What Australia can learn from the Israeli start-up ecosystem

Australian-born Israeli start-up guru Guy Spigelman thinks we might be a little too comfortable.

The Australian innovation push is alive and well and where better to look than Israel, the nation with more start-ups per capita than anywhere else on earth.

“We think globally in Israel. It’s a tiny market so from the beginning, you see Israel either as a testing pad or a minor annoyance,” says Australian-Israeli start-up guru Guy Spigelman.

After moving to Israel at the age of 22 and serving in the army, Spigelman spent most of his career working for medical device start-ups. He is now head of Present Tense, an organisation that promotes “inclusive and impactful entrepreneurship”.

As Australian entrepreneurs convene in Sydney this week for Spark Festival, Spigelman has arrived back in the town of his birth to deliver a speech on building a start-up nation. He isn’t pulling any punches.

Read the article by Bhakthi Puvanenthiran in the Sydney Morning Herald.