A podcast which interviews successful Israeli entrepreneurs who have personified the economic miracle known as the Startup Nation. We study their successes and failures, the lessons they learned, and explore why it is that Israel incubates some of the great innovators of our time.
Episodes
Tuesday Feb 05, 2019
Tuesday Feb 05, 2019
In Part II of this episode, Avi Hasson, the former Chief Scientist of the Ministry of the Economy of Israel, discusses innovative strategies his Office deployed to attract investors to Israel's startups, how his office measured success, the impact his office had on the Israeli entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the ingredients that have made Israel an ideal birthplace for risky startups.
Avi then discusses the China-Israel investment fund he co-manages, Emerge II.
Monday Feb 04, 2019
Monday Feb 04, 2019
In Part I of this episode, we meet Avi Hasson, the former Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economy of Israel. A former venture capitalist at a very reputable fund, Gemini, Avi was hand picked in 2011to be the Chief Scientist. Under his leadership, Israel experienced a period of massive growth of successful startups and exits. In this episode, Avi discusses the innovative strategies his office deployed in order to encourage foreign investment into young, risky Israeli startups. The results under his watch speak for themselves.
"In the office of the Chief Scientist, RISK is a good word." - Avi Hasson, Former Chief Scientist
Learn why, in this episode.
Wednesday Jan 23, 2019
Wednesday Jan 23, 2019
In this episode, we interview Oren Oz, the Founder and CEO of Nuvo. Nuvo is a late-stage startup that is working to fundamentally disrupt the delivery of healthcare for expectant mothers. Although their flagship product, Invu, is pending regulatory approval, it has the power to vastly improve the delivery of care to pregnant women all over the world.
In this episode, Oren discusses how he conceived of the idea, how he built Nuvo from the bottom up, and how they have the potential to reduce the stress associated with pregnancy by providing remote fetal monitoring by an advanced device they they invented (and have secured many patents for). The future of pregnancy is here - and this is how it all began.
Tuesday Jan 15, 2019
Tuesday Jan 15, 2019
In Part II of this episode, we continue our interview of Joseph Gitler, the Founder of Leket Israel. Leket Israel is the National Food Bank of the State of Israel. Today, it has over 60,000 annual volunteers, and delivers over 45 million pounds of fruits and vegetables and 3 million meals annually.
In Part II, we learn about how Joseph grew the organization from a mere 25 volunteers to the 60,000 volunteers they have today. We also learn about the impact Leket has had on the lives of Israelis who have benefited from their great service. We also explore how Leket's model can be duplicated around the world.
Sunday Jan 13, 2019
Sunday Jan 13, 2019
In Part I of this episode, we interview Joseph Gitler, the founder of Leket Israel. Joseph is a social entrepreneur who sought to solve a major problem in Israel: nutritional insecurity. With that goal in mind, he single-handedly founded Israel's largest national food bank, which rescues and redistributes food all over the country to those in desperate need.
Today, Leket Israel attracts over 60,000 annual volunteers from around the world. They redistribute over 45 million pounds of fruits and vegetables, and over 3 million cooked meals annually.
In Part I, we learn how Joseph identified the problem, and began the process of building the organization - and his hands-on approach to leading his army of volunteers.
Monday Jan 07, 2019
Monday Jan 07, 2019
In this episode, we interview Ron Reiter, the co-Founder and former VP of R&D for Crosswise. In 2016, Crosswise was acquired by Oracle for $50 million. Crosswise is a leader in consumer device mapping - a necessary component of effective cross device marketing.
Ron discusses when he grew a passion for programming computers, how he built a successful side business in the field of online education, and how he and his partners (Steve Glanz and Jonathan Seidner) built - and differentiated - Crosswise.
Ron then discusses the Israeli startup culture, and how it impacted him and his career.
Sunday Dec 23, 2018
Sunday Dec 23, 2018
In this episode, we interview Ofer Ben Noon, the Co-Founder of Argus Cyber Security, and Yoni Heilbronn, its Chief Marketing Officer. Argus was purchased in 2017 for $430 million by Continental.
Ofer tells of the story of how Argus was founded, the challenges they are trying to solve, and the lessons he learned along the way. He discusses the timing of and the reason why they sold to Continental, and how it is the Argus attracts top quality employees.
Yoni then discusses the strategies they used to rapidly grow the company and the culture Argus inculcates which fosters creativity and a high level of productivity.
Tuesday Dec 18, 2018
Tuesday Dec 18, 2018
In this episode, we interview Yonatan Stern, the Founder and former CEO of Zoominfo. Yonatan sold Zoominfo to Great Hill Partners for $240 million in 2017.
In Part II of this episode, we explore how Yonatan conceived of, and then built, Zoominfo. We discuss the critical decisions he made along the way, and the formative lessons he learned. We also inquire about his experience with the Israeli ecosystem, and why it is that he believes it has a strong track record of incubating many successful entrepreneurs.
Sunday Dec 16, 2018
Sunday Dec 16, 2018
In Part I of this episode, we interview Yonatan Stern, the Founder and former CEO of Zoominfo. Yonatan recently sold Zoominfo to Great Hill Partners for $240 million.
In Part I of this episode, we interview Yonatan Stern about his early experiences as a successful entrepreneur, and the lessons he learned as he built multiple businesses - including Cardscan Inc. -a leading business card reader in 1990s, and then Bizo - a business he sold to LinkedIn for $175 million.
Tuesday Dec 04, 2018
Tuesday Dec 04, 2018
In this episode, we interview Michael Shaulov, the co-founder and former CEO of Lacoon Mobile Security. Michael sold Lacoon to Check Point Software for $100mm.
On average, companies that have over 500+ mobile devices deployed for business use have attempted network penetrations (hacking) nearly 100% of the time. With 25% of mobile applications having some kind of serious security flaw, the opportunity for companies like Lacoon to help protect mobile devices is huge.
In this interview, we learn about how Michael built the company, attracted senior executive talent, and why he sold to Check Point. We also learn of how the culture in Israel helped incubate his successful startup.