1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:05,680 There is a huge spiritual dimension of building the land 2 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:10,280 of Israel, building companies, building the future. 3 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:16,000 And I dare say that creating technologies that will solve 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,840 pollution, that will help with the energy crisis, that will 5 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:25,960 feed the planet, that will solve healthcare, that will make 6 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:30,680 children learn better. All of this is God's work. 7 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:35,080 We've got to create. We have to be partners with 8 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:39,360 Hashem. We are we are partners in terms 9 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,600 of building this wonderful, beautiful planet. 10 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:48,200 And to not do so is to, I think to turn your back on our 11 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:52,440 tradition. Do you have this sort of nasty 12 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,240 disease, ALS? But I'm not letting it define me 13 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:02,240 and actually opening up all kinds of new projects which I'm 14 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:04,959 working on. And literally I flat lined at 15 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,360 the hospital and was resuscitated and brought back 16 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:14,360 after 8 minutes. So I think anyone would ask 17 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:18,760 themselves after an event like that, OK, you've been brought 18 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:20,280 back. What? 19 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:24,040 What does that mean? Sholam Alaikum and welcome to 20 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:26,000 Start Tank. Start Tank is a podcast for the 21 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,920 challenges and opportunities of being a mentor in the workforce. 22 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,040 This week, we're joined by John Medved. 23 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:32,720 John is the founder of Our Crowd. 24 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,560 He's also one of the founding fathers of the Israeli startup 25 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,120 nation scene. So, John, thank you for joining 26 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,480 us and welcome. It's great to be here, Yakov. 27 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,880 Thanks for having me SO. Let's start with a little bit of 28 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:46,040 sort of personal background. What was your childhood like? 29 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,840 Entrepreneurship, investment building, companies saying that 30 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:51,760 talk to you from a young age. What was the world that you 31 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:56,160 inhabited in growing growing up? Well, I was born in San Diego 32 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:00,520 and raised in Los Angeles out on the West Coast of California 33 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,840 where there was a lot of sun. But at least in the years that I 34 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,840 grew up in the 50s and 60s, not a lot of the. 35 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:15,600 And I literally grew up on the beach, both in Pacific Beach, 36 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:21,920 San Diego and Pacific Palisades and spent a lot of time on 37 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:27,160 boogie boards. And I was deeply into the 60s 38 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:32,240 and changing the world, but grew up in a pretty warm Jewish 39 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:36,560 family where we were considered fanatics for our neighborhood, 40 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:40,320 which had a lot of Jews but not a lot of Jewish observance. 41 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:45,280 We had a Passover Seder, pesos Seder, I would call it today. 42 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:50,240 Back then, Passover, which usually had 60 or 70 or 80 43 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:54,800 people potluck and we were a warm Jewish family. 44 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,920 But I was expelled from Hebrew school. 45 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:01,640 I hated that. I didn't hate the fact that I 46 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:03,640 was expelled. I thought maybe I'll be off the 47 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:07,520 hook, but it just forced us to drive farther to shore. 48 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:13,200 We lived about 20 miles from the and our Conservative synagogue, 49 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:16,760 which we didn't drive to except for the holidays. 50 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:24,320 But what what really got me into entrepreneurship was both my 51 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:30,880 family's interest and love of politics and history, as well as 52 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:36,640 the fact that my father, 11 Shalom Dabi Medved, was a PhD in 53 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,600 physics who was a serial entrepreneur. 54 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,440 And he built a very early startup as a chief scientist, 55 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,240 which was bought by Xerox and then built a fiber optic 56 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:52,000 communications company. And believe it or not, that's 57 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:57,000 how I started in entrepreneurship was with an old 58 00:03:57,600 --> 00:03:59,360 Jewish tradition called nepotism. 59 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,360 Got it. And so you started out very far 60 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:04,240 from Israel. You started out very far, you 61 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,480 know, geographically, virtually far from what we would call, you 62 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:10,400 know, Orthodox Torah Mitsos observance that you which you 63 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:12,600 have a part of your life today. So you can take us briefly 64 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,440 through that journey from, you know, the John of the childhood 65 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:17,600 out in the West Coast to the John and your shall I am today. 66 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:22,200 Well, first of all, I went to Berkeley because it was a 67 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:26,000 political place and a really interesting place. 68 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:31,520 And I got there sort of in the highlight of the 60s and early 69 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:34,720 70s. And I showed up and I remembered 70 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:40,160 that I needed to. I promised my parents, since I 71 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:44,240 wasn't going to come back for the High Holidays, that I would 72 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:49,680 find a place to go to synagogue. And some of my friends said, 73 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:53,120 yeah, we'll go to Hillel, where there was a very Reformed 74 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:55,840 service. And another friend said, no, no, 75 00:04:55,840 --> 00:05:00,640 let's go to this place called Habad where they they drink. 76 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,400 And I said, that sounds good, let's go there. 77 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:09,800 And it was the first experience I really ever had with Orthodox 78 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:13,320 Yiddish kite and was very warm and accepting. 79 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:21,200 And moreover, what really got me going was on the campus, there 80 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:25,960 was a lot of Jewish activity with a group called the Radical 81 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:31,640 Jewish Union. And in particular when I went 82 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:37,800 off to to to Israel after my freshman year, because that was 83 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:41,360 the only place my parents would pay for a plane ticket, 84 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,520 Everybody I knew was going abroad somewhere. 85 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:49,080 And I said, hey, how about Mexico or Spain or Morocco? 86 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:51,680 And they looked at me like I was crazy. 87 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,680 And they said the only place we'll pay for is Israel. 88 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:00,720 So I said, OK, Israel it is. And I went there and I came back 89 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:05,440 about a week before the war broke out in 1970's, the Yom 90 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,920 Kippur War. And that blew my mind because 91 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:15,040 what I had loved in Israel was the upbeat, wonderful feeling of 92 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,840 making history. It deeply affected me on that 93 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:21,360 trip. But then I saw that it was 94 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:26,600 struggling for survival and I felt like I was needed. 95 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:31,040 And on the Berkeley campus there was like a war breaking out. 96 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:35,720 It was about 50 years early where anti Zionists, anti 97 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:40,720 Semites were fighting for the literally under the headline of 98 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,640 death to the Jewish state. And that really got me going. 99 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:50,680 So ultimately I became a Zionist activist on the campus, built 100 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:55,000 Jewish organizations, worked for the Jewish Agency, would you 101 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:59,920 believe, as a itinerant field worker, and then made Aliyah 102 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:05,280 1980 and came to Israel for the first time to live after many 103 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:08,760 times visiting that. But I got here to Israel. 104 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:13,160 I wasn't observant. I was quite committed Jewishly, 105 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:19,640 and I found my way into entrepreneurship, into the whole 106 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,000 another story. So at what point did you, I 107 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,000 guess would you consider yourself of becoming, you know, 108 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:25,600 some retirement? So say what? 109 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,240 What was that moment? Well, what happened is when I 110 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:35,600 got to Israel as an older Hadash, I joined my father with 111 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:41,080 his fiber optic communication company called Merit and I built 112 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:46,400 a chapter in Israel or you know, subsidiary and he had no 113 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,160 investment money. And this was the 1980s where 114 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,760 there was not not a single dollar of investment dollars in 115 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,960 Israel. So what I ended up doing is 116 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:01,760 raising money from a company called ECI Telecom. 117 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:06,880 And as soon as I raised the money, I just got married to my 118 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:11,400 wonderful wife, Jane, the mother of my four children and the 119 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,440 grandmother of our 16 grandchildren. 120 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:18,640 And the the company that invested in our company said, 121 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:20,360 look, you got to go back to the States. 122 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:22,600 I said what? I just made all yeah. 123 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,600 And they said, no, you got to go back, help your dad. 124 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,400 He needs your ability to help build the business. 125 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,039 And then he'll come back here in the year and everything will be 126 00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:35,799 fine. Well, we went to the States. 127 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:38,440 It wasn't a year, it was six years. 128 00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:44,240 We ended up having three of our four children there, but there 129 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:50,720 my family had become active in a balchuva shul on the beach 130 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:58,480 called the essentially the Pacific Jewish Center, which was 131 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:00,560 right on the boardwalk in Venice. 132 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,200 That was an incredible place. With my brother was the 133 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:08,200 president, Michael Medved, and our rabbi was Rabbi Daniel 134 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:12,760 Lappin, and we ended up falling in with the community. 135 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,680 And that's what really changed level of observance. 136 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:23,760 So by the time I got back to Israel in 1991, after having 137 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:28,520 made a successful exit with the fiber optics company, too, by 138 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:32,400 selling it to a big oil company called Amoco, which is today 139 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:35,720 British Petroleum, we came back to Israel with three kids. 140 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:38,680 We were religious and we haven't looked back. 141 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:41,400 Wow, So it's it's really wild to hear how your journey 142 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,160 professionally, religiously, nationally, all sort of 143 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:45,920 intertwined and weaving and backs and forth. 144 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:47,360 It's very interesting to hear that. 145 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:49,840 So you know, many people are familiar with the book Startup 146 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,080 Nation or it started as a book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer. 147 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:56,640 And so it's become sort of a a brand that Israel is a leader in 148 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:59,920 technology and innovation. So you played a role in that 149 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:02,320 books particularly was broadly in the, you know, the early 150 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,520 stages of Israeli tech. At what point did you realize 151 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:08,520 that Israeli tech was punched well above its weight and that 152 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:10,400 that should be part of our sort of global story? 153 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:16,680 Well, again in the 80s when I started the fiber optic company, 154 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,360 I fell in love with these tech guys. 155 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:25,440 And the way I did was I actually accompanied my father 1982 on a 156 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:29,640 visit to meet with some research guys over at Raphael. 157 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:34,200 The guys who did I make the Iron Dome, as well as so much else, 158 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:36,720 makes us safe, among other things. 159 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,560 And I sat with them. I didn't really understand any 160 00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:44,880 of what they were talking about because I'd studied history, not 161 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:48,120 engineering or physics. But at the end of the 162 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:53,640 conversation, where I had driven my father up to north of Haifa 163 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,520 from Jerusalem, they turned to me. 164 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,760 And they said, well, young Medved, what are you doing? 165 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,960 And I said, well, I'm, you know, teaching Zionism. 166 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:10,960 I'm working with summer students who come here helping out with 167 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:14,080 the Zionist movement. And they looked at me and said, 168 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:20,520 wait, Atta Scott, you're a like a just a, a bureaucrat. 169 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:24,920 And I said, no, no, no, I'm very committed and said, look, you 170 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:28,360 don't get it. Your father is an entrepreneur. 171 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:34,200 He's a pioneer in fiber optics. That's the real Zionism today. 172 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,960 If you want to do something for the country, go build a 173 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:42,760 subsidiary and build the factory and get involved with this 174 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,680 technology. And literally on the way home in 175 00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:48,720 the car, I asked my father, really, what is it that you're 176 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:52,240 doing? And at the end of that very, 177 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:56,440 very fateful week visit, he decided to give me 100 bucks a 178 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:01,440 month to keep an eye on these guys, maybe see what I could do. 179 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,400 And I fell in love with technology and the rest is 180 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:08,760 history. And that's really when I began 181 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:13,600 to realize that Israel had this incredible potential being 182 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,520 expressed, but no one really knew it. 183 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:21,880 And what I could do with my English and sort of connections 184 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,000 is help to tell that story more effectively. 185 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,240 I think I heard somewhere, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, 186 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,880 that you know, you at one point had like assembled a PowerPoint 187 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:31,920 that you were giving in different places and that 188 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,040 PowerPoint was sort of the kernel that ended up being 189 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:36,200 Dancing or his book Starvation. Is that true? 190 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:41,920 Look, I I know Nan and Saul a long time, they are brilliant, 191 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:44,360 but they've done for Israel is incredible. 192 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:49,640 Yes, I gave that PowerPoint presentation to a group that Dan 193 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:55,520 brought to Israel from Harvard. Saul was think my analyst did 194 00:12:55,520 --> 00:13:00,040 Israel seed when we were still in the basement phrase together 195 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,200 with Michael Eisenberg and Neil Cohen. 196 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:07,960 So I I love those guys. They they really did. 197 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:13,440 And then huge, huge thing for Israel in terms of crystallizing 198 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:17,520 what was obvious to people like me and others and putting it 199 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:22,160 into a book and launching really the brand of Startup Nation. 200 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:24,520 There's something that I've thought about a lot and I think 201 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:26,200 you'd be a great person to to weigh in on this. 202 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:29,360 You know, we're here in Strathalmar, we're counting 203 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:31,680 towards, you know, Chef Vote and Mamad Harseenai. 204 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:33,920 And, you know, it seems pretty clear to me that a Kurdish bar 205 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:37,120 who didn't, you know, choose the Jewish people at Harseenai in 206 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,800 order to be the home for Nvidia's next R&D center. 207 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:42,160 You know, it's, it's great. It's important for our economy 208 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:43,760 and for our development and our world standing. 209 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:48,120 But you know, from from that angle, it's the means unto other 210 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:52,760 ends and not a inherently spiritual valuable process. 211 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,800 It's it's, it's, it's wonderful, but not like the core of what 212 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:57,880 we're all about as a nation. Am I thinking about this wrong? 213 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,160 Would you say it differently? Is there more spiritual and 214 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,880 religious value in our in our framework, in the way you see 215 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:07,240 it, Israeli startup scene and and our role as a nation among 216 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:09,800 among the world? Absolutely. 217 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:16,120 Look, I believe very strongly as a religious person between the 218 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:20,000 connection of the Rishalai Mushala Mata and the Rishalai 219 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:25,840 Mushala. You can't separate them in 220 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:32,040 Kamakh, in Torah, OK? And the fact is that we need to 221 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:37,960 have a robust economy so that people can live good lives and 222 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:42,120 have time for Torah. And and yet we look, there's 223 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:47,360 nothing in our tradition that loves or embraces poverty and 224 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:51,360 the notion that Israel should be a nation of poor people 225 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:57,080 essentially subsisting on the halukah that died hundreds of 226 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:00,680 years ago. We are not going to survive on 227 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:04,160 the devote. We always ask for it in all of 228 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:10,040 our prayers. You know, Parnas, Parnasa, not, 229 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:15,320 you know, not sadaqa. We learn in fact, that the 230 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:18,800 greatest form of Sedaka from the Rambam. 231 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:23,840 Rambam is the fact that you teach somebody a skill so they 232 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:28,240 can get a job. And therefore there is a huge 233 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:34,720 spiritual dimension of building the Land of Israel, building 234 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:39,800 companies, building the future. And I dare say that creating 235 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:45,800 technologies that will solve pollution, that will help with 236 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:50,760 the energy crisis that will feed the planet, that will solve 237 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:55,160 healthcare, that will make children learn better. 238 00:15:55,160 --> 00:16:01,480 All of this is God's work and it's clearly got a spiritual 239 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,600 element. My father wrote a book called 240 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:08,640 The Hidden Light about the Torah in science, and his premise, and 241 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:14,680 I believe in it fully, is there is no contradiction between the 242 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,400 having a Torah outlook and a scientific outlook. 243 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:20,760 OK. I'm a believer in what's going 244 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:25,600 on at Mahon Lab, which is such a Kedusha sham where you have the 245 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:31,440 cutting edge of science and technology together with very, 246 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:35,080 very solid Torah learning and Torah principles. 247 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:39,000 And the notion that you have to separate these two is wrong, 248 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:42,320 completely wrong. In fact, it's not just a modern 249 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:46,200 phenomena. If you look at the A vote, they 250 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:51,640 were all entrepreneurs. Abraham was coved but sown. 251 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:56,120 Abraham amassed wealth. He was an evangelist. 252 00:16:56,520 --> 00:17:00,240 He spread the good news about Hashem. 253 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:04,480 OK. His son Yitzhak was an 254 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:09,040 incredible hydrologist. He built wells. 255 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:13,480 He was the water Mccarrote expert of his time. 256 00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:17,440 Yaakov Avinu was a biotechnologist. 257 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:23,119 Look what he did with his son and creating proper breeding. 258 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:29,560 And his son Yosef was Lamashvir was the public private 259 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:34,680 partnership, a great leader, economic and political. 260 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:41,120 There is no reason to believe that these two things have to be 261 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:43,840 separated. They are in our DNA. 262 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:48,840 If Israel was not the startup nation, if Israel was not the 263 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:54,280 light unto the nations with this incredible becerra of NVIDIA. 264 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,680 NVIDIA is not a small thing. NVIDIA is the most valuable 265 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:03,200 company in the world, and the most valuable company at the 266 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:08,200 heart of the most important revolution of AI chooses to 267 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:12,480 build its most important Research Center in Israel. 268 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:17,640 That's something that not just Israel and Jews worldwide should 269 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:21,560 be proud of, but every religious person should be proud of this 270 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,280 because this is fulfillment of prophecy. 271 00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:28,200 That's really fascinating. And I, I, I, I, I'm really blown 272 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:29,800 away by the response. And, you know, you actually 273 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:31,920 lumped in a few different religious values that I want to 274 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,760 maybe just point out in that answer and then maybe put them 275 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,160 together in a sense, You know, you said in Kama, in Torah that 276 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:41,720 each, you know, individual in the nation needs sustenance and 277 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:45,200 shouldn't be poor. That's sort of 1 aspect #2 you 278 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,760 mentioned that Yushuva RX, the fact that we are commanded to 279 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,480 build up this country and the Star Nation is one of the, the, 280 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:53,160 the primary vehicles that we've been doing to, to build up this 281 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:54,800 country and make it as strong and powerful. 282 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:56,440 And then the third thing is that, you know, some of the 283 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:58,800 technologies may, not all of them are helping to solve some 284 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:01,520 of the world's problems to Kunolam, creating solutions to 285 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:03,960 various story issues around the globe by use of technology. 286 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:06,200 But maybe, you know, putting them together, listening to you 287 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:08,400 describe, you know, so eloquently these three things, 288 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:11,520 the fact that, you know, and this is what startup Nation is 289 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:13,880 all about. Such a small besieged country 290 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,880 with no natural resources is able to become a world leader 291 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:19,080 through this thing. Is that also part of our sort of 292 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,880 historical destiny to be so such a great nation, despite, you 293 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,360 know, physical specs that are so underwhelming? 294 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:27,560 And the startup Nation is also sort of putting these things 295 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,280 together and creating a a somewhat of a world power, a 296 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,280 small power well beyond what we should. 297 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:34,680 Is that also sort of part of the historical arc, the way you see 298 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:36,320 it? Of course it is. 299 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:43,480 I mean, look, why do you believe that about 40% of the Nobel 300 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:47,840 Prizes in the sciences are in Jewish hands? 301 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:51,400 Is that an accident? Do you know what that means? 302 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:59,880 We are 2/10 of a percent of the world population 0.2 and yet we 303 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:03,840 have 40% of the Nobel prizes in the sciences. 304 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:09,240 A ridiculous percentage of billionaires, so much in the 305 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:13,200 entrepreneurship or big companies were built by Jews 306 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:14,880 that are changing the world for the better. 307 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:20,120 So much in charity, in the building of hospitals, in the 308 00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:22,360 building of schools and universities. 309 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:30,040 This is because that's what Jews do and we don't do enough. 310 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:37,760 Both talking about Israel, but about Jewish greatness about 311 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:43,560 that Jews have to create. We learned that the world was 312 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:49,880 not perfect in six days. We have what to do are the the 313 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:54,840 the Malachi is still to be done. We have work to do. 314 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:56,800 We did. We have to learn. 315 00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:01,400 We have to study our sources, but we've got to create. 316 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,640 We have to be partners with Hashem. 317 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:09,960 We are, we are partners in terms of building this wonderful, 318 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,960 beautiful planet and I dare say planets beyond that. 319 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:19,200 That's what we have to do. And to not do so is to, I think 320 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:21,920 to turn your back on our tradition. 321 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:27,240 Our tradition is about creation and about innovation. 322 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:33,320 Our whole lives have been about innovating, but not rootless 323 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:38,840 innovation where we are informed by our past, we're enriched by 324 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:44,480 being part of this long chain. And that when you're building a 325 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:49,120 company here in Israel or elsewhere, as a Jew is a proud 326 00:21:49,120 --> 00:21:54,160 Jew, you're conducting up all these hundreds and thousands of 327 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,960 years going backwards, but now you're connecting to the future. 328 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:02,120 And so when you ask me, you know, what am I? 329 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:07,560 What am I most proud of? I'm proud that I'm part of this 330 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:11,480 chain. I'm proud that I have a family, 331 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:16,240 that I'm so proud of my children and grandchildren, my wife. 332 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:21,480 And I'm proud of the people who I've been able to enable with 333 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:26,440 funding or teach how to build companies and how to create 334 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:28,920 innovative technologies. Wow. 335 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,800 So I mean, one of the reasons why, you know, some people might 336 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:36,560 be a little harder to convince that the, there's a Direct Line 337 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,040 between Harcena and the startup Nation, you know, would be that 338 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,760 if you think about the world of innovation, you could divide 339 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:43,920 technology broadly into, you know, 3 buckets. 340 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:46,560 There are technologies that are clearly making people's lives 341 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,240 better, you know, mobilize. Just one example, you know, 342 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,840 there were 1000 people dying by car crashes per month and now 343 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,560 there are 300 because of a technology like mobilize that's 344 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,560 bucket, you know, one bucket Two, though, is, you know, the 345 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,240 technology that allows this zoom to be slightly faster, slightly 346 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:02,360 sharper, I don't know, maybe sort of, you know, values 347 00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:05,760 neutral technologies that are, you know, not clearly of great 348 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:07,520 value. And then there's also the third 349 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:09,160 bucket, which is technologies that are actually doing real 350 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,720 harm or, you know, causing people to waste time, get 351 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,680 addicted to certain things, you know, think about, you know, 352 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,760 sports gambling apps just as a as a as a one example. 353 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,640 So, you know, people don't view the technology world necessarily 354 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,760 as something that we should embrace or just view as our core 355 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,400 religious identity because a technology bag is so mixed with 356 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,160 between some technology which are so amazing and so wonderful, 357 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,520 but also some which are neutral and some which are destructive. 358 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:33,800 So what would you respond to someone who's taking that as 359 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,160 you're describing? Look, I think it's technology is 360 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:42,080 like anything, you have to deal with it in moderation and 361 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,600 carefully. I love wine. 362 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:52,440 I like single mouth Scotch, but if you do too much, it's really 363 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,600 bad. You know, I think that exercise 364 00:23:55,600 --> 00:24:01,040 is really important and but if you are completely obsessed, 365 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:03,720 that's too much. OK. 366 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:08,880 I think that there are so many things that are good about 367 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:15,240 technology and when I think about how people are using 368 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:22,600 technology to be able to get access to Svarim and it's text, 369 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:29,320 how people are getting Shirim online, how people are cluing 370 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:37,240 into a Shiva overseas, OK, there is so much that you can use, but 371 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,560 obviously you can abuse this stuff and you have to avoid the 372 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:45,560 abuse. We have a big responsibility to 373 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:51,160 combine our ethics and our morality with technology so we 374 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:55,600 don't abuse it. But to say no technology, Let's 375 00:24:55,600 --> 00:25:00,880 go back and live the way we lived in Poland or the Ukraine 376 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:05,760 or in Morocco 200 years ago. No, thank you. 377 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,800 That's not going to work and it's not smart and it's not 378 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:11,600 Jewish. Yeah, people also tend to over 379 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:13,480 romanticize what life was actually like back then. 380 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,640 It's a lot worse than they wanted, they want to admit. 381 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:17,400 I want to transition to me one last section to this 382 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,600 conversation, which is that, you know, you have recently, you 383 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,160 know, transitioned out of the CEO role of our crowd, which you 384 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,840 occupied for many, many years due to health challenges which 385 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,280 you've sort of been open about. And so has that transition been 386 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,440 hard for you to go from sort of a full, full speed ad CEO to 387 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,400 someone who's sort of take a little more of a backseat 388 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:35,880 overseeing more strategic things in the company, but not 389 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:40,800 day-to-day day operations? Look, I've I've been productive 390 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:48,880 for most of my life and I've still got a lot of life left. 391 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,600 Do you have this sort of nasty disease? 392 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:55,560 ALS. But I'm not letting it to find 393 00:25:55,560 --> 00:26:00,000 me. And while I can't work 141618 394 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,720 hours a day like I used to, I'm still putting in a good eight to 395 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:09,360 10 hours a day and actually opening up all kinds of new 396 00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:12,680 projects which I'm working. I'm still helping companies. 397 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:18,360 I'm still very much a member of the board and our crowd and 398 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:24,560 wishing it well and helping. But there is so much to do, not 399 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:30,520 just for specific companies, but for Israel and for the 400 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:34,880 technology scene here, successful in bringing billions 401 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:40,080 of dollars into this economy and being involved in the funding of 402 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,880 hundreds of hundreds of companies and providing 403 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,520 literally thousands and thousands of jobs. 404 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:53,920 But there's a lot to do. We have huge challenges in terms 405 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:59,000 of our image abroad, in terms of people's ignorance about Israel 406 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,240 or the Jewish people. We have to deal with this and we 407 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:07,720 have to make sure that we strengthen our infrastructure 408 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,840 and in particular our social solidarity. 409 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,920 We have to be united to face these challenges. 410 00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:20,040 We have to learn to stop arguing all the time and to love each 411 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:26,160 other and to see the beauty in Ami Israel in all of its 412 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:32,440 aspects, because it is beautiful and we are Hashem's people and 413 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,960 we have a great, great future. Wow, that's, that's really 414 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:37,640 beautiful and you're wishing you continued good health and then 415 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:39,360 you should feel good and have strength to continue the 416 00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:42,000 important work that you're doing, you know, having this 417 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,960 awful diagnosis of ALS. What how is that? 418 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:46,720 How is your sort of faith helped you? 419 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,960 Have you learned anything new about faith that you didn't 420 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,240 before that you'd want to impart on to your children, your 421 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,480 grandchildren, based off of this new perspective on life that you 422 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,600 now have? Look, I was very sick when I 423 00:27:57,600 --> 00:27:59,640 went to the hospital about 8 months ago. 424 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:04,120 I flat lined at the hospital and was resuscitated and brought 425 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:08,080 back after 8 minutes. Thank God my boys were there and 426 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,040 they literally encouraged the doctors to keep trying and they 427 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:18,160 succeeded in bringing me back. So I think anyone would ask 428 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:22,600 themself after an event like that, OK, you've been brought 429 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:24,080 back. What? 430 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:28,040 What does that mean? And for me, for me, it means 431 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,240 that I'm not done. There's still what that I have 432 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:36,680 to accomplish. And I'm very, very determined to 433 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,400 do so. I still have a lot of work to 434 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:41,520 do. We all do. 435 00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:47,720 And the one thing my father blessed memory, his favorite 436 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:52,080 joke, someone who asked, what would you like them to say at 437 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:55,160 your hospital? You say that's an easy question. 438 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:59,480 They should get up and yell, hey, he's moving, OK. 439 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,760 The idea is that you should always live and as long as 440 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,920 you're moving, as long as you're breathing, you have to be 441 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:11,840 productive. My father worked literally until 442 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:15,120 the week before he died at age 83. 443 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:23,720 He fought a nasty disease, non Hodgkin's lymphoma, for 14 years 444 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,560 and survived. And a couple of weeks before he 445 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:33,360 died, we celebrated his second bar mitzvah at age 83, because 446 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:37,560 we believe that Melt David at age 70 had a life. 447 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:41,880 At age 83, you get celebrate a second bar mitzvah. 448 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:45,960 And my father read from the Torah most magnificently. 449 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,680 We had a big party about the week before he died. 450 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:55,560 He died on Shushanpuram and at that party he was talking about 451 00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,480 his new startup. He had built many startups and 452 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:00,880 he was already planning the biggest one. 453 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:06,560 That's how I want to go. I want to continue to work, be 454 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:11,200 productive to help people to meet the challenges which we 455 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:17,680 have and they are significant, and go out doing what I love, 456 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:22,760 surrounded by my beautiful family and friends and continue 457 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:26,520 to be part of this marvelous people and nation that's 458 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:28,280 beautiful and you know. This conversation has been 459 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,880 filled with so many great, you know, perspectives and advice 460 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:32,720 for people who are sort of starting out in their careers. 461 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:34,640 And I know you said you have a lot of work still to do, so 462 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:36,120 we're going to let you, you know, go do that in a few 463 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:37,080 minutes. But me, if I could ask, you 464 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:39,280 know, one more question, which is someone who's sort of 465 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,840 starting out their career nowadays, what other sort of 466 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:43,800 core piece of advice that we haven't touched on yet, would 467 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:45,880 you want them to sort of have at the front of their mind as 468 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:47,160 they're embarking on their journey? 469 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:49,240 Whether it's, you know, anywhere where especially people who are 470 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:53,160 in Israel starting their careers, don't be stuck. 471 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,800 In a specific role, embrace reinvention. 472 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:03,520 Realize that you have to continually re educate yourself 473 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:08,000 and change. That's the only constant is 474 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,480 change. Stay true to your principles, 475 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,440 stay true to the Torah, stay true to your role and the Jewish 476 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:19,640 people, but learn to absorb the fact the world changes 477 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:23,360 constantly. And so today, if you're not 478 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:27,920 embracing AI, if you're not learning about quantum, if 479 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:32,440 you're not thinking about defense technology or energy or 480 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:36,840 clean tech or food deck or all these things which are and 481 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:40,160 what's going on in the health area, which are changing the 482 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,400 world, then you're, you're keeping your eyes closed. 483 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:48,760 There is so much opportunity. Don't be depressed, don't be 484 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:52,720 discouraged, move forward and you can do it. 485 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:53,760 John. It's been a fascinating. 486 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:55,120 Conversation. I usually end up with a very 487 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,960 quick rapid fire round. 3 short questions, three hopefully short 488 00:31:57,960 --> 00:31:59,760 answers. We're in the summer, we have 489 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,200 nice long shops, afternoons. What do you like to do at that 490 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:04,400 time? I like to read books. 491 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:05,840 Amazing. And Speaking of books. 492 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:07,600 Do you have a favorite book on the partial that you go back to 493 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:09,480 you to look for inspiration, guidance, or just thing 494 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,520 interesting? I like Rabbi Sacks. 495 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:12,840 Amazing. And finally, if you. 496 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:16,760 Were forced by gunpoint to leave the startup world, find some new 497 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,640 profession, new job, anything in the world that maybe something 498 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:21,280 you do to doing as a kid or something you got a little bit 499 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:22,720 of itch to try out. What would that be? 500 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,560 I want to be involved. In telling Israel's story, I 501 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:30,120 want to help Israel improve its message and its image. 502 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:31,600 OK, amazing. John, thank you for. 503 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:34,480 Doing this, we really appreciate it and wishing you continued 504 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:35,760 good health. And I'd slack one off the 505 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,040 wonderful thing you're doing and I'm sure the listeners are going 506 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:39,120 to really love this conversation. 507 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,040 I mean, it was a pleasure.