DGTL Voices with Ed Marx - Open Book, No BS (ft. Israel Krush)

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

Israel Krush is the CEO and Co-Founder of Hyro, the responsible AI agent platform used by dozens of the largest US health systems to safely automate millions of patient interactions. In this episode of DGTL Voices, Israel tells Ed how mandatory military service at 18 reshaped his sense of responsibility, why his parents' insistence on eight extracurriculars was unintentional CEO training, and how Hyro shifted from a general AI agent company to an all-in healthcare bet. Along the way: the case for being strategically opportunistic, why "open book, no BS" is a way of operating rather than a slogan, and the lesson he learned the hard way about thinking before speaking. 🔗 https://marxadvisory.com

People say that I'm a good salesperson, but I think it's actually because I'm not trying to sell you something. And I'm just like being very honest, right? You need to understand the workflows. You need to understand the business logic. You need to have the deep integration into the legacy systems in order to really achieve the goals. We are very lucky to live in an area where we're talking about the air revolution as bigger than the industrial revolution, bigger than the internet. I completely bought into this. and we need to realize that we're just in the first innings of it.

Welcome to Digital Voices, where Healthcare and Life Science Leaders explore the real work behind transformation. This podcast is about people, leadership, and the conversations that move healthcare forward. Now your host, Ed Marks. Welcome to another edition of Digital Voices. Thanks for listening and watching.

I know you have a lot of different things you can be listening and watching, and we're going to make it worth your while because we have the most incredible CEO here with us from Hiro, Israel Crush. Israel, welcome to digital voices. Thank you so much for having me, had excited to be here. No, it's going to be so good. You guys have really taken health care by storm.

We'll get into that a little bit. I'm jumping ahead, but you know, you came out of nowhere and now it's like, you know, everyone knows, Hiro, you guys have done a great job, not only with your product and services, but also with marketing and building a company. It's been quite fantastic. to watch. So that's why I'm so glad to have you as a guest, just kind of talk about that and talk about

leadership and some other very unique things about you, Israel. But before we get too far, the most important question, what songs are on your playlist? Well, songs. So one is Lucky Man by the Verve. This is just like a song that I really like to listen to. Another one would be impossible by James. Well, it's not actually by James Arthur, but it's, everyone knows it from his performance at American Idol, so James Seider. And then like any red hot chili pepper song.

So where the bridge would be probably like the one that I'll signal out. What about mantras or life messages? Like are there certain types of words or quotes or things that you live by? I think that, you know, as entrepreneur, I must be opportunistic by nature. And so definitely opportunism, but also optimism, right? So believing in good, believing in the fact that you can make a better future for yourself, for your community, for the family, for the industry that you're serving.

And maybe I'll just add that optimism is great and opportunism is great, but sometimes you need to be very strategic about those two things. So I like to say strategically opportunistic. You obviously have an accent different than mine. What's your life story? You know, where does you grow up? Start from the beginning. Yeah, absolutely.

So I'm Israel. I'm originally from Israel. As you can guess, my my thick Israeli accent and my name. Now co-founder in CEO Firo. My background is in computer science and statistics. I like to say machine learning before it was called machine learning. So spend my entire career or many years of my career in the Israeli tech ecosystem,

which in Israel, by the way, like a lot of it starts in the army. It depends on where you went to. So I went to the intelligence unit, like an equivalent to the NSA if you'd want. So definitely took a lot of life lessons over there. But then was a software engineer at Intel, realized that corporate life isn't really for me,

and then moved to a bunch of startups, from Sada security all the way to ad tech. doing software engineering, product management, and then some leadership positions. I moved to the States in 2017 to get my MBA. I got it from Cornell University, specifically Cornell Tech, which is a relatively new campus in New York City. That's where I met my co-founder, Rom, who did his master's in computer science. I like to say we actually met in a machine learning class.

Nothing to do with the MBA, just something that I was able to take because of my background. And that's where Hyro was originally originated from. That's cool. Yeah. So what led you to ultimately find your place in healthcare? Because like you described, you had some military background, and then you worked in tech industry, different roles and positions. But ultimately, if you found yourself in healthcare,

was there a particular driver that made that happen? Yeah. So I think that when we started the company, and again, almost eight years ago, we had an hypothesis, which is AI agents are going to be all around us. Today it might be obvious, you know, but we're still not there,

but it's obvious that this is the direction that we're adding to. But the less obvious thing was that it's going to be very hard for large enterprise organizations with lots of data from various data sources to deploy and maintain those AI agents. And again, like I connected to it mostly from the technical background. Thinking about the intent classifications and again machine learning models and why the deployment is tough and why the integration to legacy systems or to the knowledge is going to be an obstacle. So really thinking about it from a technical perspective.

And like a lot of early stage founders, we did like the lean startup methodology, which is basically build, measure, learn, right? And as part of that, we would speak with anyone who would be willing to speak with us. So we spoke with CIOs from

academic medical centers and health systems, but we also spoke with CIOs from banks and travel agencies and government clients. And we've realized also that in regulated industries, the complexity

level is even higher because of regulation, right? Which you can probably connect easily. And I think it wasn't before end of 2022, where chat GPT, let's call it the chat GPT boom, right? All of a sudden, everyone knows what's a large negligence model is. Everyone are using like a chat GPT application, right? and we thought to ourselves, well, we have a couple of good academic medical centers

and health systems in healthcare, but we have also, again, those travel agencies and whatnot. And the future is going to completely change and the amount of competition that we're going to see and we're not going to compete with Google or Open AI or Sierra on building, you know, AI agents. So in fact, you know, this all, today everyone are talking about

vertical AI. So we actually experienced throughout our journey the move from being an AI agent company for enterprises to know verticalization matters. You need to understand the workflows. You need to understand

the business logic. You need to have the deep integration into the legacy systems in order to really achieve the goals, to really fulfill the in our case, patient journeys, in other cases. customer journeys. And so we said, you know, the healthcare industry is so massive.

There are so many pain points that we can actually address with those AI agents done correctly. We have a nice initial customer base of organizations that trust us and wants us to do more and more. And we went all in on healthcare and became a digital health company focusing on patient access to care while also improving the operational efficiencies of health systems. And I do realize that this is called it not the classical, like, entrepreneurial story in which I saw this problem for many, many years. But I think it is capturing a lot of the entrepreneurial

mindset with the LINF startup methodology. And with what I told you before about being strategically optimistic. Yeah, you mentioned, you also certainly. in the military. Were there some leadership things that you've earned in the military that has helped you in your career? In Israel, military service is mandatory for boys and girls, by the way, at the age of 18, which is kind of crazy, if you think about it, because until the age of 18, and for most people in our lives, like, you're at the center of everything. You decide where to go. Maybe your parents do, right, when you're a minor, but you're in the center of everything. and all of a sudden comes this big organization that puts you in, you know, many processes to determine where you can serve.

And all of a sudden, you're not the center of everything. So this is one big change and life lesson. I'm actually here to serve, in this case, my country versus myself. And I'm going to be wherever they want me and feel that I'm the best fitted. So that's one. The second piece is I got to go to an officer course and I commanded a, more than 50 people at the age of 21, 22. So think about it.

Think about what I just said. Let's just move the word commanded to manage. I managed 50 people at the age of 22. And by the way, managed them not 9 to 5, but we were serving at the base out of home. So we got to see our families three days every two weeks. So basically I was their mother. father of 50.

By the way, not 13 years old or like 18 years old. They're younger than me in two or three years. That's crazy. And they think that this type of responsibility in such a young age and being able also to

thrive in an environment in which people are constantly changing and you are learning a lot from your peers, from your boss, I think that that definitely drove a couple of nice lessons that shaped me later on as an entrepreneur. What's a pivotal moment in your life that fundamentally changed your trajectory? Could have been the military, could have been something else.

But was there, or maybe when you met ROM in the machine learning lab? I think that definitely like the military service, I don't know if it definitely opened me for entrepreneurship in the younger age. and it's sort of like always, I felt like it's almost as expected out of me, given like the service that I've had. And I think that without this, potentially like I would be doing something else. So I'm definitely humbled and grateful for this. And maybe like worth mentioning, I met my wife through my military service and I met my best friends through my military service,

friends that were still you know keep in touch to this day so I definitely say that this is a pivotal moment for the career as a whole yeah no I love that I can I can certainly relate I was just looking if I had it here

I was cleaning out a lot of books during the holidays and one of the books I kept close by were my military leadership books that I received because I had a similar experience to you as you did you know early on in your life.

Was there a person in your journey? Again, could have been, the last 10 years could have been in the military, but a person in your journey that helped you see who you could be. You know, you go along, you're 18 or 20 or sometimes 30. You know, it's like you still don't see yourself

as what you could be, but was there someone who believed in you before you believed in yourself? Well, definitely my parents, right? And my dad, well, I don't know if it's definitely like, but I was very lucky to have the parents in the hands. They both came from the USSR. And back then at the USSR, now Ukraine, like if you put like specifics.

They're very mindful of being multicultural, meaning from the age of six to the age of about 14, I was sent on average to eight different extracurriculum while I started. study. By the way, it means both sports. So I played tennis, table tennis, soccer, basketball. And I also did ballroom dancing. And with piano lessons. Like I've played the piano for six years and then guitar and then magic class. So I feel like definitely, and by the way, you know, in retrospect, I do see how this is a great way to prepare your, kids to be a CEO and I'll share why. Because I feel that as a CEO you need to be dangerous enough or better than most at most things but you're not the expert in any particular thing. Right. So I'm

probably better than most of playing the piano. I'm definitely not an expert in playing the piano. It goes for tennis and table tennis and all the other extra. And magics, I'm happy to show you some magics when we meet. But I think that like being able to taste so many varieties of topics and becoming good to a level to an extent in them made me like this. You know, I can juggle a lot of things. Do you still dance? Like was your wife impressed with you? when you first met her, like you could do some ballroom dances?

Yeah, my wife didn't ballroom dance with me, but definitely. So obviously as a kid, my parents needed to bribe me to go on this one, you know, as male for ballroom dancing at the age of 13, you can imagine. So they bribed me with video games. And he definitely helped my posture. So all of a sudden, you know, I'm with my back up and I have confidence, you know, way more confidence that I should have had and doubt this experience.

But I think that, yeah, probably I'm impressed my wife with my confidence, not with my ballroom dancing schemes. Well, you know, we already spoke a bit about Hiro and I want to finish up on leadership. But for those who don't know much about Hiro, you really spoke a little bit about it. But tell us a little bit more. And what are two things like the average person you meet

that, you know, doesn't know about Hira? You know, what is some of the unique things about? Thank you so much. I think that you've mentioned about the brand and the fact that we're doing a good job with marketing, which I agree we have a terrific CMO and a marketing department. But I think that brand is way more than marketing, or way more than the design and the website.

Brand part of it is the people. And I think that one thing that we've done very well is the culture that we've built within Hiro. We have core values. And again, this is not to be on a poster on the wall. they are on the wall and we have posters for the values. But it's really the way that we hire. This is the way that we appreciate people.

Now, End of Fear is coming. We have the Powers Awards. We are super IROs. We have powers. The powers are our values. So P would be persistence prevains, which is my favorite one. Another one that a lot of people, customers. By the way, also people that chose not to be customers like the most,

is open book no bullshit. And again, this is a way of life. This is not for a marketing slogan, right? If we're not going to be a good partner to you, I would tell it to your face. I don't think that we're going to be a good partner to you. And vice versa, right? So it doesn't mean be rude.

It's just like, I mean, be very open about stuff, right? So I think that the art is relationships or everything. So I think that culture is a very strong piece of what makes I wrote great. Great to work in as an employee. We're hiring a lot of folks. So, oh, welcome to check out the career page. But also great to be a partner of.

So I think that our partners really appreciate us because of our values and what we stands for and how we operate, basically. So I think that this is the number one thing that really pops. Maybe if I can share another thing, which is we are very detailed. details-oriented company. And that's also important for, like, health care and engagement and realizing that. And we are listening, you know, we have two ears, one mouth. So we try to, in this podcast, I'm doing like a lot of talking.

But usually on calls, I'm actually very quiet and I'm listening. And, like, a lot of the employees that hire are listening because we're very detailed oriented and we're trying to understand the differences, the nuances, what you said versus what you really mean because not everyone are open book, right, completely. So I think that that's the other case, which is, if you think about it, it's kind of unique with AI today because AI companies today, they would promise like magics and like we do everything. And we're like, listen.

We can't do that. I don't know what other people are telling you, but this is not the state of the art or like what's out there today. And so I think that it's maybe like underpomising over delivering type of mentality, but it's very detailed oriented mentality. I love it. Like I said, you'll have a stellar reputation in the healthcare industry. Israel, you've had this great career so far.

It's still a long ways to go. And there's military experience in multiple different industries. what would you say are the one or two key skills that have helped you the most? Definitely what I just said about being open book, right? I think that it's almost anti-selling. The customers that wanted to work with us the most are the customers that I told them, listen, we're not a good partner to you. And I think that they appreciated this honesty.

And I think that they've realized that I'm not selling. So people say that I'm a good salesperson. but I think it's actually because I'm not trying to sell you something. And I'm just like being very honest, right? So I think that this is one thing that helped me throughout my career, right? Now helping me as a CEO, even though, you know, by title, people believe 50% of the things that I say. And by the way, I'm very open about that as well, right? So don't get like the CEO title.

Forget about it. You're speaking with Israel and this is how I'm trying to maybe relate to them. the story that I told you about multitasking and being able to juggle between so many different topics. And again, I'm not the expert in sales. We have a sales leader. I'm not the expert in marketing. We have a marketing leader, a product, et cetera. But I think that I'm dangerous enough to actually ask very good questions, those leaders,

and make sure that they're aligned. And I think that this is something that I'm also doing kind of well. and helps me throughout my character. Where do you go or what do you do when you feel like your creativity is being drained? So, you know, everyone, you know, deals with, you know, so much action going on and you get drained a little bit.

What do you do? Are there some practices that you hold on to that help you? Yeah, so you know, like the famous Newton story with like the apple, like you want to tree, some says the shower and like they mixed it up. But I think that I'm the exact opposite. So I don't get along

like for creativity. I don't go to a place and meditate with myself like the complete opposite. What I do is I go to the office and I speak to people and I sit with them at lunch. So I make sure that

between my back-to-back schedule I have some room for lunch and I sit with everyone and I actually make sure that they sit as well and not in front of the computer and like this small talks this corridor talks, being able to be an environment of people that are talking about hockey and the weather and basketball, but all of a sudden, also about this pesky feature and this customer that isn't satisfied with us. And this is how innovation starts.

So I think I'm a big believer in when I need creativity, I actually come to the office and I actually surround myself with some of my peers. and I'm not trying to, let's get creative. Yeah, no, I love that a lot. What's one thing that you learn the hard way? Maybe what I'm just doing now, which is think before you talk. So, no, I'll tell you why, because I feel that as CEOs, right, people expect you to, I don't know if expect you, but maybe it's an inner voice that expects it out of myself,

that will have all the answers. And also we need to give it to them like that, right? Immediately. And all of a sudden you ask me a tough question or a question that I didn't prepare for. And, you know, the instinct is say something. Like you don't want this embarrassing, like silence. And I'm like, no, I actually prefer to think for a moment,

then give you an answer that I actually believe in versus just shoot whatever like is in my head. And I think that I definitely had in the past. Situations in which I just said the first thing that came to mind and it was definitely not the thing or the message that I wanted to make. And you know like this sentence about no second chances for first impresses. I think that's also no second chances for like failed first answers that you'll be in some sort. So yeah, I don't want to tell like the exact story that I think of.

I definitely spoke too soon, too early without fully thinking or materializing what they want to say, learn the hard way. And since then, they're like like people at Tyro would tell you. you that Israel's strategy in a conversation would be, if the conversation is 30 minutes, be quiet for the first 20 minutes and then speak is mine. Yeah. No, I love that. That's a good one. I think that's a lesson that we've all need to learn or probably have learned.

So this is Israel has been amazing. We spoke about music, the red hot chili peppers, lucky man, impossible. And we talk about sort of life messages, the optimism, opportunism, but all, you know, being very strategic, creating great futures. And we talked about your life growing up and multifaceted. Your parents were very intentional, exposing you to a bunch of different things. And in the military, we talked about some of the leadership that you learn, you know, with teamwork and early on responsibility and motivated young people.

And then we talked about Hiro quite a bit, just the history of the company, how it was created, some of the ways that you operate. I love some of the things that you say about persistence prevails, open book, no BS. You know, it sounds like a great culture that you've created. And then we talked about your, you're the, really, the leadership qualities that you've learned through the years that you take with you that we can all learn from. It's been a great conversation. What did we miss or what would you like to double down on? I'll give you the last word.

Yes, maybe just to connect everything that we've talked about with the state of health care and health care. I think that we are very lucky to live in an area where we're talking about the revolution as this. bigger than the Industrial Revolution, bigger than the Internet, I completely bought into this. And we need to realize that we're just in the first innings of it. Right. Think about, like, did someone talk about the Industrial Revolution three years after, I don't know, the first, like, engine breakthrough or something like that? No, right?

So we need to realize how big it's going to be and no one can really predict the future. But I think that it's part of it connecting to all that we talked about, we need to be very strategic. in the opportunities that we choose to pursue, but we also need to be very optimism about this future and about the outcomes that it can bring, not for the operational efficiency of our health system, which is great, but mostly from a patient perspective.

We're all patients. So I do believe that there is a huge opportunity, opportunities in increasing patient outcomes, in improving patient outcomes, And as a patient, I'm very excited to find out more about it. Israel Crush, thank you for being a guest on Digital Voices. Thank you. It was lovely to be here and share my story with everyone.

Thank you for listening to Digital Voices. We hope today's conversation sparked ideas, reflection, and connection. Subscribe on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify Podcasts so you don't miss an episode.