ITC, Time For a Change…
When you begin a project like Israel Tech Challenge, you don’t quite understand the magnitude of what it could reach, and when you realize it exceeded all your dreams, you certainly can’t imagine that one day you’ll leave.
It is hard to write this, but the day has come. After 7 incredible years of creativity, endless challenges, wonderful generations of staff, unexpected adventures and hundreds of students and alumni who changed our lives, and vice versa, the time has come to pass the torch.
It is never easy (in fact well near impossible) for a founder to hand over his creation and walk away with a light heart. This situation can only occur under a very specific combination of elements — First, your feeling that you’ve truly put your complete energy, love and strength into your organization, and second, that the efforts were fruitful.
ITC has become what we only dared hope for in our hearts — a game changing organization in Israel, one that not only changes the lives of its students, but also deeply and effectively impacts Israel’s future.
JOURNEY
Since I made aliyah on my own at age 17, all my career choices have always been related to whether the proposed position would allow me to actively work on a daily basis for a better future for Israel. First by serving 8 years as an army officer, then by working to assist the Aliya of thousands of Jews to Israel as an executive of the Jewish Agency in Europe, and finally by founding and nurturing ITC.
ITC was and still is the ultimate project for any lover of Israel at its best: creative, daring, emotional, empowering. A small project with humble ambitions is now in an incredible campus and has trained more than 600 people from 20 countries, connected them to the tech industry, hopefully significantly impacting their lives and of the industry’s forever. Moreover, ITC has proved that Israel has significant untapped talent, that can feed the core of its need for developers. It also set the highest bar in Israel for non-academic tech training. I’ve always said ITC was a place that enabled my brain and my heart to work in perfect synergy, and that has remained true until my very last days as the CEO.
As I care so much about ITC, its former, current and future employees, its generations of students and its partners, and because ITC is still at the beginning of its adventure, it is clear to me that in order for ITC to stay the organization it has become, it’s critical it continues challenging itself, its concepts and assumptions. Then ITC can continue as a leader in its field. That’s why it’s easy for me to transfer the leadership to a new CEO, because it’s the right time and the right person, and most of all because I am certain it will be to the benefit of ITC.
PEOPLE
Any entrepreneurial adventure is a story of people.
The founders of course: Had I not met Raphael Ouzan in 2011 somewhere in France, ITC wouldn’t exist. Thank you Raphael for all these years together as a friend, partner in crime, chairman of the board and much more (let’s enjoy the rest of the ride and continue our French chats that we hope no one else understands). Special shoutout to Nofar Amikam who joined me in this adventure so early on and helped me set the infrastructure for years after she left
The managers and employees who were and are the heart of ITC, who’s devotion to the students is endless, their motivation and their drive is not from this world: Dana, Eliraz, Shai, Alisa, Elinor, Chen, Noa, Dani, Roni, Rona, Tom, Ruth, Karin, Gilad, Omer, Yaniv, Luis, Hadara, Bar, Eli, Toni, Rebecca, Roy, Matat-El, Orit, Yael, Raya, Mike, Jess, Aviya and many others, unfortunately I can’t list all of them for the thanks they deserve. So many volunteers, from partnering companies, mentors, teachers, supervisors, tech leads and just friends of ITC who brought knowledge, passion for technology and education to a brand new level. Thank you all, and keep up the good work!
CAMPUS
In my mind, a project cannot exist without a home, and architecture has the ability to express depth of vision and make it concrete. ITC wouldn’t be such a powerhouse of change, an incubator of talent without the magic that is happening between its walls. The campus was such an important milestone, first in Herzl 16 and now at Shoken 18, I truly hope ITC will continue this tradition of construction, because ideas need infrastructure to grow.
ADDITIONAL THANKS
ITC couldn’t have existed without early believers that gave us their support, for many of them, they still are active partners and are definitely a part of ITC’s soul. Jewish Agency: Lea, Yael, Hagit. Masa: Ayelet, Liran, Adi. Paul E. Singer Foundation: Carrie, Terry, Paul, Debbie, Daniel. Seed the Dream: Joel, Marcy, Talia. Marc Rowan Foundation: Marc, Hope, Julia. Patrick Drahi Foundation: Yoram, Amalia. National Cyber Bureau: Eviatar, Tom, Mish. Partnering companies are a critical ingredient of ITC’s secret sauce, PayPal: Dana, Matan. Check Point: Dorit, Ron. EMC: Yael. Cybereason: Rinat, Lotem. And of course ITC’s board: Tomer, Avi, Amir, Moshe, Eran.
And of course my family, who allowed me all these shenanigans, flights and what not…
CONCLUSION
ITC’s success to create a new category and to actively solve a critical problem: the shortage of software developers, is a fact. This success is now attracting interest from other ecosystems outside of Israel, I am confident ITC will play in the future a role at a global scale.
ITC will continue to grow and prosper and I firmly believe I’ll always be a part of it, I hope we manage to build a family of former managers and executives, so we can continue, wherever we are, to nurture, help, support ITC so it becomes the total realization of our wildest dreams!
PICTURES TELL THE STORY BEST
For ITC lovers, here are some historical pictures…(if you send me some I don’t know, I’ll add them! )
