Dale and Bill Fairbanks (Dan’s in-laws) provided a quiet writing refuge in their art studio in Pensacola, Florida, keeping him well fed, highly caffeinated, and intensely focused for a long stretch leading up to the publisher’s deadline.
A group of Dan’s friends and business partners were extremely patient as this book was being written. Devon Archer, Dan Burrell, David Fife, Chris Heinz, and Jenny Stein deserve special thanks. Paul Singer, while never directly interviewed for this book, has been a teacher about macroeconomics without even realizing it. His very strong views about innovation economics impacted our thinking about the context for this book in the postcrash global economy.
We interviewed over one hundred people for this book, and wish to thank all of them for their time and wisdom. In particular, Hall of Fame Israeli venture investors Eli Barkat, Yigal Erlich, Yadin Kaufmann, Erel Margalit, Jon Medved, Chemi Peres, and Yossi Vardi have been living and telling the Start-up Nation story from long before we got involved; they were our guides. Jon Medved, in particular, was pitching the Israeli economy to the world before it was on anyone’s map. Other extremely busy people who spent a lot of time with us in multiple interviews were Shai Agassi, Tal Keinan, and Scott Thompson. Isaac “Yitz” Applbaum and Alan Feld went out of their way to put themselves “on call” for us. Professor Shira Wolovsky Weiss helped us early on, as did Ken Pucker.
A number of U.S. companies have a strong presence in Israel and truly “get” the Start-up Nation. Current and former leaders from three in particular opened their doors to us in Israel and in Silicon Valley and provided lots of access: thank you to Google’s Eric Schmidt, David Krane, Yossi Mattias, Andrew McLaughlin, and Yoelle Maarek; Intel’s Shmuel Eden and David Perlmutter; and Cisco’s Michael Laor and Yoav Samet.
Leon Wieseltier provided us with wise counsel on the relationship between Jewish history and the modern Israeli ethos.
Stuart Anderson, a former colleague of Dan’s from the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, has always been a source of rich analysis on immigration reform. He shared important research on the subject for this book.
We are grateful to the president of Israel, Shimon Peres, who gave us half a day in his office. He not only gave us his unique perspective as a central player throughout the entire span of Israel’s history, but is still, at age eighty-five, in high office and busy working to launch whole new industries. We would also like to thank the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, for spending a lot of time with us during a hectic period for him in 2008.
As we compared the Israeli and American experiences, a number of U.S. military leaders helped us think through the contrasts. In particular, we would like to thank Generals John Abizaid (ret.), Jack Keane (ret.), Mark Kimmitt (ret.), David Petraeus, H. R. McMaster, and Jim Newbold (ret.).
Our wives, Campbell Brown (Dan) and Wendy Singer (Saul), have been an integral part of our daily conversation about this book since we began writing it, and bore the brunt of the frenzied weeks before each deadline.
Campbell gave birth to the Senors’ first son, Eli, two weeks before we started writing the proposal, and to their second, Asher, just before we submitted the final manuscript, all as she held down the family fort during a chaotic time. Wendy scooped up the Singer girls—Noa, Tamar, and Yarden—for week-long trips to give Saul space before deadlines. The Singer girls added to our excitement as they lapped up stories of the latest Israeli inventions with enthusiasm.
This book relied heavily on Campbell’s and Wendy’s criticisms and advice, and could not have been completed without their virtuoso feats of multitasking. For that, and for so much more, we dedicate it to them.
We have also dedicated this book to Jim Senor (Dan’s father) and Alex Singer (Saul’s brother).
Jim worked in Iran helping to organize the Jewish community, and later for the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he drafted resources for its pioneering solar energy program. Just months before the 1985 ground-breaking for the field of mirrors—now still active as a research facility—Jim passed away.
On September 15, 1987, his twenty-fifth birthday, IDF Lieutenant Alex Singer was flown by helicopter into Lebanon to intercept terrorists bound for Israel; he was killed while trying to rescue his downed company commander. Many who never knew him have since been inspired by the joy and passion of his life as seen in
Jim’s and Alex’s work is part of this story. We missed their guidance, and sharing their amazement at what the Start-up Nation has become.
NOTES
Introduction
1. The information in this passage is largely drawn from an interview with Shimon Peres, president of Israel, December 2008; and interviews with Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place, March 2008 and March 2009.
