Business
The Secrets to Israel’s Start-up Ecosystems Success Through the Eyes of a PTC Local
UGA entrepreneurship students seek the secrets to Tel Aviv’s startup success.
Contribution by Stevie Bramble
About 6,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, perched on the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea, lies Tel Aviv, Israel, a seemingly small entrepreneurial society that has transformed the start-up ecosystem worldwide. Israel has attracted large multinational companies such as Google, IBM, Apple and Fujitsu to their nation due to their start-up success, and it’s continuing to grow today.
“I’m Tirzu, Ein Zo Agadah”
An Israeli Saying
translates into English as,
“If you will it, it is no dream.”
The successful start-up nation attracted University of Georgia’s first study abroad group of Entrepreneurial students to spend time and learn about the ecosystem of entrepreneurship. They spent weeks studying the social and institutional infrastructure that supports one of the world’s busiest start-up hubs. By visiting companies such as Monday.com and Overwolf, the students received an abundance of entrepreneurial knowledge from CEOs and employees in the tech sector.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect in Israel. However, I was so overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge I was able to grasp in three weeks,” said Stevie Bramble, a rising UGA fourth-year student studying marketing and entrepreneurship. “Everyone in the cohort was excited to learn about this unique business environment, and the community was willing to teach us about it.”
Bramble was one of 28 students who participated in the study abroad Maymester in Tel Aviv, partaking in two courses: The Study of Diverse Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecosystems. Although the majority of students are pursuing a degree through the Terry College of Business, the trip included all majors.
Some other students are majoring in engineering, fashion merchandising, communications and international affairs. The program ensured a mix of people from all over UGA’s campus to embrace differences.
Survivalist engine
According to Shahar Sorek, Israel is a “survivalist engine.” Sorek is the CMO of Overwolf, one of the businesses the students visited, and he spoke on Israel’s ecosystem. He mentioned that the Israeli people have persevered through hardship and furthermore, have produced a community of assertive and risk-taking individuals motivated to work hard and survive for the future.
Right: At the Overwolf Office in Tel Aviv. Top row: Lindsay Mangum, Alex Boulogne, Kaleb Thibodeaux, Laura Neely, Ben Brown and Nina Boone; bottom: Stevie Bramble.
Left, Shahar Sorek, CMO at Overwolf
Adding on to this, Bramble learned that Israel has a military service that all Jewish men and women are required to partake in, called the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). After their 18th birthdays, they must serve for two to three years before pursuing any secondary schooling or leaping into the workforce. While Americans cringe at the words ‘mandatory military time,’ Israeli’s embrace it.
“The army brings people together because everyone in Israel has to do it,” said Hannah Laskow, the influencer marketing manager of Overwolf. “ Israel is only 74 years old so it is pretty small, creating a tight community that is willing to lean on one another.”
Laskow met with Bramble one-on-one during the trip to discuss Israel’s ecosystem in depth. She mentioned that the IDF has different sectors, including, but not limited to, a tech sector and a combat sector.
The tech sector is where most of the multinational companies such as Google and IBM recruit. It’s imperative to Israel’s ecosystem to require the IDF due to the massive amount of talent being injected into society constantly.
In the Study of Diverse Entrepreneurship course, the students had the opportunity to create a plan to maintain Israel as a major hub for start-ups. One of the groups came up with a plan to create technology boot camps for individuals coming out of the IDF who participated in non-tech sectors to gain tech knowledge and fix the lack of talent issue. The students were able to solve some real-world issues happening around them, and it was reported to be one of their favorite projects.
In Israel, to be risk-tolerant is to survive. That’s why the majority of individuals are able to go anywhere and meet others who share an entrepreneurial mindset with ideas and thoughts like their own.
Bramble and the rest of the group met with creators of start-ups, ranging from small local incubators to larger global companies, including Monday.com and Overwolf. Some of the speakers had taken multiple businesses public and now run large tech incubators. The group took away key points toward understanding the ‘survivalist engine’ they call Israel.
The key to success: failure
According to the students, there was one standout speaker. Yuval Tal, founder and president of Payoneer and BorderFree, made time in his busy schedule to talk to the UGA students about his new tech incubator, Team8, and how to survive in a fast-paced start-up nation like Israel.
The student’s key take-away from his speech was the acceptance of failure. Tal mentioned that start-ups take risks, and with risks comes failure. He drove home the point that success doesn’t come without many failures.
“Having the drive to keep going is what matters the most,” said Tal. The students presented him with questions about Israel’s ecosystem, teamwork and his own personal failures.
Tal mentioned his biggest failure was letting go of people and regretting it down the line. Tal hinted that one person he let go went on to start their own business and become successful in the sector he was working in himself. The lesson for the students was that it takes courage to work with and hire people who are smarter and better than yourself. However, it is imperative to do it because it will make your business better.
He also stated that “courage is over intelligence,” meaning that it takes a person to become bigger than their ego to keep going forward even when it seems difficult. The take-aways from Tal were the importance of believing in yourself, having courage and accepting failure.
After considering Laskow’s insights about the IDF, it is clear how Israel has become a high-demand place for multinational companies to set up research and development centers. The riskiness ingrained into the Israeli people from birth is beneficial in their workplace life, especially after their experiences in the IDF.
The IDF fosters a place where people must fail and learn from their mistakes to survive. It seems that Israel has mastered its survivalist engine perfectly. As many say “I’m Tirzu, Ein Zo Agadah” which translates into English as, “If you will it, it is no dream.”
Future trip planned
The University of Georgia plans to host another trip to Tel Aviv, Israel in 2023 through the Entrepreneurship Program. For more information, please visit terry.uga.edu/entreprenuership.
The Peachtree Corners Business Association (PCBA) awarded a check for $500 to the United Way of Greater Atlanta (Gwinnett County) at their Business After Hours networking event in November.
The local organization was chosen by PCBA’s Outreach Committee because of their commitment to providing assistance and bettering the lives of children within the community.
United Way of Greater Atlanta
The mission of United Way of Greater Atlanta is to engage and bring together people and resources to drive sustainable and equitable improvements in the well-being of children, families and individuals in local communities.
“Greater Atlanta is one of the most vibrant regions in the country, but the region has significant barriers to realizing its potential in the future because of its continued ranking at the bottom of the list of metro areas in income mobility,” stated Vanessa Roussell, United Way senior director of corporate relations.
“Children born in low-income households have only a 4% chance of getting out of poverty in their lifetime,” she continued. “We at United Way of Greater Atlanta don’t like those odds. Our work is about changing them so that children — regardless of where they’re born — have the chance to realize their potential and build lives that sustain themselves, their families and their communities.
Assessing needs within the county
The organization’s goal is to help every child unlock their full potential, by improving education, healthcare, resources and economic mobility in the communities where they live. Their “every child program” includes every child in Gwinnett.
Based on the 2023 census track for Gwinnett County, 94,308 people living in Gwinnett County are at risk, particularly in and around Sugar Hill/Buford, Duluth, Norcross, Lawrenceville, Lilburn and Snellville. The highest-need residents are located in the I-85 corridor, mainly around Duluth, Norcross and Lilburn.
Giving back to support the community
“The PCBA is proud to donate a check for $500 to United Way of Greater Atlanta (Gwinnett County),” said PCBA President, Lisa Proctor. “Our outreach committee and board are committed to supporting our community, and investing in the well-being of the children in our community aligns with our core principles. We know that our dollars will be targeted to help those at highest risk … We are glad to have the local Gwinnett chapter located right in our community.”
Funds for the PCBA Community Outreach Program are raised throughout the year from PCBA membership, sponsorship and an annual charity event. Donations and scholarships are awarded at their monthly events so that members have the opportunity to learn more about the community organizations and their programs.
Over the past 12 years, the PCBA has awarded 19 scholarships to outstanding graduating high school seniors and donated in excess of $165,500 back into the community.
About Peachtree Corners Business Association
“Where businesses come to grow,” the Peachtree Corners Business Association (PCBA) is a business membership organization that focuses on innovative approaches, programs, shared resources, community outreach and opportunities for member businesses and professionals to connect, develop, grow and prosper.
The PCBA is made up of businesses of all sizes and types who want to expand their reach and grow their business within Peachtree Corners and the greater metro Atlanta area.
For more information visit peachtreecornersba.com.
The strategic acquisition strengthens TransPak’s Southeast presence and expands their capabilities in custom packaging for military, aerospace and high-value equipment.
TransPak, a global leader in logistics, packaging and crating services, recently announced the acquisition of Reid Packaging, a long-standing provider of custom packaging solutions based in Peachtree Corners. Both family-owned and operated companies share a deep-rooted commitment to quality craftsmanship, reliability and customer service, making the acquisition a natural fit.
Reid Packaging, founded in 1982, has distinguished itself as the go-to customer industrial packager in the metro Atlanta region, providing corrugated, foam and custom-engineered crating solutions, particularly in the military and aerospace industries.
Under the ownership of Ward Phillips since 2008, the company has grown to become one of the largest packaging facilities in the region, with a 60,000-square-foot site.
The acquisition will allow TransPak to expand its local manufacturing capabilities in the Southeast, while leveraging Reid Packaging’s expertise in specialized and heavy-duty custom crates.
Strategic Atlanta location and enhanced capabilities
The acquisition is part of TransPak’s strategic expansion into the Atlanta market, a critical logistics hub for both the renewable energy and semiconductor industries.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Reid Packaging into the TransPak family,” said Tomas Molet, executive vice president of East and Midwest Operations, TransPak. “With Reid Packaging’s prime location in Peachtree Corners, we are now able to serve customers throughout the Southeast, including direct routes to the Carolinas and beyond. This acquisition strengthens our ability to meet the needs of existing clients, especially those in the semiconductor and renewable energy sectors.”
In addition to the strategic location, the acquisition brings new manufacturing capabilities to TransPak’s East Coast operations. Reid Packaging’s facility is now the largest of TransPak’s locations in the region. Its offerings include enhanced services, such as heavy-duty and triple-wall corrugated packaging, which will enable TransPak to meet the growing demand for custom-designed packaging solutions for fragile, high-value equipment.
Commitment to employees and leadership appointments
A key focus of the acquisition was ensuring a smooth transition for Reid Packaging’s employees.
“We made a commitment to Ward Phillips to take care of the staff, and we’ve delivered on that promise,” said Molet. “All employees were retained, and we’ve introduced benefits they previously didn’t have as part of our commitment to making this a positive transition for everyone involved.”
Amanda Gautney, a longtime member of TransPak’s leadership team, has been appointed as the operations manager for the Peachtree Corners facility. “I’m excited to work with the team at Reid and continue the legacy of this respected company,” said Gautney.
Looking forward in Atlanta
TransPak plans to continue operating under the Reid Packaging name for the immediate future. However, the facility will gradually transition to full integration under the TransPak brand, reflecting the shared values and commitment to quality of both companies.
About TransPak
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, TransPak has been providing innovative and cost-effective design, crating, packaging and global logistics for over 70 years.
As a customer-focused, women- and family-owned company, TransPak combines the agility of a small business with the reliability of a global powerhouse. TransPak lives by the slogan, “We make it happen,” ensuring that high-value, fragile, and oversized goods reach their destinations safely and efficiently.
For more information about TransPak, visit transpak.com.
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