Optilab
From $3M raised to $0. The full story.
"This crisis taught me the hard lesson that even the best laid plans can be upended by forces outside one's control. It was the darkest period as an entrepreneur."
What We Built
"Optilab Group is an Israeli company founded by a domain expert with expertise in data analytics, app development, and ophthalmic lens production. The company raised 3 million USD in seed funding to finance its Freeform Ophthalmic lab and the first six months of onboarding pre-production—the fourth lab in Israel."
Freeform Lab
Progressive & custom prescription lenses—the most technically demanding work in optics
ISO 7 Cleanroom
Hard coating, laminate coating, evaporation AR coating
Retail Stores
iwear locations, discount-to-mid market positioning
B2B Platform
App for Israeli optometrists to buy internationally
Timeline
Started selling glasses from home
House sales in Beit Shemesh area
Opened iwear retail store
Park Center Beit Shemesh, discount-to-mid market
Second store + EasyOffice coworking
20-person coworking space
Raised $3M, launched freeform lab
Israel's 4th ophthalmic lens laboratory
Equipment failure + COVID
Perfect storm
Business wound down
Debt, rebuilding
The Technical Reality
Manufacturing Environment
"I designed and built an ISO 7 cleanroom in my optical lab for hard coating, laminate coating, and evaporation coating—manufacturing the most advanced South Korean technology in super hydrophobic coatings. I trained and oversaw the lab managers and technicians in operating and maintaining the machines using international best practices."
Equipment Selection
"I setup a freeform lab in 2018 in Beit Shemesh. LTL, Leybold-Bühler, Schneider, Satisloh and Optitech were my coating options. My choice would have been LTL for hard coating and Leybold for evaporation AR coating. In the end I went with Schneider as they offered a surfacing and coating package as a turnkey solution for the whole process."
Hard Coating Challenges
"The hard coating machine was very challenging. We needed to generate a constant supply of DI water to clean the lenses in a sonic bath with a strong cleaning chemical to make sure it was dust free before being laminate coated. The actual coating lacquer was very expensive and had to be imported in a cold chain delivery with special permission from Israel customs."
Supply Chain Mastery
"Collected, structured, and manipulated data on lens price and consumables from over 50 suppliers, achieving a total discount of 43% over recommended suppliers."
The Israeli optical market is an oligopoly. We offered retailers lenses at 50% discount by buying direct from international manufacturers—a major change for local retailers accustomed to high markups.
The App I Built
AppSheet Manufacturing Tracker
"In this project, I utilized AppSheet, a powerful no-code development platform, to address the challenges faced by Optilab. The aim was to transform our manufacturing process, improve transparency, and track job status in real-time."
User-friendly input stations: Deployed tablets at various stations, allowing technicians to update job statuses in real time.
Live job status tracking: The app displayed the status of jobs at each production stage in real-time.
Technician productivity analysis: Integrated features to record and analyze time taken at each stage.
Synced with LMS to automatically predict completion dates based on manufacturing parameters.
What Killed It
"Our evaporation coater—a €350,000 piece of equipment, the heart of the operation—broke down. Despite being under warranty, the manufacturer had no replacement inventory. They eventually sent a temporary unit, but it never worked properly."
"As cash reserves dwindled awaiting repairs, suppliers came collecting on debts that I personally guaranteed. It was a perfect storm that nearly sank the business."
COVID hit at the same time. The optical retail market collapsed. Retailers struggled to collect payments as consumer spending contracted.
Skills Gained
The Numbers
$3M
Seed raised
8
Years in optics
50+
Suppliers managed
43%
Cost reduction achieved
What It Taught Me
Domain absorption is real
Went from zero optics knowledge to running Israel's 4th freeform lab. People thought I'd been in the industry for decades.
Technical depth matters
Understanding the machines, the chemistry, the supply chain—not just managing from above.
External forces can destroy everything
Equipment failure + pandemic + market collapse. No amount of skill prevents this.
Build systems, not just businesses
The AppSheet app, the data systems—these were the seeds of what became the cognitive prosthetic.
Connection to Today
"From 2012 to 2022 I owned Optilab. Then from 2023 till today I became fluent in AI."
The same pattern recognition that let me absorb the optics domain now applies to AI. The same automation instincts that built the AppSheet manufacturing tracker now build the cognitive prosthetic. The same first principles thinking that negotiated 43% supplier discounts now builds frameworks like SHELET.
Optilab failed. But everything I learned building it is what makes poly possible.