to the Pacific Northwest, and what it’s like adjusting to a less straight-talking culture How Roei became fascinated with the fight against counterfeits, and the origin story of Alitheon Why counterfeits can do more than just hurt a bottom line, and the potential impacts on workers’ rights, criminal networks, and the environment Future prospects for consumer-grade anti counterfeit technology, and the impact it could have on society   Favorite book:  Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle