Partnerschaft mit Tal Catran 2018 - Tal Catran im Interview 01.June.2018

Comparing apples and oranges?

Silicon Valley, London, Cambridge, Israel: they are hotspots for high-tech-companies and start-ups alike. How come? A talk to someone who should know: Tal Catran.

Accelerators Guru and international keynote speaker, start-up ecosystem builder, Startup Nation and TEDx Tech speaker, Angel Investor, chairman and member of advisory boards, etc.: Tal Catran is a busy man, but as part of his partnership with Standortagentur Tirol (or Startup.Euregio)
he’s visit Tirol,  to coach mentors and start-ups. “Compared to Israel, the startup ecosystem in Tirol is a bit smaller and young. There’s a lot of motivation and professionals. The ideas are here as well as the capability to program them. Now it’s about the ‘how to do it’, about turning ideas into a business, commercialize and monetize them”, says Catran, comparing the Tyrolean to the Israeli ecosystem. “The start-up ecosystem in Israel is vast and big. Israel operates about 5.000 start-ups, which are registered as we say. We got a large community supporting the start-ups like Academy, Industry, Municipalities, mentors, investors, venture capitalists and of course the Government. Whatever a start-up needs to establish itself and grow, Israel has it”, Catran depicts the status quo in his home country.

A class of its own?

Much has been said and written about Israel as a “Startup Nation”, and even more has been discussed controversially. The effect of the Israel Defence Forces and of mandatory military service on entrepreneurial spirit as well as immigration. International and security politics haven been linked to the attitude “if you cannot bet on tomorrow, you’ll better get it done today”. An extraordinary number of international IT-giants, multi-national corporations and venture capitalists have a presence in Israel, among them Intel, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Cisco, PayPal, and Samsung. Many of those companies run R&D-centers in Israel – what offers local start-ups the possibility of close contact to these companies and to find out quickly and easily what their next steps will be. In 2017, investments in Israeli start-ups – mainly from the U.S., but also from China and Europe – summed up to 5.2 billion USD. Globally, Israel is considered one of the most innovative countries: The Bloomberg Innovation Ranking 2018 about the most innovative countries worldwide scores Israel on tenth place – whereas the U.S. for example drop out of the Top 10. In the same raking, Israel comes first in two key categories, namely R&D intensity and research concentration, outperforming Denmark and South Korea. To further strengthen its leading role in the high-tech sector, Israel has reformed its national subsidy system – with former Apple Israel CEO Aharon Aharon as the newly appointed chief executive officer of the Israel Innovation Authority, formerly the Office of the Chief Scientist at Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry. In addition, Israel spends 4.7 percent of its public expenditure on research – more than any other country in the world. From lack of regional marketplaces, Israeli companies focus chiefly on the U.S. market, followed by China, Europe and the Israeli market. „There is no local marketplace, and our neighbours barely trade with Israeli companies. So we have no other way to go than globally”, says Catran. And of course there’s courage to fail and courage to take risks – as long as you don’t do the same mistake twice.

Innovation hands on

According to Catran, it is about your approach to innovation itself in the end. Start-ups who want to succeed don’t waste their and other’s time working on peanuts, they go for really disruptive innovations on a grand scale. A task even for the big players, this aim of course challenges start-ups even more. Catran’s advice to any start-up: „Start-ups first of all need a good idea, something what you call a need shared by a large community. Second, they need a business model. How are you going to earn the money? Then they need support, specifically money and a team. The team needs to involve a unifier, a visionary, a manager who can raise the funds, and then you need a technical part of the team, that can develop the technology. Without a real need, a business model, a team and a technology, you ain’t going nowhere.” Additionally, start-ups benefit from a proper environment: “To support a start-up, you need the mentorship, acceleration for instance, incubators, and of course the government. When investors are shy to invest because they want more stability in the product, they want some incomes, some customers, they will not invest in the early stages. So this is when the government comes in. Government has the possibility to spread large amounts of money. Still, we are talking about the taxpayers’ money, so a government of course will have to explain to its people why it is going to invest in a start-up. This takes time and makes government not a quick investor. Furthermore, government will try to make sure that the people who get the money know what to do with it, know how to handle the money, how to develop a technology, how to become a business. For this, we need the academia to train people. Teaching people entrepreneurship as a part of their studies is necessary, as well as having talks with the industry, just to make sure that they are aligned. Academia is the manpower provider for the industry. The industry is as good as your academia. It’s a tie, a link between them. They need to talk and to cooperate.”

Go for it!

Given the environment, the team, the technology, the innovation and the support from others, it comes to one’s personal skills and attitude as an entrepreneur, says Catran. “Entrepreneurs are a special brand, because they take risks. As an entrepreneur you don’t wait until someone else solves a problem or satisfies customers’ demands and needs. Instead of complaining about a problem or a need, you motivate yourself and go for the solution. Moreover, you have to give your very best. At this moment, 20 other people might have just the same idea that you have. So, don’t waste your time or other’s time. Go for it, network and talk to people, push your idea, help others and make them help you and cooperate with you. As long as you do not ask for money, people will love to help you. Especially, ask other start-ups you know to help you. You will both learn from each other and progress with your own start-up. The collaboration between start-ups is essential, because it pushes everyone involved. Cooperation is what separates start-ups from companies: start-ups will always help one another, while companies compete. Then again: as a start-up, don’t ask an investor for money. Convince them with your team and your technology and with your ability to monetize what you are doing. Machine and technology don’t raise money, people do. Therefore, you yourself need to be convinced of your business idea and our business model. How could you convince an investor if you yourself doubt what you are doing?”