part5

Because, as salaries rise, companies are lessdrawn to the lower cost of hiring an Israeli engineer - currently $73 thousand over, say,a Californian - 114 thousand. Salaries are so high in the San FranciscoBay Area, for example, that, if you’re feeling particularly cheap, you might just buy a $20million private jet to save money, so you can hire employees in less-expensive Houstonand fly them over for the workday. Israel has to be attractive enough for peoplebut not so expensive that businesses look elsewhere. Together, these three ingredients go a longway towards making Israel one of the tech capitals of the world. But there’s also another, harder to measure,but, no less real, factor to consider: culture. If you graduate from Stanford with a degreein Computer Science on Friday, there’s a very real chance you could walk into a Facebookor a Microsoft on Monday and start making $100+ thousand dollars a year. Or you could spend your days begging for moneywith the possibility of losing a lot only to end up back at square one. When the vast majority of new companies fail,starting one is a huge risk, especially considering how lucrative the alternative. It takes a certain kind of personality that’swilling to fail - and do so very publicly. In many Asian countries, the culture of savingface makes entrepreneurship unthinkable for many. The reputational damage of failure is simplytoo great. In Israel, however, a spirit of Chutzpah - roughly,audacity or bravery - has just the opposite effect. The author of the book Start-up Nation writes“Somewhere along the way - either at home, in school, or in the army - Israelis learnthat assertiveness is the norm, reticence something that risks your being left behind.” Israel is one of a handful of countries thatrequires long military service for everyone - 3 years for men and 2 for women. During their service, Israelis learn skillsthat apply to the workplace, make lifelong friends and business partners, and are remindedthat their country can’t be complacent. Ultimately, Israel proves that there is nosingle factor to economic success. It has high rates of education, lots of governmentinvestment, and, especially considering its geography, an impressive standard of living. But it isn’t ranked number one in any ofthose categories. Instead, a combination of all these things,along with factors like American foreign aid, allow the country to prosper. It also shows that top-down, government policiesare only so effective at encouraging entrepreneurship. Countries can hand out money left and right,but innovation occurs at the level of the individual - his or her ability to take risks,start new projects, and learn new things. If that sounds like you, let me recommendthese videos on Skillshare. This one is taught by Guy Kawasaki, the guyresponsible for marketing Apple’s revolutionary 1984 Macintosh. In short, bite-sized videos, he answers businessquestions like How to ask for money from investors, how to pitch your idea, and why you shouldnetwork. If you already have a business idea in mind,there are also lots of specific lessons. The head of production at Anchor, for example,has this class on how to start a podcast. Whatever you want to learn - how to draw,take better photos, make YouTube videos, Skillshare probably has it. Better yet - for you, it’s free, for twomonths. Just be one of the first 500 people to usethe link in the description.