How Israeli Start-Ups can Remain Globally Competitive

Over the past few years, many Israeli startups went truly global. We continue to see, for example, giant success stories such as Houzz.com, Flytrex, Fiverr.com and WeWork, all of whom dominate specific areas and many of which engage workforces in more than 40 countries. Some also relocated successfully to the US and raised substantial equity, many via IPO. 

When I am asked why one of my own ventures, SnatchBot.me took off worldwide, the answer is that it was largely possible due to the incredible local support and innovation which my brother and I encountered here after moving to Aliya from France. Although we are grateful that my brother Henri Ben Ezra is credited as adding a seventh to one of six Israeli discoveries that influenced the world, today we look at how other countries are stepping up their game and realize that in the fast-moving industries related to high-tech, there is a need to remain competitive to retain global leadership.

Appreciate positive bias towards Israeli technology, but keep building the momentum: 

The collective dedication and effort of the past few years are paying off for Israel. Despite what people may think, we actually experience a positive bias towards Israeli technology. Decision makers in most of the world, know that Israel can be counted on to deliver innovative solutions and high value. It is precisely at this point in our journey as a country that we need to remain competitive and responsible, as opposed to taking our reputation for granted. In other words, our goal has to be great than that of retaining an excellent reputation for innovation: we need to keep building on that. 

Appreciate that sustainability is a new trend and global challenges will influence decisions:

There is a trend towards being green which stems from very real concerns for the environment and systemic pressures on resources. In our own neighbourhood, Israel helped Cyprus to switch over to the desalination of sea water in order to cope with increased demand and scarcity of fresh water. We have entrepreneurs from Israel who have been to many countries to collaborate with governments to install wind farms. Cloud-based services have potential to reduce the need for travel and can therefore contribute to sustainability. Our own communications company, for example, helps businesses and states reduce their carbon footprint simply by eliminating the need for hundreds of call agents to travel to work each day. Other examples are endless. The point is, that besides creating a business that is profitable, we have an opportunity today to create something special that is genuinely good for the environment and for the world.