Why Is Israel Outperforming in Tech

By Matan Hazanov, Managing Director, Verstra Ventures

Israeli universities produce more US-based unicorns (startups valued over $1 billion) than any other country by a wide margin.

Israel is a tiny country with only ~9 million people.

There are many reasons for this but the most obvious is:
Almost every citizen has to do military or national service, creating an efficient filtering system, while providing intense training (tech, leadership, etc.).

An average Israeli entrepreneur by age 25 would have:
- a world class university education
- training by the army in a technical field solving major national security challenges
- learned to take immense, calculated risks in real life/de*th situations
- real leadership positions where there are significant consequences
- a great network of peers in business, finance, tech, government and military

Compare that to the average entrepreneur almost anywhere else, and you can see the stark difference.
However, many other countries have similar national service requirements and don't produce the same caliber of entrepreneurs. I believe Israel's uniqueness is 2 fold (leaving out the spiritual stuff):

1. Israel is surrounded by enemies, and is in a constant state of armed conflict with national service having real consequences and resulting in a national consciousness of risk-taking.

2. Jewish culture places education as a top priority. This has bled into Israeli culture resulting in world-class universities and enabling tremendous innovations.

All this is even more incredible in the context of modern Jewish history. The foundation of modern Israel was set by impoverished refugees fleeing anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe, built by Holocaust survivors who literally lost everything, and developed by an influx of Jews worldwide, whose only connection to the land is their (often tenuous) connection to Judaism and Jewish tradition.

Israel went from barren desert to a flourishing nation and the hub of innovation in under 75 years, while under constant threat, persecution and war.

Modern Israel is a miracle in every sense.

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