00:00 Speaker A

Could Israeli innovation be under fire as escalating tensions between that nation and Iran continue? And what does this conflict mean for the economy, tech industry, and of course, its well-known startup community? Earlier, uh, today, I spoke with Adam Fisher, managing partner at Bessemer Venture Partners with a strong background in early-stage investing in Israel, and he spoke with me from Tel Aviv.

00:26 Adam Fisher

I think we've been much more affected by a macro slowdown in in tech spending and and fundraising for for venture funds than any real impact related to the war on tech. Where it has affected companies and people is on just the personal side. Obviously, a lot of people, uh, have been called up for reserve duty at various points over the last 18, 20, 24 months. Uh, there are people who have also been affected, uh, personally in horrible ways. Uh, of course, that is also a relatively small percentage of the overall population that comprises Israel's tech community. If you look at funding, if you look at acquisitions, you look at new startups, honestly, it feels like, uh, we're kind of still at the top. Um, there's nothing that, uh, is visibly, uh, uh, impacted negatively. Um, and I know that sounds like a little bit of a of a strange, um, kind of juxtaposition of of of war and reserves. Uh, but, you know, people, humans, they they they keep going. They move on. They need to, they need to provide for themselves. They've got dreams. Uh, they study, they continue. And, uh, in a strange way, the longer it is, the more we, I wouldn't say get comfortable with it, but we we become accustomed to, um, this is the way it is. We deal with it, and you carry on.

03:22 Speaker A

You know, Adam, last time we spoke, I remember I asked you about whether there was, in your opinion, a risk that some meaningful number of Israeli founders, entrepreneurs, technologists would leave Israel because of the conflict, because of the war. There would be this, uh, this brain drain. And I remember you told me, Adam, you you didn't see that as a big risk because you said at the time, you know, Israelis just feel more unified than ever, more connected to their country than ever. Is that still your feeling?

04:13 Adam Fisher

Absolutely. Uh, even more so. Uh, there's tremendous, uh, solidarity, uh, and patriotism. And also, you know, as strange as that may seem, also, you know, love love for your fellow citizens here. Yes, we have, uh, issues that at times feel like they're tearing the country apart, internal politics, but there's a lot of admiration, uh, for the people who dedicate themselves to defending the country and also building the country from an economic perspective. Uh, although Israel is a place where it produces lots of entrepreneurs and lots of companies, you can't really easily transplant them to another country or city and assume they're going to build the same great company. A lot of the company building relies on local relationships on on understanding how you build a company in Israel. And so I have not seen people relocate except for the usual reasons of being close to the customers of certain sectors.

05:59 Speaker A

Do you think, Adam, these wars, could they potentially impact what those Israeli founders and entrepreneurs are are curious about? You know, for example, do you think there could be even more interest by Israeli entrepreneurs and technologists in in fields like cybersecurity or defense tech?

06:45 Adam Fisher

I can't imagine any more interest than there is right now in cybersecurity. Uh, we're at an all-time high where I'm I'm guessing by something like a third of new startups are in that sector. That may be a bit much. Defense tech has been another area that has grown tremendously, uh, over the last 18 months. However, most the entrepreneurs who are starting those defense tech companies are not coming from from mainstream, uh, tech companies. They're still coming a bit more from the defense sector, the kind of old defense sector. And after this current conflict ends, yes, I assume that that the interest level now will remain high because there's a tremendous demand from various governments and militaries around the world who are seeing, uh, a lot of this being used in action.