My Background and My Journey

I am pursuing a career in venture capital because I believe that new technological advancements will help humanity progress sustainably, creating a better future for all. When people’s lives get easier and more enjoyable through innovation, further innovation will follow – for example, the convenience and enjoyment of Doordash, which delivers food from many businesses to offices and homes, allows people to direct less time and energy on cooking and meal prep and more on developing innovative ideas. I believe that investing in sustainability is an urgent matter. It gets me excited to think about all of the transformative tech yet to be discovered.

However, without driven founders and teams to move these ideas forward, this kind of progress will not occur. I found a more profound purpose in integrating my interests in helping people as well as in technological innovation. This continuous fascination with technology and my deep interest in companies that aim to solve some of our world’s problems helped me to decide to begin my journey in venture capital after graduating from Cornell in May of 2020. I have studied and seen up close that each node of an organizational ecosystem is necessary, yet fragile.

After highschool, I did not feel it was the right time for me to go to college just yet. I felt a greater purpose calling me to move back to Israel and serve in the IDF. As a commander in the Israeli Air Force, I trained a large team of people in physically and mentally tough conditions. Later, when I was released, I worked in the HR department of a startup and saved up to solo backpack through Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, and Cambodia. When I was done with my adventures I started my studies at Foothill College and later transferred to Cornell University’s Industrial Labor Relations school.

As a commander in the Israeli Air Force, I saw that fostering a close relationship with my soldiers made them more resilient. My relationships with my co-commanders and officers directly influenced how smoothly we worked as a unit. By sharing information with one another, we created a better working environment and accomplished more. After each day, the commanders sat down together and discussed what went well that day and what could be improved. Apart from improving our efficiency by saving time during tasks, by sharing information and helping one another, we strengthened our team.

Later, working as an HR Analyst for a startup with branches in India, Israel, and the United States, I read the personnel files of the entire organization. The cultures at the various branches differed in demographic composition; the Indian branch was almost entirely male, while the American branch’s employees were significantly younger than those of the other branches. The branches therefore had very different cultures, and it was interesting to think about how I could use this information to make the company run better.

During my time in Cornell’s ILR School, I studied what makes different institutions successful in the global economy from the perspective of organizational behavior, labor law, economics, human resources, consulting and conflict management. The integration of different fields in this degree, in addition to the complexities of human relationship dynamics, exemplified to me that a holistic perspective is necessary in viewing and solving specific problems.

I have seen from my experiences that collaborative human relationships are essential for systems to work. Through my observations, I saw that reaching team as well as individual objectives came when sharing information with others. Strong connections, I have found, are forged through empathetic communication. Empathetic communication, sharing information and listening to others allows for better team cohesion.

Collaborative human relationships are essential for systems to flourish. In the VC ecosystem, there is competition to find the best deals. For founders, it is difficult to find the VCs who will best provide help and resources. Apart from the equally important financial side of investment in VC, community and meaningful network connections across VCs and founders are integral to fruitful investments. Through my work as a VC, I have the opportunity to play a role in technological innovation by serving as a catalyst for meaningful human connections that share a similar goal- bringing to life revolutionary technologies.