The Making of Israeli High-technology Entrepreneurs: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Israel has an unusually large number of high-technology entrepreneurs and companies. The influence of high-technology start-ups on the Israeli gross national product is enormous, with no proportion to its relative size in the local or international context. The phenomenon of Israeli high-technology entrepreneurs raised great curiosity worldwide but very little academic research attention. In this exploratory study, in-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-five Israeli high-technology entrepreneurs, focusing on their personal as well as professional backgrounds. Results suggest that the median successful Israeli entrepreneur is male, in his mid-forties, with technical education, a technical profession and an academic degree, who served in the army as an officer in either combat or technical position and is the first born in a small family of two or three children. The interview material revealed most poignantly the influence of service in the army on the career development of these entrepreneurs. Six cases are provided as a demonstration of this influence.