The Ecosystem Project: the Players of the Israeli Tech Industry

The Ecosystem Project is a book aimed at highlighting some of the interesting players in the Israeli entrepreneurship landscape: startups, investors, communities, programs and more.

Mindspace had the honor of being featured under the ‘Hubs’ section as a place where members get inspired and take innovation to the next level – or, as described in the book, “a connecting link between different industry players while providing a productive environment and space for gathering”.

The book was created by Erez Gavish and Doron Simhi, while the showcased organizations were selected by a judging committee of over 20 professionals. We asked Gavish to share his story and insights behind this project.

Why did you decide to go ahead with The Ecosystem Project?

Basically I like to have fun and work on projects that touch all kinds of aspects of the Israeli high-tech ecosystem. And I like my projects to be as unique as possible. 

As an entrepreneur and a bootstrapper, I wanted to create a source of knowledge for both people from outside the Israeli tech ecosystem, and ‘wannapreneurs’ – aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start their own ventures.

Who is the book intended for?

We have two main target audiences in mind:

Our first target audience is various organizations outside of Israel. Whether they’re chambers of commerce, diplomats, VCs, startups, or acceleration programs – the book would help organizations that want to get at the very least a hint of what’s happening in the Israeli tech ecosystem and learn from some of the most interesting players. We focused on the diverse and fascinating mosaic that we have here. It’s not about who the best is in Israel – whether it’s a coworking space or VC, for example – but rather about the great variety of players.

The second target audience is composed of the Israeli ‘monopreneurs’ – entrepreneurs who are just starting out on their first venture and are on their own. They don’t know yet how the local startup machine works. Whether you read the book or just scan through it – it’s not a database. The idea was to present an opportunity to look at the entire ecosystem top-level; to look at each chapter in a sense of what people take into consideration when they develop their business, what their strategy is, and what investors choose to invest in. The book lets readers see the big picture, learn how to break into the market and get to know more people – anything you need to know in order to build an initiative that will make a change in the world.

What makes the Israeli high-tech ecosystem unique?

I would say that the local culture contributes the most to the Israeli tech ecosystem’s uniqueness. The Israeli personality is reflected in the startups as well as the investors. It’s characterized by being straightforward, talking about what matters, not being over-polite, and just moving forward like crazy.

What surprised you the most about the companies that shape the tech ecosystem in Israel?

What I like about each content piece in the book is that it usually starts with the founders’ own cooperation, about how they started to work on the idea. It’s less about the numbers and more about the human aspect of their venture. 

Read here about Mindspace in the Ecosystem Project.