The First Customer - How to Stick with Your Vision and Resilience with Co-founder and CEO Dori Yona

In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview Dori Yona, Co-founder and CEO of Simple Closure.

Dori shares his entrepreneurial journey, which began with a childhood influenced by his entrepreneur parents and a deep connection to Silicon Valley. He first launched a dating app in Israel, but quickly pivoted to create Earny, a consumer fintech company that automated price protection refunds from retailers and credit card companies. The idea sparked from a real-life experience where he successfully claimed a refund after a price drop, revealing a broader market opportunity. Earny eventually scaled to millions of users and was sold after a multi-year acquisition journey involving various potential buyers.

Dori’s latest venture, Simple Closure, was born from his painful experience trying to shut down a startup. After a board member raised the need for a shutdown plan during a downturn at Earny, Dori found little support from advisors and a lack of public resources. This inspired him to build a solution for the thousands of companies that face similar closures annually. Through founder interviews and increasing inbound interest, Simple Closure found its first customer even before launching a formal product, confirming a strong demand for a structured and compassionate shutdown service.

Let’s head to the Sunset Capital as Dori Yona shares how he’s destigmatizing failure and simplifying shutdowns for startups and small businesses in this episode of The First Customer!

Guest Info:
Simple Closure
https://simpleclosure.com

Dori Yona's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dori-yona-b8369877/

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