Digital Stories

This November, [e-spres-oh] made its way to Tel Aviv, Israel’s bustling tech capital, to meet some of the country’s most promising entrepreneurs and cutting-edge companies. From cybersecurity to fintech, we joined the unique business scene that puts Israel at the forefront of startups per capita globally. During our time there, we also got the inside scoop on why its tech endeavors are so successful from iAngels, one of Israel’s premier early-stage investment networks.

Why we went the extra mile

In the past decade, Israel has become a thriving center of technology and entrepreneurship. Coined ‘startup nation’ and dubbed Silicon Wadi, the country counts one startup per 1,400 people — the highest concentration on earth. But it isn’t the sheer number of companies that attracted us, it was their quality of work, ideas, and innovation. The unstoppable mindset that drives founders in Israel is the main reason why Mike Sands, Board Member of [e-spres-oh], and Daniel Markovits, our Director of Engineering, visited Tel Aviv and teamed-up with iAngels and the Mixer community.

Let’s mix tech up

During our one-week stay, we untangled the intricacies of Tel Aviv’s business environment and brought our expertise to the table to make ideas happen through code.

One of the places with the highest concentration of tech companies is the Mixer Work & Lounge network. While we were there, we caught up with the most innovative startups, entrepreneurs and professionals looking for custom software development solutions.

We talked to business entrepreneurs in the cybersecurity and fintech industries, a unique strength of Israel’s startup ecosystem. But we also met with startups in MedTech and transportation, two other verticals where Israel shines.

Talking to forward-thinking entrepreneurs is invigorating, inspiring and rewarding. I’m impressed by the breadth of ideas and the spirit of the founders we met. Knowing that Espresoh was only a 2-hour plane ride from the heart of ‘Startup Nation’ is really exciting for our team.

Dani Markovits, Director of Engineering [e-spres-oh]

There was a myriad of lessons to be learned:

• Israel is a young nation used to taking risks. That pioneering spirit of self-starting permeates the founders and entrepreneurs throughout the country. The entrepreneurship we have in [e-spres-oh] is similar to the energy we felt from the startups we met within Israel. Kindred spirits for sure.

• Everyone we met with had high standards for themselves, their companies, and the business partners they work with. There were no compromises. We love the feeling that [e-spres-oh] can be part of this elite, high-performance culture. We hold ourselves to a similar standard. We felt at home.

• Be prepared to move fast! So many of the Israeli founders we met were on their second, third, fourth business. Some had more exits than that. Everyone was in a hurry — in a good way — looking to build their business quickly and efficiently. Access to world-class software engineers is central to this, but we learned Tel Aviv has over 80,000 job openings for coders. [e-spres-oh] will step into this paucity of talent and help the companies we met move faster.

“As a founder and CEO of startups, I really appreciated the directness of the entrepreneurs we met. Everyone knew what they wanted, were driven and energized. Entrepreneurship requires an incredible output of energy — we saw that energy across the board with everyone we met in Israel.”

Mike Sands, [e-spres-oh] Director

What we brought back

As our time in Israel came to an end, there is a clearer vision of what tech success means. We are glad that our approach to new collaborations and push for using fast, iterative sprints that drive solutions to market quickly matches the velocity of the dynamic market.

The future of engineering should always be accompanied by a global mindset and a continuous know-how exchange with the best professionals in the industry. Going the extra mile to touch base with advanced tech markets is the only way forward, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.