People and technology, from the start.
Trust built over years turns into opportunity - for the people around me and for me. One story, five chapters.
From a young age I knew two things about myself: I love people, and I'm drawn to technology. That combination put me inside the startup ecosystem early, and taught me to treat every relationship as long-term - never a short-term, one-sided interest.
My first startup job came with no background and no experience - just a willingness to jump into deep water. I learned from the smart people around me how technology infrastructure really works, and along the way I developed a fluency that became my edge: translating technological challenges into business language, and business needs into technological ones.
When the bubble burst, I watched people older than me - deep in family life and commitments - get swept up in the crisis. I chose to stand by the river instead of drifting with the current. For two years I invested in myself: learning, observing, getting to know cultures from Cuba to New Zealand, and studying the energy people carry and the impact we have on each other.
Back in hi-tech, I helped friends whose companies had finished their products and were starting the journey to market - tailoring the right technological and business solution and choosing the suppliers and manufacturers who could deliver the vision. You had to truly understand computing infrastructure then, and that depth became an advantage when the cloud arrived. I helped entrepreneur friends move from idea to product, build the right team, and find the first believers - a partner, a customer. Without planning to, I was building a network of friends across the startup ecosystem. That is where I feel most at home.
A friend from Australia asked me to meet a friend of his from Silicon Valley. That is how I met Derek Andersen, who had just started - from his garage - a community for founders at the beginning of their journey: a place to learn together, get inspired and connect, so no one travels the entrepreneurial path alone. It looked to me like a life's mission. I have represented Tel Aviv and Israel in that community for 14 years, from its smallest early days, and watched the community grow to become the leading startup community. I mentor new community directors from Africa to India, Eastern Europe and Asia. Representing Israel - a small country with an outsized startup ecosystem - is a privilege I don't take lightly.