'Tel Aviv University will always be a home for me'

Revital Hendler, a successful start-up founder and serial entrepreneur behind companies such as AllJobs and BreezoMeter, is also an active member of the Tel Aviv University Alumni Organization. Currently, she leads GameChangerZ, a digital platform focused on teaching entrepreneurship. She strongly believes in the importance of education, and sees it as a way for people of all ages to learn how to adapt and reinvent themselves despite the challenges of an uncertain world. With her expertise and passion, Hendler is dedicated to helping others discover their potential for innovation and success.

“At GameChangerZ, our mission is to unlock the potential of individuals who may not have a natural inclination towards entrepreneurship, by guiding them to identify and capitalize on their unique strengths,” says Revital Hendler, a highly accomplished serial entrepreneur and enthusiastic member of Tel Aviv University’s Alumni Organization. Her innovative digital platform, GameChangerZ, is designed to help organizations harness the proactive mindset and skills of their employees, cultivating a strong entrepreneurial culture within the company. In addition, GameChangerZ is assisting schools in teaching new 2030 skills by providing a gamified learning experience for students from 6th to 12th grade.”

Hendler has extensive entrepreneurial experience, founded the iconic job search site AllJobs in 2004, and has since founded successful companies such as WorkWith.me and BreezoMeter, which was sold to Google for a vast sum. She hopes to make her experience accessible to the younger generation through cooperation between the new platform she established and Tel Aviv University. “Even though it’s an enterprise with a business model, I see it more as a mission in the field of education – more as a philanthropic venture. It’s also a field for which I return to Tel Aviv University to guide students,” she says. “Our goal is to educate children, students and adults – the salaried and the self-employed – how to develop in a world full of change. It’s the ability to reinvent yourself despite those changes and the uncertainty life has thrown at us.”

Before entering the world of start-ups and entrepreneurship, Hendler was involved with the worlds of the Internet and television. She earned a bachelor’s degree in film and television from Tel Aviv University and always considered herself an artist. “I wasn’t supposed to go to high-tech,” Hendler recalls. “It was clear to me after completing my army service that I wanted to earn a degree. I was accepted into the Production Track (BFA) of the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University, which was very difficult to enter. I made films, and I was very active in getting into the industry. By the end of the first year, I was able to enter the television industry, and with the help of a supportive teacher, I was busy gaining practical experience and making connections when the door opened for me.” 

Upon graduating from Tel Aviv University with a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Television, Hendler joined Keshet, where she quickly advanced to become an assistant editor, gaining experience in editing and directing on various programs. During her time there, she also volunteered to create and manage the programs’ first websites and spearheaded Keshet’s entry into the digital space. Despite initially being unfamiliar with the Internet, she embraced the challenge, studying and seeking help from others to build an innovative and visually appealing portrayal of the Internet that mirrored her television background. Though her vision was ahead of its time, Hendler persevered and fell in love with the ability to connect and interact with audiences in new ways.

After working with the cutting-edge technologies of the internet, such as video streaming and cellular technologies, which were still in their infancy, she decided to venture out on her own and founded AllJob. Hendler felt that she needed to do something that would help and make a real impact. She had returned from a trip to South America brimming with ideas that unfortunately did not materialize. While looking for a job, she noticed a significant gap in the job market, namely the lack of a centralized platform for available job information. At that time, job sections were scattered across more than 1,000 sites. Recognizing the potential of aggregating all available jobs in one up-to-date, real-time portal, she founded the first paid web service in the country that was not a dating site. From its humble beginnings as a small business run from home, the company quickly expanded to the point of attracting interest from a well-known hedge fund. She led the company for seven years from nothing to a company with 250 employees, millions of users, and numerous innovative products on an international scale.

Hendler, who holds an MBA from the City University of New York, has since continued to develop various start-ups. Despite not coming from a technological background, Hendler’s MBA has equipped her with the skills to develop various start-ups. Drawing on her humanities studies, she has honed her business conscience to think about solutions that will impact for the good and envision how technology can be harnessed to achieve her goals. As she puts it, “I may not speak the language of code, but I speak the language of dreaming big and using technology to make it happen.”

Her time at Tel Aviv University, where she produced movies, proved invaluable in helping her plan and execute her ideas. Envisioning a start-up, she observes, is similar to envisioning a movie: it requires a clear goal, a strong message, careful planning, long-term vision, and perseverance until the final product is realized. Based on her experience, she believes the two are more alike than one might think.

Hendler expresses a deep attachment to Tel Aviv University, which she considers her home. Over the years, she has returned multiple times to deliver lectures and workshops at TAU Center for Entrepreneurship, eager to give back to the institution that helped shape her career. As an alumna herself, she believes it’s crucial to foster a sense of community among graduates and create opportunities for them to connect and collaborate.

Tel Aviv University has over 200,000 alumni, many of whom are top players and leaders in all sectors of Israel’s economy and society, holding key positions in law, high-tech, hospitals, media, education, and of course, academia. TAU Alumni Organization’s goal is to leverage the influence of TAU alumni as a force contributing to Israeli society and to strengthen TAU’s global reputation. It strives to serve TAU Alumni by sharing knowledge, promoting professional networking, and creating inspiring, valuable opportunities. The mission of the Tel Aviv University Alumni Organization is to form and cultivate a world-changing community.

Translated by Alan Rosenbaum

Written in cooperation with Tel Aviv University.