Startup Stories from the Startup Nation™

This is Part II of our interview with Ofir Ehrlich, the co-Founder and VP of R&D of CloudEndure.  

In this episode, we learn of how CloudEndure adapted its offering after hearing valuable insight from their customers.  And we also learn about how they caught the attention of Amazon, who eventually bought them for a considerable sum of money.

In this inaugural episode of Season 2, we interview the co-founder of CloudEndure, Ofir Ehrlich. With the massive growth of cloud-computing, CloudEndure has enabled major conglomerates to embrace the cloud by managing the riskiest stage of the process: the technical transition to the cloud. They then built a company that offered a host of additional services to their clients.

While they were undergoing significant growth, they attracted the attention of Amazon, the largest cloud computing company in the world.  Amazon World Services eventually bought CloudEndure for an undisclosed, but significant, amount of money.

But Ofir's story didn't begin there.  In Part I of this episode, Ofir discusses the prior successes he had that enabled him to smartly build CloudEndure.  He discusses the lessons he learned along the way, and the instrumental importance of his successes - and failures.  

In this episode, we meet Eyal Lewinson, the Co-Founder and CEO of Iridize. Iridize was acquired by Oracle to accelerate its expansion into the lucrative business of employee training.

Eyal's story is different.  It is a story of persistence and perseverance - after he could not raise professional investor capital.  In this episode, learn how he succeeded by sheer commitment to his vision, and the lessons he learned along the way.    

In this episode, we meet Dov Maisel, the Co-Founder of United Hatzalah.  United Hatzalah is a non-profit startup that has fundamentally reengineered how emergency medical services are delivered.  Long before the smartphone and Uber, United Hatzalah developed a unique technology which used GPS location-based technology to immediately match life-rescuers with victims that are in close proximity to them, enabling rapid delivery of emergency care.  

Today, United Hatzalah has thousands of nationwide volunteers, and empowers rescuers to arrive on the scene of a medical emergency in 90 seconds or less.  United Hatzalah is also exporting its life-saving technology to countries around the world.

In Part 2 of this episode, we resume our interview with Naty Barak, the Chief Sustainability Officer of Netafim.  Netafim is a leader in providing Drip Irrigation solutions to countries around the world.  Today, Netafim employs more than 4,000 people and actively conducts business in 110 countries (and growing).  They were recently valued at $1.8 billion after being partially sold to Mexichem.

In Part 2, we learn how the founders grew Netafim into a global brand, how politics may have had an impact on his growth rate, how their technology evolved and improved over time, and what the future holds for their industry.  We also discuss Kibbutz life, and the impact of Netafim on Kibbutz Chatzerim, located in the arid Negev desert.

In Part I of this episode, we meet Naty Barak, the Chief Sustainability Officer of Netafim.  Netafim is a leader in providing Drip Irrigation solutions to countries around the world.  Today, Netafim employs more than 4,000 people and actively conducts business in 110 countries (and growing).  They were recently valued at $1.8 billion after being partially sold to Mexichem.

Netafim is the story of a startup that was launched by a Kibbutz, and which ultimately became a wild success, while improving the lives of millions of people around the world.  This is how it all started.

In this episode, we meet Jon Medved, the Founder & CEO of OurCrowd.  Jon founded OurCrowd in 2012 and sought to disrupt the venture capital industry by building a crowdfunding platform for Israeli startups and providing investment access to exciting startups to smaller private investors.

Today, OurCrowd is arguably the most successful crowdfunding platform, with over $1 billion committed to startups around the world (having expanded beyond Israel).  They have 170 portfolio companies and 30 exits.

But Jon's story is deeper than that.  In this episode, learn about how Jon fell in love with Israel, and how he became one of the most reputable investors in Israel.

This is the story of a Band of Brothers in the Israeli military who pursued a quest to build a company together, eventually settling on an industry they knew little about: solar power.  They went on to build SolarEdge, a publicly-traded company with a market capitalization of over $2 billion.  It has become a juggernaut in their global industry.

In this episode, we interview Lior Handelsman, a co-Founder of SolarEdge, who discusses how they built the company, the challenges they encountered along the way, and what still motivates him personally.  He also discusses how SolarEdge has fundamentally disrupted the solar industry, helping to fuel its rapid global growth, and how several acquisitions they recently made reflect where they see their industry going.

Because SolarEdge is a publicly-traded company (NASDAQ: SEDG), we will include the following Forward-Looking Statement:

This interview may include predictions, estimates or other information that might be considered forward-looking. While these forward-looking statements represent the current judgment of SolarEdge management on what the future holds, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect SolarEdge's opinions only as of the date of this presentation. Please keep in mind that SolarEdge is not obligating itself to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. Throughout today’s discussion, SolarEdge will attempt to present some important factors relating to their business that may affect their predictions. You should also review SolarEdge's most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for a more complete discussion of these factors and other risks, particularly under the heading “Risk Factors.”

In Part II of this episode, we learn how Gil Dabah built his company and why he sold it to Magic Leap, the leading Augmented Reality hardware and software provider.  We also discover some of the biggest challenges he faced, and we discuss the unique culture in Israel which fuels the creation of startups, such as his.  

In this episode, we meet Gil Dabah, the co-founder of Northbit.  Gil sold Northbit to Magic Leap, the world leader in Augmented Reality hardware and software, for a substantial sum of money (undisclosed).  

Gil discusses his struggles growing up and his obsession with computer programming - and gaming, in particular.  His attention to detail and drive for perfection made him a very successful entrepreneur - despite significant challenges as a student.