YL Ventures Team Focus: Merav Ben Avi

Merav Ben Avi is a Content Manager at YL Ventures. A passionate writer, she helps translate tricky VC and cybersecurity concepts into digestible content and marketing for both the firm and our portfolio companies. 

As part of her value-add work, Merav works directly with founders, often from their ideation stages, to help communicate and market their ideas to their target audience of CISOs and cybersecurity decision-makers. From pitch decks and launch collateral, to highly technical research reports, there is no writing or messaging task that the talented Merav can’t tackle!

But why does a VC really need content writers? 

What’s the most enjoyable part of your day-to-day?

Projects that require picking the brains of the brilliant minds I work with. Whether it’s working with a new founder on their launch, writing a new content piece on value-add investing in cybersecurity with one of the firm’s partners, listening to our CISO-in-Residence, Frank Kim, discuss CISO challenges and chatting with Andy Ellis, our Operating Partner, about leadership – I get so much value and insights from these conversations, that coming to work is a daily learning experience.

How do you accelerate the marketing performance of over 10 companies, each with its own specific offering?

Such a challenge! The first step of the marketing process is arguably the most difficult, as we ask our founders to describe their offering without using complex technical terms so that we can help hone their messaging to a wide range of customers. Even though each of our companies has its own space and unique characteristics, helping elevate their marketing boils down to uncovering what problem they are trying to solve, why it’s important and urgent to solve it, and how. 

Once we have those in place, the technical bits and bytes fall into place easily. From there, we start to write. 

When I say write, I mean generate the copy, collateral and communications our portfolio companies need to let the market know who and what they are. It’s a balancing act,  but following a well-planned messaging process helps a lot. 

What advice do you have for people interested in pursuing a similar career? What about people looking to work for a VC?

In order to write engaging content about anything, from articles about greenhouse gases to penning gravestone quotes (that’s a real job, btw) – the fundamentals must be a strong passion for writing and insatiable curiousity. Working at a venture capital firm where my job is to write for over 12 different companies in the cybersecurity sector, as well as for YL Ventures itself, means that I really get to diversify my focus and learn something new every day. It does require learning quite a bit about different aspects of cybersecurity and adapting my writing style, tone and voice to what the companies need rather than what I prefer. I love it, but it’s not for every writer. 

What drives your passion to work with cybersecurity startups?

I’m constantly in awe of these young women and men who are so unyielding in their determination to innovate that they prioritize building their startup over everything else. It’s enthralling to see such drive, passion and talent in these founders – and you can’t really help but let it affect you as well. Getting a new company ready to introduce itself to the world by working on its branding, positioning and messaging is fascinating, as is watching these building blocks evolve as the company grows.