The Headlines US/World News

Conversation with Ari Zoldan

High-tech entrepreneur explains Israel’s “mysterious” start-up success

By Stacey Dresner

FAIRFFIELD – Entrepreneur Ari Zoldan can be seen regularly on NBC, CNN and Fox News providing expert commentary on technology, mobile, cyber-security, entrepreneurship, social media and emerging business trends.

On Wednesday, May 3. Zoldan, CEO and founder of Quantum Networks, LLC, a New York City-based e-commerce company will discuss, “The Secrets Behind Israel’s Mysterious Start-up Success” at Congregation Beth El in Fairfield. Zoldan’s talk is sponsored by Development Corporation for Israel/Israel Bonds, in cooperation with the Adult Education Committee of Congregation Beth El.

A graduate of Yeshiva University and Sy Syms School of Business, Zoldan oversaw Quantum Networks expansion from a startup in 2008 to a multimillion-dollar company in 2014. The company has seen an unprecedented 4,566 percent increase in revenue and has earned a place on the INC.500 list for the second year in a row, as one of the fastest growing companies in the US.

Zoldan recently spoke to the Jewish Ledger about his upcoming talk in Fairfield, Israel, and his new book, Holy Business, 7 Spiritual Principles to Great Success.

 

Jewish Ledger (JL): Your talk is entitled, “The Secrets Behind Israel’s Mysterious Startup Success.” Why is it so “mysterious?

Ari Zoldan (AZ): The context is, statistically, it is a nation only 60 years old and surrounded by hundreds of millions of people who aren’t exactly our friends — what is the secret sauce there for their success, for their survival? We are going to talk about it and it’s not just because they are the chosen people, so they can’t really use that card. But there are three or four very significant ingredients that come together that produce a result which is just extraordinary.

 

JL: For example?

AZ: One is that they are a nation of immigrants, everyone there. The country is a new country, so there is a survival mentality that it’s do or die and that they need to succeed or they will be swallowed up by the people around them. Another one is that there are no natural resources. They are in the middle of the desert so they have to rely on one thing and that’s their intelligence. There’s really no other resource.

 

JL: What is your connection to Israel?

AZ: I spent my gap year after high school in Israel. I was involved in a terrorist attack in 1994 in Jerusalem and I didn’t go back to Israel because of that for 15 or 20 years. And then work brought me back there and I saw a different landscape there. I saw the high-tech scene and what was happening there. So, what kept me away because of fear or intimidation…that same drive drew me back there. Given that I’ve been in the tech sector for 15 or 20 years drew me back there and it has been a successful return.

 

JL: Your company’s website talks about “social entrepreneurship”. Can you explain what that refers to and why it’s important to you?

AZ: In part, being in the tech community a lot of us do believe in giving back. And I’ve spent time in Uganda, Kenya, Guinea, South Sudan, Nicaragua. I guess as a technology entrepreneur it is a really easy thing to do, because a lot of times it is just a transfer of knowledge, — how to create a green village or how to build a smart city… So to be able to transmit some of that knowledge enabling some of these villages to be able to become self-sustainable is something that, I don’t want to say it’s easier for us, but it is second nature. In addition we have access to a lot of technology and innovation products and services that we can bring over there, so being in a tech community serves a really good purpose and that is why I think most people in technology slide into social entrepreneurship r elatively easy.

 

JL: Can you tell us about your new book, Holy Business?

AZ: The basic premise we are so used to hearing is Gordon Gecko’s [quote in the film] “Wall Street”: “Greed is good.” But that doesn’t work. You see what happened – the collapse of Wall Street in 1987, the housing collapse in 2008. History sort of repeats itself when greed catches up to you and it comes full circle — versus what happens when you start giving back. I’ve seen in my own life, the more we are giving back, the more comes back to you. [The book relates] a personal journey, also tied in with the science behind quantum physics, and a convergence of science, religion and energy and it’s a format that just works.

 

Ari Zoldan’s talk “The Secrets Behind Israel’s Mysterious Start-up Success” will be held May 3, 7 P.M. at Congregation Beth El, 1200 Fairfield Woods Road. Admission is free.

SHARE
RELATED POSTS
Netanyahu to Trump: Let’s vanquish ‘militant Islam’
Haifa and Stanford hospitals sign agreement to explore together.
The life of gay, Jewish bullfighter Sidney Franklin

Leave Your Reply