Israel, The Start-Up.

(A Belated Yom Ha'Atzmaut posting)

High-tech start-up companies can be a great place to work. There's a youthful energy vibrating throughout the building that keeps the company on a "high".

Besides the fun and satisfaction of working for a common goal, on (hopefully) a cool product with a team of bright, creative and exciting people, there's also the dream in the background. The options payout...the dream that owning shares of a company that goes big on NASDAQ...will allow for early retirement, a dream house, a higher living standard...or maybe the ability to barely cover tuition payments for kids in yeshiva elementary schools in the USA. (OK, some dreams aren't very realistic at all).

Along with the fun and excitement comes the stress. The state of not knowing if everything will work out. Will the company last more than it's first or second round of seed funding? How will we deliver the first version of the product if we're late on design and production? There are infinite defects and problems, customer support doesn't exist yet, standards and good operating procedures get thrown by the wayside in the hope of getting the product out the door, and we'll worry about all of that when we have time.

Meet the State of Israel - its very much like a start-up company.

Yet, we've got so much going for us!

We have an amazing product which captivated the world -- the land of Biblical Israel, the ingathering of Jews from around the world, the rebirth of Hebrew, and the rebuilding of the Jewish people after the Holocaust.

Yet, our management doesn't know exactly which direction to lead the company. Every 2-3 years, the shareholders throw out the previous management/Board of Directors, in hopes that new management will get us back on the right track.

We even have competition for the same product and they often use ruthless, murderous tactics to take over our market share (or at least, the product.)

Still, we have a very loyal customer base that supports us, despite all the start-up woes of a (sometimes) rude or inefficient customer service...or the lack of following standard operating procedure ("Don't worry so much...everything will work out fine...") Budgeting for projects doesn't always make sense, "You haven't seen my overdraft, have you?"

Company direction is often fuzzy and unclear, "Netzarim has the same rule as Tel-Aviv"..."Not one Jew will remain in the Gaza Strip"..."disengagement is the right direction"..."Lesson of World War II is that appeasement, concessions, and weakness are recipe for a Holocaust"

Yet with all these problems, I prefer this start-up to anywhere else.

The corporate niceties of other, more established corporations are not for me. They're missing many of the key elements, the feeling of home, the vibrant excitement of being part of the leading-edge team, the big payoff around the corner...and being part of history in the making.

You want a winning stock? This is it.

And there's no better way to invest, than to move here, since every day is payback day.

Eretz Yisrael. Living the Dream.

PS: Aren't you glad I changed the blog back to its regular template? :-)