My first impression of an Israeli startup was when I attended an AppsFlyer’s event last year in Sanlitun, Beijing. There was no Beijing office yet so a few staff members from Israel came to organize it. Among them, I met with Daniel, a big Argentine-Israeli guy. I didn’t have the chance to practice my English before he started to speak in Chinese. I was quite surprised by his fluent Chinese until he told me that he has been working and traveling in China for quite some time. We exchanged our ideas on a variety of topics, in Chinese; the conversation ranged from Chinese geography to how Israel is affected by its surrounding environment. That day on my way home, I suddenly realized that it could be much easier for a foreign company to close a deal with Chinese clients, if its employees could understand China and Chinese so well.
After that, I noticed many Israeli companies had already successfully entered the Chinese market, even relying on it for their growth. I was both intrigued and curious to discover the reason behind this. Why are there so many high-tech startups in Israel, a country with seven million people, approximately the same size as Beijing? How do they succeed in China? There is a Chinese saying, “How can you catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger’s lair?” In the end, I decided to join an Israeli startup to search for the answer. And of course, I joined AppsFlyer 
AppsFlyer brings overseas employees to the headquarters for a month to train and bond with the team. It was also an opportunity to observe the country and its people up close, in order to satisfy my curiosity. So I arrived in Israel, for the first time, in early summer. The company is located in Herzliya, a sunny town 15 minutes north of Tel Aviv, with Mediterranean Sea to the west, and many high-tech startups and local branches of international companies to the east. I arrived on the weekend and I immediately started to wander around under the sunshine, hoping to wash my lungs with the fresh air (after all I live in Beijing).
AppsFlyer brings overseas employees to the headquarters for a month to train
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After a month packed with training, work, festivities, and the Champion’s League final, Israel, once a symbol from books and TV, became more clear and sensible to me. When I returned to Beijing, I immediately started to miss the white sand along the beach of the Mediterranean Sea, the bell-shaped small flowers with so many colors, and the spacious Yarkon Park in north Tel Aviv. But what I was thinking of most is still that question. It is a long-term effort to seek the answer to it. Let me start with this one-month version:
- Israel is a country that combines the advantages of the US and China. After getting acquainted with the people, I found that my colleagues came from many different countries from around the world (e.g., the US, Russia, Argentina, Colombia, UK, etc.), and immigrated to Israel as a child or an adult. This cultivates a unique country combining the advantages of both China and the US: On the one hand, immigrants bring diversity in ideas and perspectives, which is very important to create a startup environment. On the other hand, like China, Israel basically has a unifying culture, which enables the whole country to easily work towards the same goal
- The startup environment in Israel benefits from the mandatory military service. Almost every high school graduate joins the military, 3 years for men, and 2 years for women. Military service shares several common characteristics with a startup: facing the unknown, working towards a common goal, and solving problems. Israel has a limited population, which requires every soldier to contribute as much as possible. So it is vital for soldiers to understand the goal and the big picture, so that they can multi-task and improvise. Imagine a country where the entire population receives such training in their 20’s. It’s not surprising that people are comfortable creating startups or working for them when they enter the society
Enough about the country, let’s talk about AppsFlyer:
- In general, AppsFlyer is like a Silicon Valley-based startup, striving to make the work environment as comfortable as possible, including computing devices, free meals, and entertainment. More importantly, the employees are fully empowered to achieve together with the company. From the client’s perspective, the account manager in AppsFlyer is both professional and flexible, which brings the best user experience. We have a similar company in China, called Hai Di Lao
- Product is the key of a mobile company. AppsFlyer has a very effective strategy to develop its product, called Minimum Viable Product. The idea is to always develop the feature with the highest return on investment ratio, which is also determined by the feedback from the client. The good thing is the new feature is always what clients want. In addition, the management team is technical and has good insights, which brings long-term vision to the product as well
AppsFlyer has a very effective strategy to develop its product, called Minimum Viable Product.
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Israel is a place surrounded by many hostile countries. It had to fight for survival from the day of independence. There is another Chinese saying, I’d like to share: “Thrive in calamity and perish in soft living.” It’s just this seemingly hostile environment that gather the Israelis, push them to the limit to create the happy life by their own hands. I wish them a prosperous future and hope Israel and China can work together to create a better life.
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