The Spark Blog
𝟒𝟎 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝.
In 1985, I founded my first company, Shany Computers Ltd.
Forty years ago.
Israel was different, startups were different, I was different.
There was no VC industry in Israel, just one or two pioneering funds like Etna (Dan Tolkowsky) and Elron (Uzia Galil). These two were the true founding fathers of Israeli venture capital, though the term itself was still unknown in the 60s and 70s.
Getting a meeting or an investment from them was harder than producing gold yourself.
So Shany was a pure bootstrapped company.
We built everything ourselves, and in 1991 we opened our U.S. subsidiary, Shany Inc., in Mountain View, CA.
Later, in 1993, we received our first investment from Mofet and Dash Polaris, led by
Chemi Peres and Rami Kalish, along with several Israeli angels from the Valley (Udi Netzer).
In October 1994, Intel acquired Shany Computers, merging it into its Network Management Business Unit, which I co-managed with Ed Ekstrom.
I was lucky to start just before the Israeli startup revolution truly began.
To live, invent, and build in the years when we were really mean and lean, hungry to prove that Israelis were more than just technology driven.
We were also product-fit discoverers, marketers, and sales leaders, though back then, everyone told me:
“Shlomo, as an Israeli, you can only create technology, competing in U.S. markets, zero chance.”
My God, how that changed.
Today, young Israeli entrepreneurs consistently reach the top three globally in almost every field they tackle.
It’s inspiring and humbling to have witnessed the journey from the garage to the global stage.
𝑮𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝑰𝒔𝒓𝒂𝒆𝒍𝒊 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒔!
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