Start-Up Nation

A Book Review
Amit Thakur
Mayank Jain
Santhanakrishnan O
Nagaraj Sogale
Arasu Venkatesh

THE AUTHORS
Dan Senor

Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

Senior Policy Advisor, U.S. Government

Recipient of the highest civilian honor by Pentagon
Pentagon advisor to Central Command, Qatar
Foreign Policy Adviser, U.S. Senate
Harvard Business School
Well travelled in the Arab world
Investor Israeli and American start-ups
Associated with New York based global
investment fund
Columnist Wall Street Journal, New York Times,

Washington Post, Weekly Standard, Time

THE AUTHORS
Saul Singer

Adviser to U.S. Congress to the House

Foreign Affairs & Senate Banking
Committee

Columnist & Editorial Page editor

Jerusalem Post

Confronting Jihad: Israels Struggle and the

World After 9/11

Columnist Wall Street Journal, Commentary,

Moment, The New Leader, Bitterlemons (an
Israeli/ Palestinian e-zine)

THE BOOK

Four Parts

The Little Nation That Could

Seeding a Culture of Innovation
Beginnings
Country With A Motive

Interviews
Research Papers
Articles

ISRAEL The Nation

Founded 1948
Population 8.1
Million
75% Jew
21% Arab

GDP $305.7 Billion

Per Capita Income
$38,004

ISRAEL Forever In
Conflict

1948 Palestine War

(November 1947 - July
1949)

Reprisal operations (1950s -

1960s)
Suez Crisis (October 1956)
Six-Day War (June 1967)

War of Attrition (1967

1970)
Yom Kippur War (October
1973)

Palestinian insurgency in
South Lebanon (1971-1982)
1982 Lebanon War (1982)

South Lebanon conflict

(19822000)
First Intifada (19871993)
Second Intifada (2000
2005)
2006 Lebanon War
(summer 2006)
Gaza War (December 2008
- January 2009)
Operation Pillar of Defense
(November 2012)
Operation Protective Edge
(July 2014)

ISRAEL

Venture Capital Destination

ISRAEL

Top on NASDAQ

ISRAEL

High in Civilian R&D

ISRAEL

GDP vs. Developed Nations

A BETTER PLACE

Ridding the worlds dependence on

oil

ISRAELI ATTITUDE
Chutzpah

Fraud Sciences

Founded by Shvat Shaked

Theory of Good Guys vs. Bad Guys
Takeover by PayPal

Intel in Israel

Invention of 8088
Invention of Centrino

BATTLEFIELD
ENTREPRENEURS

Performance under Pressure

High responsibility at a young age

Informal culture
Low number top officers

BATTLEFIELD ENTREPRENEURS
Performance under Pressure An Example

PEOPLE OF THE BOOK

Go far, stay long, see deep

Israeli Wanderlust

Arab boycott

Confining army service

Physical and Diplomatic isolation
Forced Israel to export to faraway markets
Sleeping Beauty & the horse Samson

Drip Irrigation

Makes friends of enemies

HAVARD, PRINCETON or
YALE
Which army unit did you go to?

Academic history vs. Military history

Compulsory training in the army

IDF Elite Units

Unit 8200
Mamram
Talpiot (650 graduates in 30 years)

WHERE ORDER MEETS

CHAOS

Adoption of Israeli model

Standard vs. Experimental Models
Rosh Gadol vs. Rosh Katan

THE INDUSTRIAL POLICY

THAT WORKED

Kibbutz & the agricultural revolution

Israeli Leapfrog

Drip Agriculture
A Fish farm in the Desert
Transforming wasteland to forest

Per capita income increase, 58%

Immigration A blessing rather than a

curse

DIASPORA

Brain Circulation

Michael Laor

Israelis going abroad and returning to Israel

Helped develop an innovative ecosystem
Deep diaspora network in other countries

Director of Engg. & Architecture, Cisco

Israeli Aircraft Industry

THE BUFFET TEST

Investing in a war-zone

Farmers of High-Tech
Learnings for an entrepreneur

Mash up
Dissatisfaction The Greatest
Contribution
Israeli Chutzpah
Military Structure

Personal Ambition and Teamwork

Calling it As it is

Farmers of High-Tech
Learnings for an entrepreneur

Innovation A Renewable Resource

The Next Revolution

Energy
Water
Bio-Tech
Teaching Devices

Farmers of High-Tech
Learnings for an entrepreneur

A Start Up is normal

THANK YOU
Amit Thakur
Mayank Jain
Santhanakrishnan O
Nagaraj Sogale
Arasu Venkatesh