Silicon Valley’s hot talent pipeline is an Israeli army unit
Where you come from matters in the quest for Silicon Valley investment money, be it the sandstone arcades of the Stanford University campus or the graffitied offices of early Facebook. Venture capitalists are now coveting a new class of founders—those who served in a specialized unit of the Israeli army. Members of Unit 8200, known for its advanced cybersecurity and cyberwarfare capabilities, have founded dozens of cybersecurity companies.
Others have become influential venture capitalists in their own rights and are mentors to entrepreneurial graduates. There are at least five tech companies started by Unit 8200 alumni publicly traded in the U.S., together worth around $160 billion. Private companies started by ex-8200 soldiers are worth billions more.
The largest, cloud-security company Wiz, in July came close to signing a $23 billion deal to be bought by Google. It would have been Google’s biggest acquisition ever. After the talks fell apart, Wiz Chief Executive and 8200 veteran Assaf Rappaport told employees he wants to hit $1 billion in revenue before planning a public-market listing.
Wiz and the 8200 alumni are targeting a massive business problem—how to keep big companies secure—with skills and an intensity they learned from their time in the military. They and the companies they’ve built have become hot commodities as more industries move huge amounts of business documents to the cloud—which is constantly under attack from opportunistic hackers. While Unit 8200 alumni once talked about their service in hushed tones, they now tout it in press releases to attract clients and investment money for their startups.
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