“On my first day at one of the workplaces, I attended a lecture on women in the high-tech industry,” says Doron Greenzeig, Senior Tech Leader at Startup Island, which produces a secure corporate browser for companies. “At the end of the lecture, I approached the lecturer and told her that as much as there are few women in high-tech, there are even fewer religious people. There were maybe two religious people on our entire floor. There is also an explanation as to why this happens.”
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Greenzeig explains that a very large part of the people who end up in the high-tech industry and startups start on a path through the military, “but most of the national religious people want to serve in the army, so they go less often on this route. There are also national religious people like me, who wanted to be in the army but did not fit in terms of medical profile, and they immediately go to the four Years of sitting. You can’t get to these routes if you start there, it’s very difficult.”
The story of Greenzeig (35) is relatively unusual in the usual landscape of the young man who leaves the army and makes a difference in the current Tel Aviv start-up, and he hopes that this interview will give a boost to other religious people who are beckoned by the field to reach out and understand that it is possible to overcome the obstacles along the way and integrate successfully in the field even in a shorter route than this that they think
Fixing computers since childhood
He is married + 5 and lives in Move Horon. He came from a religious family and grew up in Haifa, experiencing a completely normal childhood. After graduating from high school with honors, mainly in the field of mathematics, he decided that he wanted to stop for a moment and think if the technical field really interested him. “I wanted to be a combatant in the army and serve in a patrol of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” he says, but asthma prevented him from military service. Before enlisting in the reserves, he decided that he would study for four years at the Torat Chaim yeshiva, which was founded in Neve Dekalim in Gush Katif and, following the disengagement plan, moved to Binyamin.
After his yeshiva studies, he enlisted in the army and was accepted into the Shahar Blue program, which allows ultra-Orthodox to acquire a profession and technological skills within the army, and there he studied programming. He almost finished his bachelor’s degree in computer science at the Open University, but he says he realized – after many interviews – that a bachelor’s degree is a waste of time , and managed to screw up in various hi-tech companies thanks to his programming skills.
“When I was a child, I was the one who fixed the computers for everyone. At school, if there was a problem with the computer, the teacher would call me. I really don’t understand how I knew and how it happened, but today I see the skills of my 11-year-old eldest son, and I Maybe I understand that it’s simply something that exists there. That’s why, after finishing my yeshiva studies, I thought of going in the direction of a reserve and engaging in the field in some way.”
And at what point in your degree did you realize you were wasting your time?
“First of all, I had two children, which is already different. And I wasn’t really able to go to school, because the service in the army was very demanding. I remember exams at the university that I would study for in the car, right on the way to them. In the end, after the liberation, I was involved in all kinds of jobs, And in none of them did they ask me if I had a degree or what my grades were. I found out that in this world the degree is only of interest to the college and my mother. For example, in the previous company I worked for there was no difference between an engineer who finished studying and an engineer who came with personal experience. In the end the colleges They are aiming for one thing – the master’s degree, but they do not emphasize the professional experience and the practice that are most important when getting a job in such positions, and I see this a lot in interviews.”
“The majority of the religious public actually prefers to turn to teaching,” says Greenzeig, “there is even a surplus, while in the secular institutions there is a shortage. Here it is very difficult to find a position for teachers.”
Is this a different paving?
“I don’t like the word ‘paving.’ The reason for wanting to fit in is that learning programming on your own is not a problem – all you need is time, desire and applications. Today there are many courses whose level is no less than that of a degree. It is not personal in terms of jobs at all, and not even everyone knows, but there are many places willing to teach People in exchange for committing to work with them later. Everything is possible, and it’s just a matter of wanting to invest the time in it.”
The best job in the world
Shortly after his release from the army, Greenzeig met Dan Amiga, a young startup from 8200, and the two worked together at Visalia, which was acquired by Schneider Electric in 2011. At some point Amiga decided to leave to found Fairglass, the start-up that later became his first exit. While Greenzig chose not to join him, he had to watch from the sidelines the rapid success of the company, which within a few years was sold to the Symantec Corporation for $250 million. After leaving Visalia, Greenzeig worked in several companies and managed to acquire great skill and knowledge in platform development and in the cloud field.
“I remember the indecision I had – whether to join Dan or give up. In the end I decided to stay at Visalia. When they closed the company, the entire team dispersed, and I found a dream job at the Similrav company – I was responsible for data and basically dealt with everything.” After a significant period at the company, Greenzeig heard that Dan Amiga was once again establishing a new startup after the successful exit.
“A few weeks before the company’s IPO, Omri, who was the head of my team, called me and told me that he was working with Dan and starting a new start-up. I refused, of course, because I had the best job in the world, and he insisted and told me: ‘But listen I told him that it’s good for me, I’m interested and I’m not leaving. I had a very good position in the company, I couldn’t leave such a position, and certainly not so close to the IPO.” In the end, the bug tickled Greenzig, until he gave in and came to the meeting. “It was already hard for me to say ‘no’. I realized that in Island they produce a product that will be the heart of the industry both in Israel and abroad.”
And did you do the thing that no startup before you dared to do – leave a few days before the IPO?
“Exactly. The CEO of the company came to me and told me that I was not normal, that I was in the best position in the company, and he was really right. I was in the best position in the company. And yes, I even lost quite a bit of money on paper. I left the company at a stage where it already had a price, and it wasn’t some dream start-up that I don’t know if it will succeed. Moreover, since it was Dan’s second start-up, I was afraid of the saying about the syndrome of entrepreneurs who succeed and on their second time they completely crash. But I knew it would work, and I was at peace with my very unusual decision.”
About two years ago, Dan Amiga founded Island, a startup that develops a secure browser for companies, and stunned the market when it reached a value of 1.3 billion dollars within a year. This time Greenzeig, who left his position as a senior engineer and team leader in the field of big data at Similarweb, became a Senior Tech Leader in the company. “This is a position that combines management skills and technical knowledge,” he explains. Greenzeig is basically responsible for perfecting development processes and organizational processes without changing the organizational structure or adding another layer of management. This is a role that is instead responsible for the success and impact of the entire project that is being worked on. In simple words, he is the Kambatz of the technological event.
live and let live
It is strange that in 2022 we refer to these things, but can we say that your presence in the Tel Aviv offices of Island is “anomalous”?
“I live in a community where most of my colleagues don’t really know where it is, I make sure to pray three times a day, even when work in the office goes on into the night, and I keep Shabbat. But in this context, I also bear responsibility, and I feel that I must give added value and be the best I can “.
I understand that you keep a kosher kitchen…
“I believe in the saying ‘live and let live.’ The important thing for every employee – to know that he is there because he is good in his field, and not because he comes to fill a quota. However, I think it is important to increase diversity mainly to prove that integration is possible – knowing others is important to Israeli society in general. Core studies are not always as important as desire Being successful and critical thinking – by the way, I learned this in yeshiva – an advantage I see in many yeshiva graduates.”
What is meant by?
“The yeshiva world brings slightly different people to the worlds of employment, and not necessarily in high-tech. The yeshiva I studied in was somewhat unique in its landscape, and the concept of criticality stood out very much in it. This is an approach that contributed greatly to me in the industry: not to accept anything as an absolute truth, but to investigate and reach the truth on your own, also When there is already a halachic ruling. I know that these things exist in yeshiva in general – to learn a lot and to test. The ability to learn and examine things are qualities that are very much required in this professional world – someone once told me: ‘You are used to studying, you will get along,’ and it is true.”
And you can’t do without a somewhat defiant question: “From Gush Katif to the heart of Tel Aviv” – how were you received?
“I think this combination is very healthy, getting to know each other. There are people who are exposed to people ‘like me’ for the first time. I never try to convince and I truly believe that a person in his faith and in his way of life will live – this is the only approach that can save Israeli society. I think that jobs Those who try to push the agenda of one side to the other are making a mistake, and at the very beginning of my career I encountered such a thing and stayed there for exactly two months. The secret to success is that in the company everyone understands that everyone has a common goal – that the business will eventually succeed, and that’s what matters.”