Tech TLV 2024 Hosted by Calcalist

Just attended the first major high-tech event since that fateful day in October -The Tech TLV 2024 event hosted by Yoel Esteron , founder and publisher of Calcalist ??????? .

Everyone was excited to be together again, while keeping in mind that we're not out of the woods yet. The place was packed and there were some uniforms here and there, which we never used to see at events like this before.

Normally for posts like this covering a high-tech event I'd feature a panel of VIP's at the top. But that didn't feel right this time. Because all everyone seemed to want to do was talk with each other.

The speakers were amazing but there were so many other conversations going on around me. And outside the speaker's hall people were huddled in groups talking.

I love the fact that Yoel Esteron wants to establish "A sophisticated task force to restore the Israel brand around the world." (10 essential national tasks for the new year)

So I hope he'll see from this little survey I did that events like these can serve as the platform for getting that task force up and running. We don't need to wait for the government to make it happen - the private sector can take charge and do a better job precisely in this area.

But for that we do need to change the format of these events slightly. For example there could have been an hour of round-table discussions for talking about the Israel brand, and deciding on next steps together. Then instead of being passive participants chatting outside the event, everyone would feel like they're contributing.

And let me tell you that's what most of the young people I spoke to are concerned with - they want to do meaningful work. They want to surround themselves will people who have the same values and mindset that they have. That's more important to them than anything else.

A good example is the founder of PAPAYA - CEO Oriel Bachar - who was practicing his speech when I arrived - and we were hearing words over the sound system that we don't normally hear at a business event like this, like mutual responsibility (arvut hadadit). His whole talk was about taking responsibility >> "To redefine our social responsibility as the leaders of the Israeli economy"

He's also essentially talking about coming up with a clear plan together otherwise there will be no victory. He inserted some Jewish tradition here about Mitzvot between man and his friend ????? ??? ??? ????? - (which is essentially what this whole lesson we're going through is all about). He said caring is a mitzva and how mutual responsibility is our winning thing.

Oriel told an amazing story about his friend who organized more tanks for the army out of the sheer will of his desire to help - and he succeeded to activate tanks that were no longer in operation. He gave that as an example of taking responsibility. He concluded by saying we've been in combat mode for 75 years, and always have to be ready to go to war. But are we only here to survive? We need to define how we want to live.

In his opinion it's not enough to bring business results. We need better results in all sectors. He's wondering out loud about how we can create a platform for social/community collaborations that will help everyone contribute in an effective manner.

I love the way this young and super-successful entrepreneur thinks and expresses himself, and his employees also gave me confidence that the next generation is going to do better. Read on to see how this mindset of doing for the collective is a very real thing in some companies with the youngest people.

How People Are Feeling

So back to my little survey which was really about hearing how people felt - I asked everyone the same questions:

1 - What positive thing really excited you recently?

2 - What do I love about our nation?

3 - What do I wish for myself and the nation?

The first person I spoke to was a female reservist with "paramedic" on her uniform. Maybe before I wouldn't have thought much of it. But everything is different now. I was in awe of this woman before even speaking to her - just thinking about all the soldiers she must have helped over the last 100 days. So it turns out she's leaving her position as Director of Sales after a decade of leading a team, and she was supposed to be taking time off. But she said she won't take time off until this is over. What amazing people we have in our country. She won't be looking for a new position until after she has that break but one thing is for sure - she will not compromise on her team or values. She wants to surround herself with good people.

Her answers to the questions:

1) The soldiers' heroic stories excited her in a positive way.

2) Unity and ?????? - which I actually don't know how to translate correctly but it basically means running back to your unit when you're called up to serve.

3) What do you wish our nation? Great love ...

Next up was Shmuel Kogan, the founder of Levanon Kogan (LK) - the last thing that brought him to tears was being at the hostages square in Tel Aviv. What he loves about this country is the sense of unity and togetherness that doesn't exist in any other place in the world. His wish is that we become unified, win the war and get rid of the current government. He insisted I add in that last bit.

Spoke to a very nice young financial consultant Dor Fogel - he said helping his clients really excites him. What he loves about our nation: ever since the war broke out we've become so much more unified and he's grateful for that. It's not simply Right and Left like before. His wish is that we'll be united, otherwise more bad things will happen. And we must be together to eternity.

Esther Loewy thinks Israeli entrepreneurs are moving forward with vigor and strength. What's so great about our nation? "Resilience has been said ... this connectedness, persistence, determination and inner strength. Her wish is that we'll continue to impact and inspire the world with our innovation.

Businessman Yitzhak Limor is excited by people's reaction to the current situation, loves our resilience and wants there to be peace and unity in the nation.

Guy Yarkoni who does analytics at PAPAYA was excited about "coming here (to the event) - "we can be successful along with the painful things that happened." He loves that we're united and how everyone is together. "Even when we disagree, at the end of the day you think of all of us as one, we're all together and it's really okay to disagree - and be united when we need to be."

Gena Panich is excited about his 3 year old. He loves how we're all connected together. He was in the U.S. and saw how all the Israelis come together to help each other and organize equipment for the soldiers. His wish for Israel is that we win the war and go back to our normal life.

Ofir Auslander - a super nice PR guy is thrilled that the high-tech sector didn't collapse. He was pleasantly surprised to see people making moves during the war - investors kept investing and entrepreneurs kept going with their growth. Ofir loves the fact that we're so good at improvising, which brings us to much greater success as a society. In his opinion improvising delivers success - period! He loves the way Israelis are open minded enough to take steps that were not planned in advance. He had to run off to greet a client (with a hug) but I'm sure he wishes the sector to keep thriving no matter what.

Then I met two really special ladies who had an amazing bond between them -

Michal Freeman-Shor from the LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) was really excited that 25K people came out in support of Israel in London - thanks to our unity (and all the killer blows we received that woke us up ....). She loves our resilience and wishes for us to heal. "We're not going back to before .. we're going to come out of this stronger and better."

Aharona Maskil was excited that her son had come home after three months on the front. She loves our unity. She wishes for us to learn from this event and learn to live in solidarity - to not only be united in a crisis but also afterward. And of course to bring back the hostages.

Two more young product manager types -

Ori Ginor was excited about our nation connecting during the war. Loves our resilience and wishes us ETERNAL UNITY ????? ???? ... wow!

Ziv Lavi was excited about the hostages returning (the ones we got back so far), he loves our moments of connection and wants to see us come out of this stronger.

Michel Abadi of Maverick Ventures (love the brand name) was excited that a food-tech portfolio company had just closed $12M. Loves our unity and resilience. And wishes for us to overcome ourselves. (nice one!)

Maya Sela of LeumiTech is excited that we're starting to feel the wheels getting back in motion - it generates optimism. She loves that we know how to unite when we need to and wishes for us to bring back the hostages. She believes we need to be humble and modest enough to build ourselves back correctly over the next few years.

Shlomo Kramer talked about how the divide we created provided the enemy with an opportunity. The most important thing now is this unity we've achieved. And thinks going to elections is the solution. "My Zionism is for Cato Networks to succeed."

Then there were these two beautiful young women - one was Hagar Choresh of Salesforce who could have written a whole book based on my questions. She's excited about the partnerships formed with her customers. They really stepped things up to accommodate them and support their own employees with special bonuses etc. They donated tons of product to runthe HQ of the Brothers in Arms Association Israel and other non-profits. She loved seeing how businesses stepped up for the people of Israel in their time of need. It was great to see everyone set their differences aside and be there for each other, and feel the importance of our unity. What's special about Israel is our ability to leverage the power of the collective - our society knows how to cooperate and be there for each other. She wishes us peace (shalom) and also peace of mind. She's like to see businesses overcome the hardships and pull through.

What an amazing young woman!!

Then I bumped into these two cyber experts - Ron Arbel was in uniform and is putting together his new venture. He's mainly excited about the hostages coming back, loves our unity and want all the hostages to come home. Roy Rajwan was excited about flying home from Thailand on one of those flights that brought our soldiers back home. He loves our special nature of taking something and not letting go or giving up till it's done. He wants the war to be over so we can go back to normal.

Gershon Diner was here from Silicon Valley. He's excited to see all the Israeli communities abroad coming together to help - they flew over 200 tons of equipment and brought 1000 soldiers home - all done with private funds. They helped with the families of the hostages. He loves how there is concern for Israel in any situation - we put everything aside and are fully committed to doing what we need to do. He wishes for us to take initiative in "moving the needle", to not stop. It's really important to look after our society. Anyone can contribute - the main thing is to keep doing and when you do that you get results. He says not to leave the stage to others - everyone should pitch in.