This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders who feel caught between following best practices and trusting their instincts as they scale.

My guest is Yoni Tserruya, co-founder and CEO of Lusha, an AI-powered sales intelligence platform used by millions of sales and RevOps professionals worldwide.

Yoni built Lusha over more than a decade—from a simple Chrome extension to a global platform—and in that time, his role as a founder has had to evolve constantly. In this conversation, we get into what that actually looks like in practice. When instinct is an advantage, when it becomes a liability, and why many founders overcorrect by relying too heavily on playbooks that strip away what made them successful in the first place.

We also talk about the challenge of scaling yourself as a leader. The shift from doing and deciding everything to creating clarity that other people can execute against. Yoni shares why a clear north star matters more than rigid systems, and how teams perform better when they understand the direction, not just the rules.

We also dig into AI—how Lusha has embraced it across the organization, what that looks like in reality, and why keeping a human in the loop is still critical for creativity and judgment.

One of the biggest takeaways from this conversation: if you only follow best practices, you’ll build an average company. The best founders learn when to use them—and when to trust themselves instead.

Tune in if you’re ready to stop defaulting to playbooks and start building a company that actually reflects how you think and operate.

About Yoni Tserruya

Yoni Tserruya is the co-founder and CEO of Lusha, an AI-powered sales intelligence platform used by millions of sales and RevOps professionals worldwide. A builder at heart, Yoni started Lusha with a simple belief: salespeople should spend their time talking to customers and building trust—not buried in research, admin work or bad data. That belief shaped Lusha into a product-led company focused on accuracy, simplicity and helping teams reach the right buyer at the right time. Outside of work, Yoni is a husband and a father of four.

Website: https://www.lusha.com/

LinkedIn – Lusha: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lushadata/

LinkedIn – Yoni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonitserruya/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LushaData/

If you like this episode, here are some others you'll enjoy.

Episode 301. Selling your product from day one w/ Safeer Qureshi, angel investor and CEO at SPG Media — Scaling leadership through company growth: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/safeer-qureshi
Episode 251. Embracing intellectual humility w/ Dave Hersh, Founder & CEO of In Tandem — Lead without needing every answer: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/dave-hersh-ceo-of-in-tandem
Episode 292. Building a portfolio career w/ Ilana Golan, Founder & CEO of Leap Academy — Leadership growth starts with self-awareness: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/ilana-golan

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