Israel: a country too far from Mike Arrington’s house

April 15, 2008 By

This headline is only a little in jest. But as I’ve gotten around to various tech companies here in Israel I’ve started noticing a trend: that the further away a tech area is from Silicon Valley the less respect that area will get. The headline is also a bit unfair to TechCrunch/Mike because he’s actually been to Israel and has a couple of writers covering the tech scene here, but if you’re a blogger and let the facts get in the way of a good headline you’ll never go anywhere.

I’ve noticed this when I visited MySpace: they were so excited when I visited because they say that tech bloggers never visit. I was thinking back to my own experiences. Yes, that’s true. Facebook employees regularly meet up with us at parties and dinners and conferences. We run into MySpace employees far less often. These personal connections turn into stories on blogs.

Same when I visited San Antonio. These were companies I never hear about in conversations in the valley. We don’t have personal connections to their employees. Ask yourself, have you ever heard of PerfTech? Kulabyte? Rackspace? Newtech?

Anyway, I’ve been all over to the world. Shanghai. Tokyo. Frankfurt. London. New York. Cork. Dublin. Hamburg. Geneva.

I’ve never seen the entrepreneurial spirit outside of Silicon Valley like I’ve seen here in Tel Aviv. The companies here are doing technology that’s deep, varied, and highly profitable.

Anyway, I’ll write more about this topic over the weekend, because right now we’re about to leave to see Jeruselem and meet with some Venture Capitalists to further understand what’s going on here in Israel.

In the meantime, go to TechCrunch and check out Fring’s new iPhone app. (Fring is headquartered here in Israel, and shows another trend that I’ve noticed here that Israel is WAY ahead of the United States in use of Mobile apps — another thing that’s surprising is how many iPhones you see here, even though there isn’t a single Apple store).

One other thing, Twitter has been where we’ve been having interesting conversations. It was amazing. The other day we were in a van between Haifa and Tel Aviv. Talking with Arrington back in California. Christineleu in China. GiaGia in London. All at the same time.

The advent of Twitter is one thing that’s bringing far away lands into the PR machinery that exists only in Silicon Valley.

I wish I had a month to spend here, so many startups want to get my attention, but I just can’t see them all. But there still is nothing better than meeting face-to-face over a beer to find out interesting stories about people, companies, countries.

For instance, last night several people begged me to write about the proposed Israel Censorship Law. Global Voices Online has already done that, but if it weren’t for being here I wouldn’t have known about the issues that they really care about.

Anyway, off to Jeruselem, stay in touch with us on my Twitter account.

Do you agree or disagree that people, companies, countries can get the respect and/or tech industry PR they deserve if they are far away from Silicon Valley?

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  • http://www.mikestopforth.com/ Mike Stopforth

    Hey Robert

    Met you very briefly at Mix08, though you were interviewing Chris Saad at the time so attention was sparing :)

    South Africa, my home country is also producing some pretty cool tech startups. Sites like http://www.afrigator.com, http://www.blueworld.co.za, http://www.synthasite.com and more are just some examples of signs that even in the Southern-most tip of Africa we’re pushing the boundaries of innovation on the Web. Though I do agree that we’re less likely to get noticed because most of the online world doesn’t know Africa exists :P

  • http://www.mikestopforth.com Mike Stopforth

    Hey Robert

    Met you very briefly at Mix08, though you were interviewing Chris Saad at the time so attention was sparing :)

    South Africa, my home country is also producing some pretty cool tech startups. Sites like http://www.afrigator.com, http://www.blueworld.co.za, http://www.synthasite.com and more are just some examples of signs that even in the Southern-most tip of Africa we’re pushing the boundaries of innovation on the Web. Though I do agree that we’re less likely to get noticed because most of the online world doesn’t know Africa exists :P

  • meritocracy

    @Christopher Coulter

    Um hello, location location location! Any respectable entrepreneur needs to be where the action is. Film -> Hollywood. Tech -> Silicon Valley. Finance -> NY, London. Fashion -> Paris. Nerds -> MIT. They are elite but not elitist and definitely not lazy. If you have something to prove, get your ass out there and prove it among the best. That is how you get respect. Remember Facebook moved from the Boston area, a tech hub, to an even bigger tech hub in Palo Alto. Expecting people to come to you is a losing strategy.

  • meritocracy

    @Christopher Coulter

    Um hello, location location location! Any respectable entrepreneur needs to be where the action is. Film -> Hollywood. Tech -> Silicon Valley. Finance -> NY, London. Fashion -> Paris. Nerds -> MIT. They are elite but not elitist and definitely not lazy. If you have something to prove, get your ass out there and prove it among the best. That is how you get respect. Remember Facebook moved from the Boston area, a tech hub, to an even bigger tech hub in Palo Alto. Expecting people to come to you is a losing strategy.

  • meritocracy

    @Christopher Coulter

    Um hello, location location location! Any respectable entrepreneur needs to be where the action is. Film -> Hollywood. Tech -> Silicon Valley. Finance -> NY, London. Fashion -> Paris. Nerds -> MIT. They are elite but not elitist and definitely not lazy. If you have something to prove, get your ass out there and prove it among the best. That is how you get respect. Remember Facebook moved from the Boston area, a tech hub, to an even bigger tech hub in Palo Alto. Expecting people to come to you is a losing strategy.

  • http://julianbaldwin.com/blog Julian Baldwin

    Robert,

    I think it’s great you’re traveling to different places and sharing an insightful perspective on those experiences.

    And sharp job as managing director in your FastCompany videos. Hope you maintain the energy and continue sharing, it’s appreciated by a lot of people.

  • http://julianbaldwin.com/blog Julian Baldwin

    Robert,

    I think it’s great you’re traveling to different places and sharing an insightful perspective on those experiences.

    And sharp job as managing director in your FastCompany videos. Hope you maintain the energy and continue sharing, it’s appreciated by a lot of people.

  • http://julianbaldwin.com/blog Julian Baldwin

    Robert,

    I think it’s great you’re traveling to different places and sharing an insightful perspective on those experiences.

    And sharp job as managing director in your FastCompany videos. Hope you maintain the energy and continue sharing, it’s appreciated by a lot of people.

  • Steven

    It seems even those areas that are known for tech in the US are somehow less because they aren’t in Silicon Valley. Much like Scoble mentioning San Antonio, how about Austin and Silicon Gulch, the Raleigh-Durham Triangle, Urbana-Champaign and the NSCA (remember Mosaic and Marc Andreessen?), the area around MIT, Stanford and Cambridge, and even the area around the Sound with all of the companies orbiting MSFT. Even if it’s just perception, not being in the Valley or transplanting to the Valley is a major disadvantage and you have to wonder what excellent stuff is being missed because the lack of funding.

    Oh, and according to Wikipedia, Robert is visiting Silicon Wadi.

  • Steven

    It seems even those areas that are known for tech in the US are somehow less because they aren’t in Silicon Valley. Much like Scoble mentioning San Antonio, how about Austin and Silicon Gulch, the Raleigh-Durham Triangle, Urbana-Champaign and the NSCA (remember Mosaic and Marc Andreessen?), the area around MIT, Stanford and Cambridge, and even the area around the Sound with all of the companies orbiting MSFT. Even if it’s just perception, not being in the Valley or transplanting to the Valley is a major disadvantage and you have to wonder what excellent stuff is being missed because the lack of funding.

    Oh, and according to Wikipedia, Robert is visiting Silicon Wadi.

  • Steven

    It seems even those areas that are known for tech in the US are somehow less because they aren’t in Silicon Valley. Much like Scoble mentioning San Antonio, how about Austin and Silicon Gulch, the Raleigh-Durham Triangle, Urbana-Champaign and the NSCA (remember Mosaic and Marc Andreessen?), the area around MIT, Stanford and Cambridge, and even the area around the Sound with all of the companies orbiting MSFT. Even if it’s just perception, not being in the Valley or transplanting to the Valley is a major disadvantage and you have to wonder what excellent stuff is being missed because the lack of funding.

    Oh, and according to Wikipedia, Robert is visiting Silicon Wadi.

  • http://www.tomilube.blogspot.com/ Tom Ilube

    Co-incidentally I wrote (www.tomilube.blogspot.com)about this same issue from the perspective of a UK start-up CEO looking to launch in the USA, commenting on how “closed” the valley feels from here…except that I mentioned Scoble as an arch-insider – whoops!

  • http://www.tomilube.blogspot.com/ Tom Ilube

    Co-incidentally I wrote (www.tomilube.blogspot.com)about this same issue from the perspective of a UK start-up CEO looking to launch in the USA, commenting on how “closed” the valley feels from here…except that I mentioned Scoble as an arch-insider – whoops!

  • http://www.tomilube.blogspot.com Tom Ilube

    Co-incidentally I wrote (www.tomilube.blogspot.com)about this same issue from the perspective of a UK start-up CEO looking to launch in the USA, commenting on how “closed” the valley feels from here…except that I mentioned Scoble as an arch-insider – whoops!

  • http://www.atilus.com/blog Zach Katkin

    I think you got something with the respect aspect. Just because we’re not at MECCA doesn’t mean we can’t worship.

  • http://www.atilus.com/blog Zach Katkin

    I think you got something with the respect aspect. Just because we’re not at MECCA doesn’t mean we can’t worship.

  • http://www.atilus.com/blog Zach Katkin

    I think you got something with the respect aspect. Just because we’re not at MECCA doesn’t mean we can’t worship.

  • http://www.SiliconPrairieNews.com/ Jeff Slobotski

    Keep up the recordings on FastCompany TV—enjoy staying connected to you while your in Israel!

  • http://www.SiliconPrairieNews.com/ Jeff Slobotski

    Keep up the recordings on FastCompany TV—enjoy staying connected to you while your in Israel!

  • http://midwesttomanhattan.blogspot.com/ Jeff

    Keep up the recordings on FastCompany TV—enjoy staying connected to you while your in Israel!

  • http://www.weinkrantz.com/ Alan Weinkrantz

    Hey Robert… dont forget what also makes Israel so unique is that much of its technology comes from spin-offs from the Army/AirForce/Navy. And much of their business training comes from….well, the Army/AirForce/Navy. And finally, there is a very good and very solid Venture Capital infrastructure which mirrors the U.S.

    Have a great trip!

  • http://www.weinkrantz.com/ Alan Weinkrantz

    Hey Robert… dont forget what also makes Israel so unique is that much of its technology comes from spin-offs from the Army/AirForce/Navy. And much of their business training comes from….well, the Army/AirForce/Navy. And finally, there is a very good and very solid Venture Capital infrastructure which mirrors the U.S.

    Have a great trip!

  • http://www.weinkrantz.com Alan Weinkrantz

    Hey Robert… dont forget what also makes Israel so unique is that much of its technology comes from spin-offs from the Army/AirForce/Navy. And much of their business training comes from….well, the Army/AirForce/Navy. And finally, there is a very good and very solid Venture Capital infrastructure which mirrors the U.S.

    Have a great trip!

  • http://anthropology.net/author/kambiz Kambiz Kamrani

    To say that, “I’ve been all over the world” comes off as disgustingly pretentious which you may or may not care about. All over the world is not two cities in Asia, places in Europe and the US.

    Furthermore, not a very astute commentary you’re trying to make with this whole post. It is a no brainer that the locality you live in biases how much focus you give on a topic.

    Kambiz

  • http://anthropology.net/author/kambiz Kambiz Kamrani

    To say that, “I’ve been all over the world” comes off as disgustingly pretentious which you may or may not care about. All over the world is not two cities in Asia, places in Europe and the US.

    Furthermore, not a very astute commentary you’re trying to make with this whole post. It is a no brainer that the locality you live in biases how much focus you give on a topic.

    Kambiz

  • http://anthropology.net/author/kambiz Kambiz Kamrani

    To say that, “I’ve been all over the world” comes off as disgustingly pretentious which you may or may not care about. All over the world is not two cities in Asia, places in Europe and the US.

    Furthermore, not a very astute commentary you’re trying to make with this whole post. It is a no brainer that the locality you live in biases how much focus you give on a topic.

    Kambiz

  • http://blog.yuvisense.net Yuvi Panda

    Now, when’s the long-awaited visit to India coming? Perhaps you could come around July, when our Demo/TC50 style Proto.in and Headstart.in are going on :P

    http://desistartups.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/open-invitation-to-scoble-from-desistartups/

  • http://blog.yuvisense.net Yuvi Panda

    Now, when’s the long-awaited visit to India coming? Perhaps you could come around July, when our Demo/TC50 style Proto.in and Headstart.in are going on :P

    http://desistartups.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/open-invitation-to-scoble-from-desistartups/

  • http://blog.yuvisense.net Yuvi

    Now, when’s the long-awaited visit to India coming? Perhaps you could come around July, when our Demo/TC50 style Proto.in and Headstart.in are going on :P

    http://desistartups.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/open-invitation-to-scoble-from-desistartups/

  • Steve

    @26. How does what Loren choose to do as satire relate to his opinion of you? Fred Thompson got elected Senator but had a career as an actor. George Clooney played Batman. Does that minimize his positions on Darfur? Your response is illogical.

  • Steve

    @26. How does what Loren choose to do as satire relate to his opinion of you? Fred Thompson got elected Senator but had a career as an actor. George Clooney played Batman. Does that minimize his positions on Darfur? Your response is illogical.

  • Steve

    @26. How does what Loren choose to do as satire relate to his opinion of you? Fred Thompson got elected Senator but had a career as an actor. George Clooney played Batman. Does that minimize his positions on Darfur? Your response is illogical.

  • http://www.vccafe.com/ Eze Vidra

    Robert,

    I agree with you. The further companies are from silicon valley, the less respect they get from the ‘technorati’ – the bloggers, the press, the VC community, even though their innovation is in many cases extraordinary.

    That’s exactly why I started the VC CAFE (http://www.vccafe.com)in 2005 – to give visibility to early stage Israeli startups and venture capital deal flow in Israel.

    VC Cafe has been featured by the WSJ and ranked as one of the top 100 vc blogs.

    Following a successful Israeli startup roundtable in March, We’re having a local gathering here in San Francisco.

    Join Israeli entrepreneurs, VCs, bloggers, investors and members of the press on May 2nd in the financial
    district in San Francisco.

    RSVP in the event page on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=16708300870

  • http://www.vccafe.com/ Eze Vidra

    Robert,

    I agree with you. The further companies are from silicon valley, the less respect they get from the ‘technorati’ – the bloggers, the press, the VC community, even though their innovation is in many cases extraordinary.

    That’s exactly why I started the VC CAFE (http://www.vccafe.com)in 2005 – to give visibility to early stage Israeli startups and venture capital deal flow in Israel.

    VC Cafe has been featured by the WSJ and ranked as one of the top 100 vc blogs.

    Following a successful Israeli startup roundtable in March, We’re having a local gathering here in San Francisco.

    Join Israeli entrepreneurs, VCs, bloggers, investors and members of the press on May 2nd in the financial
    district in San Francisco.

    RSVP in the event page on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=16708300870

  • http://www.vccafe.com Eze Vidra

    Robert,

    I agree with you. The further companies are from silicon valley, the less respect they get from the ‘technorati’ – the bloggers, the press, the VC community, even though their innovation is in many cases extraordinary.

    That’s exactly why I started the VC CAFE (http://www.vccafe.com)in 2005 – to give visibility to early stage Israeli startups and venture capital deal flow in Israel.

    VC Cafe has been featured by the WSJ and ranked as one of the top 100 vc blogs.

    Following a successful Israeli startup roundtable in March, We’re having a local gathering here in San Francisco.

    Join Israeli entrepreneurs, VCs, bloggers, investors and members of the press on May 2nd in the financial
    district in San Francisco.

    RSVP in the event page on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=16708300870

  • bj manzini

    feldman is right. you’re fairly clueless. if you can get over your fawning (or is it hero worship) over arrington, maybe you’d be worth listening to. doubt it. the fact that you’re only now waking up to the depth of israel’s high-tech prowess speaks volumes about your appalling ignorance. this story’s been profiled indepth on wired, cnet, the wall street journal, business week, forbes…ugh, must i go on?

  • bj manzini

    feldman is right. you’re fairly clueless. if you can get over your fawning (or is it hero worship) over arrington, maybe you’d be worth listening to. doubt it. the fact that you’re only now waking up to the depth of israel’s high-tech prowess speaks volumes about your appalling ignorance. this story’s been profiled indepth on wired, cnet, the wall street journal, business week, forbes…ugh, must i go on?

  • bj manzini

    feldman is right. you’re fairly clueless. if you can get over your fawning (or is it hero worship) over arrington, maybe you’d be worth listening to. doubt it. the fact that you’re only now waking up to the depth of israel’s high-tech prowess speaks volumes about your appalling ignorance. this story’s been profiled indepth on wired, cnet, the wall street journal, business week, forbes…ugh, must i go on?

  • monkeyleader

    Hey Robert – so I always raised this as an issue for your PodTech shows – very US centric, what about the cool stuff happening in other parts of the world.

    I realise it’s impossible to travell to these places, so you need local contacts.

    Think about how the news is done today – more often than not there will be a chief reporter local in most regions.

    Nige

  • monkeyleader

    Hey Robert – so I always raised this as an issue for your PodTech shows – very US centric, what about the cool stuff happening in other parts of the world.

    I realise it’s impossible to travell to these places, so you need local contacts.

    Think about how the news is done today – more often than not there will be a chief reporter local in most regions.

    Nige

  • monkeyleader

    Hey Robert – so I always raised this as an issue for your PodTech shows – very US centric, what about the cool stuff happening in other parts of the world.

    I realise it’s impossible to travell to these places, so you need local contacts.

    Think about how the news is done today – more often than not there will be a chief reporter local in most regions.

    Nige

  • monkeyleader

    Oh and your point about getting “your” attention … it sounds like Fast Company need a local employee in Israel now ….

  • monkeyleader

    Oh and your point about getting “your” attention … it sounds like Fast Company need a local employee in Israel now ….

  • monkeyleader

    Oh and your point about getting “your” attention … it sounds like Fast Company need a local employee in Israel now ….

  • Christopher Coulter

    Expecting people to come to you is a losing strategy.

    That statement is not overall always true, as it depends on whom you are dealing with, though some won’t sniff unless you are on Wilshire or in the Bay Area area (true enough), but you will get the usual copycat-churn that way. And it is also a losing strategy expecting everyone to just handfeed/worship you (Blogger, Sand Hill or New Line style). Sometimes the best things are the things you hunt for, finding the real hidden talents. Investigative reporting can pay dividends. The VC/Dev Exec that discovers the “killer app” that no one else has a lock on, wins that much bigger. A good enough quality product with a good enough market demand, and people do end up coming to you.

    Geography makes not the Great American Script nor the Great American Software. John Hughes operated from Illinois, and true, he went to people, but he always HQ’ed in the Midwest. And most of the (even still) current comedy vets came from Second City alumni. And the entire INDIE Sundance scene is a testament that there is actual life beyond LA, they didn’t play the Studio dance tunes. Plus EVERYONE in in Vancouver these days anyways, forget LA and the high prices, defecting to Canada is the old (but still new) trend.

    Expecting everything to come to you works BOTH ways you know. You only applied that formula in one direction.

  • Christopher Coulter

    Expecting people to come to you is a losing strategy.

    That statement is not overall always true, as it depends on whom you are dealing with, though some won’t sniff unless you are on Wilshire or in the Bay Area area (true enough), but you will get the usual copycat-churn that way. And it is also a losing strategy expecting everyone to just handfeed/worship you (Blogger, Sand Hill or New Line style). Sometimes the best things are the things you hunt for, finding the real hidden talents. Investigative reporting can pay dividends. The VC/Dev Exec that discovers the “killer app” that no one else has a lock on, wins that much bigger. A good enough quality product with a good enough market demand, and people do end up coming to you.

    Geography makes not the Great American Script nor the Great American Software. John Hughes operated from Illinois, and true, he went to people, but he always HQ’ed in the Midwest. And most of the (even still) current comedy vets came from Second City alumni. And the entire INDIE Sundance scene is a testament that there is actual life beyond LA, they didn’t play the Studio dance tunes. Plus EVERYONE in in Vancouver these days anyways, forget LA and the high prices, defecting to Canada is the old (but still new) trend.

    Expecting everything to come to you works BOTH ways you know. You only applied that formula in one direction.

  • Christopher Coulter

    Expecting people to come to you is a losing strategy.

    That statement is not overall always true, as it depends on whom you are dealing with, though some won’t sniff unless you are on Wilshire or in the Bay Area area (true enough), but you will get the usual copycat-churn that way. And it is also a losing strategy expecting everyone to just handfeed/worship you (Blogger, Sand Hill or New Line style). Sometimes the best things are the things you hunt for, finding the real hidden talents. Investigative reporting can pay dividends. The VC/Dev Exec that discovers the “killer app” that no one else has a lock on, wins that much bigger. A good enough quality product with a good enough market demand, and people do end up coming to you.

    Geography makes not the Great American Script nor the Great American Software. John Hughes operated from Illinois, and true, he went to people, but he always HQ’ed in the Midwest. And most of the (even still) current comedy vets came from Second City alumni. And the entire INDIE Sundance scene is a testament that there is actual life beyond LA, they didn’t play the Studio dance tunes. Plus EVERYONE in in Vancouver these days anyways, forget LA and the high prices, defecting to Canada is the old (but still new) trend.

    Expecting everything to come to you works BOTH ways you know. You only applied that formula in one direction.

  • http://hauntingthunder.wordpress.com/ Neuromancer

    yeh I remeber a comment that the guys from sand hill road dont like to drive more than 20 miles of so to visit a company.

    but CA and MAs have the infrastructure dont forget that SV grew out of the masive space and defence industrys – its intersting though the both MA and CA have more employee friedly laws

    still at last you have a VC culture in the uk teh dominant role model is the failed barow boy “sirallen” and his motley crew of “property developers”

  • http://hauntingthunder.wordpress.com/ Neuromancer

    yeh I remeber a comment that the guys from sand hill road dont like to drive more than 20 miles of so to visit a company.

    but CA and MAs have the infrastructure dont forget that SV grew out of the masive space and defence industrys – its intersting though the both MA and CA have more employee friedly laws

    still at last you have a VC culture in the uk teh dominant role model is the failed barow boy “sirallen” and his motley crew of “property developers”

  • http://hauntingthunder.wordpress.com/ Neuromancer

    yeh I remeber a comment that the guys from sand hill road dont like to drive more than 20 miles of so to visit a company.

    but CA and MAs have the infrastructure dont forget that SV grew out of the masive space and defence industrys – its intersting though the both MA and CA have more employee friedly laws

    still at last you have a VC culture in the uk teh dominant role model is the failed barow boy “sirallen” and his motley crew of “property developers”

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