Young Entrepreneurs In Israel
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At first Startupseeds.com’s event seemed like just another day camp. Some 30 children, aged 12-16, sat in an auditorium at Tel Aviv University. Ami Ben-Bassat, the company’s CEO, opened the meeting with a declaration: “Today we have reason to celebrate, Gil has a birthday.”
At the sound of applause, a curly-haired boy with rosy cheeks, smiling from ear-to-ear went up to the dais. “He just returned from day camp, he looks completely roasted,” Ben-Bassat said. “Today, he is 14 and on August 1 he will be launching his first startup.”
It was a periodic meeting of Startupseeds.com, a community of children with startups, most of whom are programmers, but some already describe themselves as “managers.” In the next part of the program, a partner in a high-tech company that recently launched a new service to build Web sites addressed the crowd.
It was hard not to blink in shock at the questions and comments coming from the children, as some of their voices had yet to change. One after another they slung sharp questions at the lecturer about the structure and operating method of the service and the company.
“How does the business model of the site work?” asked a 14-year-old, adding that he had already read about the company in TheMarker.
“This is the best of the entrepreneurs, who have a fire burning in their bones,” explained Ben-Bassat. “At this age, thinking is pristine. They are a moment before the establishment quashes them, before the army, marriage, and obligations. Their technological level is so high that they have great confidence. They also know that technology geeks today get a lot of credit. They want to conquer the world, and our job is to feed the fire in proportion, without extinguishing it.”
Startupseeds, the Israeli Internet Center for Young Entrepreneurs, is a subsidiary of Madatech, the national museum of science and technology in Haifa. The company was created last October at the initiative of Michal and Yigal Lichtman (one of the founders of Magic Software) to encourage youngsters with an understanding of technology. Within a few months, a community of more than 1,000 children from all over the country, and mainly from the periphery, formed around the venture. Children from Kiryat Yam, Migdal Ha’emek, Afula, Lod and Hadera attended last week’s event. They meet at the forum on the Startupseeds.com Web site and also at meetings and trips in the “real” world.
The Web site allows youths to discretely send in applications and ideas that are reviewed by an advisory committee. “We provide assistance to anyone who gets past the committee, and if the idea is approved, we give the young entrepreneur up to NIS 12,000. He repays the money if the project yields results and all rights remain his,” says Ben-Bassat.
Ben-Bassat, the company CEO, is a popular blogger (notes.co.il/benbasat) and a one of the most veteran figures on the Israeli Internet. For a few minutes, he expresses displeasure with the strong desire of children to succeed. “I told you not to be show-off,” he endearingly scolds one of the children who boasts about his business venture. “We help them, but we try to send a calming message. They’re only kids; they’re in school. We are constantly telling them that the success rates of startups are very low.”
