Meet Reuven Ulmansky

Did you know? The Bengis Center has over 60 mentors, all experts in their fields, who are ready and willing to help you take your idea or startup to the next level. Meet Reuven Ulmansky, Managing Partner at Leading Edge Consultants and long-time Bengis Center mentor.

In the realm of business accelerators, there are a million people giving their input. In the wise words of one of our mentors, Reuven Ulmansky, it is important to find a primary mentor and listen to his advice.

Ulmansky is the founder and CEO at Leading Edge Consultants, making his role as mentor almost second nature to him, coupled by his vast senior management and engineering experience in large organizations such as Israel Aerospace Industries (Lavi advanced fighter aircraft project), Intel Corporation (Fab Staff Member) and Senior VP of Koor Industries' Medical Division. In addition to his career as a consultant, he has also been part of the BGU faculty for 20 years. Here, Reuven Ulmansky teaches in the fields of entrepreneurship and technology innovation. He spends his time in Beer-Sheva, making him accessible to those entrepreneurs who come through the Bengis Center seeking his help. When asked why he wanted to be a mentor, Ulmansky’s answer was clear and simple: “Being a mentor suits my management style,” he said. And with the time that he already spends at the university, he explained that it seemed like a great way to help foster innovation.

To Ulmanksy, the best part of being a mentor is “being able to work with brilliant and dynamic young people while sharing my endless experience.” Over his years of mentoring, he has learned that freely-given advice from mentors is often perceived as lesser quality. He has developed a mentoring style and scheme that makes startups feel they are earning advice and putting it into action.

One of the startup projects that Reuven has been instrumental in mentoring is called XtreamHair, led by Professor Amiel Ishaaya from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at BGU. This startup is a revolutionary device and method for hair brightening and highlights that doesn’t use any harsh chemicals. In Ulmansky’s own words: “One of the reasons I love my joint programs with Ben Gurion University is that I get the chance to meet and work with innovative, mind-blowing startups run by inspiring entrepreneurs. Just like XtreamHair's amazing team. Together with students from both BGU and Northeastern University, we conducted a thorough market and industry analysis, explored competition and threats and created an expansive consumer survey, building XtreamHair's future strategy.” Ulmansky is now helping Xtreamhair develop their strategic business plan and mentoring them through the process of fundraising with a goal of 4 million USD.

With all of the lessons taught and learned, Reuven Ulmansky finds his position as a mentor both challenging and rewarding. He knows it takes good advice and a guiding hand to make it in the startup industry, and mentors like Ulmansky offer just that to help startups reach their full potential.

You can read more about all of our mentors in the Consulting page of the website. Stay tuned for more posts about some of our mentors and entrepreneurs!