As the Jewish year comes to an end, we decided to pass the mic to the exceptional founders in our portfolio, voices that capture the strength and creativity of Israeli tech today.
While Israel continues to face deep challenges, this Jewish year also brought growth, resilience, and real progress to the Innovation and Tech.

Naveh Ben Dror, CEO at Spikerz

This year taught me the importance of agility and responsiveness to market needs. This year was a breakthrough year for Spikerz – we were named one of Israel’s 15 most promising startups by The Marker, took part in EY’s JournEY competition final, signed multiple contracts with international clients, and closed our first six-figure deal, which grew by another 50% just two months later.However, none of these milestones occurred by chance; they were the result of rapid, strategic shifts. We started the year targeting SMBs and influencers, but as we went, we refined our GTM strategy and moved upmarket, which also meant reshaping the team. We hired, we let go, and we adapted quickly, always guided by what we were hearing from the field. That’s our commitment as a company, aiming to lead our category.

May Piamenta, CEO at Vee.com

This year taught me that management is not about control but about trust. This year, we opened our HQ in New York and Miami, driven by a simple truth: if we’re building for the U.S. market, we need to be close to the people we serve. For the company, it was a meaningful step, one that required real adjustments from our team. As CEO, I learned the power of giving people ownership and creating an environment where they feel safe, supported, and inspired to do their best work. I learned that customers deserve not just great products but genuine partnership – listening, anticipating, and walking alongside them. And most of all, I learned that leadership is about presence: showing up with clarity, with empathy, and with integrity.

Idan Dobrecki, CEO at Aiode

This year taught me that clarity in communication is king. In an AI-native company, the risks are amplified. The pace of technological change, combined with the deep interdependence of every team, means that even minor misalignments can trigger cascading effects across the organization. At Aiode, a simple oversight – treating training data in milliseconds instead of seconds – can invalidate an entire pipeline. With foundational AI models, when delays happen, they don’t just stay in R&D. Marketing misses launches, product teams make decisions based on flawed feedback, and strategy drifts off-course. Radical clarity must therefore go beyond documenting tasks on Slack. By embedding clarity into the company’s operations, we reduce the risk of misinterpretation and ensure every team remains focused on shared objectives. The core lesson I learned is that success lies not only in defining what we aim to achieve, but in aligning every stakeholder around the pathway to achieving it.

Din Golan, CEO at Orbb

This year taught me that building a company isn’t really about pushing harder; it’s about where the energy goes, mine and the team’s. I used to think being a founder meant carrying as much as possible on my own, but I’ve realized the real job is making sure the team has the space and energy to do their best work. When the vibe is right – when people feel trusted, supported, and excited – everything else flows: the ideas, the execution, and the wins. What surprised me most is how much of my role is just paying attention to that balance, making sure we don’t lose the spark that keeps us moving. At the end of the day, the team is everything, and I’ve learned my job is less about pushing them forward and more about keeping the energy alive so we can go the distance together.