Israel Startup Nation ๐ฎ๐ฑ scrambles at the 8th Gaza Challenge ๐ต๐ธ - Part 1
Review of existing responses
On September 22, Israel startup nation CEO Bibi Netanyahu pitched his "New Middle East" project at the United Nations Summit, a kind of Web Summit for nations:
Chairman Bibi presented his plans to expand the Abraham Deal to a new customer, Saudi Arabia. His map had an Israel territory that includes Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights, while his map had no Palestine on it:ย
Despite his enthusiasm, Bibi didn't evangelize other nations with his message of peace and prosperity. Most nations looked away, and others felt uncomfortable.
However, the biggest backlash happened two weeks later: on October 7, Palestinian competitor responded to Bibi's plan with a massive airdrop of Hamas (HAMAS) cryptocurrency tokens, showing resistance to being wiped off the map:
With this killer feature, Hamas hackers breached the Israeli Iron Firewall, and performed a terrible ransomware attackย
The Startup Nation is still scrambling several responses to this Gaza Challenge, 8th Edition (a challenge launched by Bibi himself in 2005). No response has been compelling so far.
As a startup advisor, I will review a few approaches taken by the Israel Startup Nation. In the next post, I will propose my own advice.
Flatten Hamas (HAMAS) into a shitcoin
After such historic humiliation, destruction of Hamas is a must-do for the Israel startup nation. However, this milestone will be hard to reach: Hamas is a well-prepared decentralized organization, with underground tunnels in the Gaza darknet:
Even if all Hamas crypto tokens disappear, other crypto-assets will replace them, like Hamas replaced others in the past. In addition, after the All-Time High peak of October 7, Hamas copycats are expected, as it often happens with meme coins (Dodge Coin, Shib, Huskyโฆ)
The Palestinian brand attracts millions of followers around the free world, from Baghdad to Manhattan:
In free markets, demand creates supply, in one way or another.
Raise more VC fundingย
To avoid a brutal crash of the Israel startup nation, angel investor Joe Biden offered an emergency package (mullahs in Iran would call Joe Biden a "satan investor"):ย
Joe's dry powder guarantees short-term survival of the startup, but it's not sustainable over the long term. Israel can't remain incubated forever. At 75 years old, the startup nation needs to grow up, and to find its own way towards IPO.
Change the CEO
In Tech Aviv, CEO Bibi is facing a strike: his startup team demands his resignation
Will it be sufficient? Did these angry employees propose an alternative vision to the 'New Middle East' of Bibi?
No, according to their PR manager, Yuval Noah Harari. They feel a little "worried" about the existing organization chart by the HR Department, but they don't have any alternative plan:
Change the UN Summit CEO
Israel demanded the United Nations CEO Tony Guterres to resign immediately, after comments perceived as offendingย
This lobbying is powerful: Israel already obtained the resignation of the original Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave, after his own provocative comments on the situation
Paddy moved too fast and broke things, like a true startupper.
Tony will be harder to remove without breaking up the whole UN institution: his core mission is to defend the right to exist of the UN Charter. A United Nations without Charter is like a Web Summit without website.
Blacklist the competition
Wall Street banker Bill Ackman called to blacklist pro-Palestine Harvard students:
For Billy, the solution is to mute competition through economic sanctions and job market distortion.ย
Capitalists know better that breaking the thermometer won't cure the fever, except in North Korea.
Annihilate the competition
Humanist Genocide Developer Danny Ayalon planned a dignified deportation for Gaza people. "Tent cities" with fast Wi-Fi will soon welcome these new digital nomads in the Sinai desert:
Danny's final solution with a human face will be difficult to execute without escalating the conflict elsewhere. Market players don't want to see this game spilling out of the sandbox.
Conclusion of Part 1ย
When startuppers don't identify the right bottlenecks, they keep scrambling with flawed approaches. As a result, operation costs skyrocket, and ultimately, the right to exist of the startup becomes threatened.
In the next part, I will propose my own advice for the Israel Startup Nation, as a professional startup advisor.
Published in The Times of Israel