When former Apple executive Eric Sirkin sailed from Silicon Valley to Silicon Wadi – figuratively speaking, though he does have a skipper’s license – he harbored a dream of building a multinational company in Israel.
Four years later that dream has yet to be realized, but Sirkin has made smaller waves in Israeli business waters through the and Tel Aviv Angel Group and the new Maverick Group early-stage venture fund. He retains a hand on the rudder of the Angel Group’s remaining portfolio startups. Some were bought out, including LabPixies, Google’s first Israeli acquisition.
Among the handful of others are the Tomigo social recruiting platform and the Neomatix tire-pressure monitor. As chief technology officer for Maverick Group, the 61-year-old St. Louis native nurtures software companies and works with three partners to choose additional startups in which to invest some $20 million from partners in several countries.
He dismisses the notion that Israelis are too impatient and too limited by the small local market to grow sizable corporations. “In Israel people are always talking about exits, and I cringe when I hear that,” Sirkin says. “I don’t fault companies that have exits, but if you look at small startups that sell out to a US company, who gains from that exit financially? Mostly foreign investors. It’s not servicing the Israeli economy and not creating many Israeli jobs.”
He points to Israeli success stories Mellanox Technologies, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Check Point Software Technologies, Israel Aircraft Industries and Elbit as examples of what is possible. “We’re capable of building large companies, but it requires a shift of mentality,” Sirkin maintains. “I came here thinking that with my experience I could help build such companies. I have the experience and I’ve been there and done it. Lo and behold, I find that this is part of my dream that is probably not going to happen. I’ve tried no less than three times working with young entrepreneurs sitting on a huge idea and a huge opportunity, but it wasn’t in the cards for a combination of reasons.” (via Israel21c)
[Photo: Israel21c / Googleimages]