From Pioneering Facial Recognition to Apple Acquisition With Adi Eckhouse Barzilai

Forward Obsessed

Adi Eckhouse Barzilai is the Co-Founder and CEO of RealFace, a facial recognition software company that was acquired by Apple Inc. She was previously in brand management at Procter & Gamble. As founder of RealFace, Adi helped pioneer mobile facial recognition capabilities that later became integral to Apple’s FaceID unlock feature. RealFace provided the core IP and engineering talent behind making robust facial authentication seamless for iPhone users worldwide. After multiple pivots and surviving high-stakes fundraising stresses familiar to most early-stage founders, Adi successfully negotiated an acquisition deal with Apple.

Throughout a wide-ranging interview, Adi shares hard-won lessons from her entrepreneurial journey in the high-risk world of consumer tech startups. For young founders, she strongly advocates getting hands-on experience learning computer science to better grasp future opportunities. Adi also believes time working at a top corporation exposes priceless insights on how elite marketing, product development, and operational scale-up works behind the scenes.

Episode Outline
(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:02:00) Adi's background and early entrepreneurial influences

(00:06:00) Studying computer science and working at Procter & Gamble

(00:10:00) Getting an MBA from Columbia Business School

(00:14:00) The importance of branding for startups

(00:17:00) Adi's thoughts on MBAs and issues of antisemitism on campus

(00:20:00) The hostage crisis in Gaza

(00:23:00) Defining what a brand is

(00:26:00) Why investing in brand matters for startups

(00:30:00) Pivoting RealFace from a consumer app to facial recognition

(00:35:00) The challenges of being a startup founder/CEO

(00:40:00) Having the entrepreneurial "bug" and the importance of co-founders

(00:45:00) Differentiating between tech and product companies

(00:48:00) The niche strategy behind RealFace's technology

(00:55:00) Connecting with Apple and maintaining secrecy

(01:00:00) Negotiating the acquisition deal with Apple

(01:05:00) The emotional rollercoaster of the startup journey

(01:10:00) Adi's feeling when the Apple acquisition closed

(01:15:00) Trying to launch a nonprofit after the exit

(01:20:00) Why Adi is passionate about education and empowering girls

Episode Links
Procter & Gamble (former employer): https://us.pg.com/

RealFace (Co-Founder and CEO): https://www.timesofisrael.com/apple-buys-israels-facial-recognition-firm-realface-report/

Adi’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adi-eckhouse-barzilai-8000928/

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