A year ago, my wife, our three children, and I moved from Israel to Palm Beach. Coming from Israel’s technology and investment industry, I expected a cultural adjustment. I just wasn’t sure how significant it would be.

In Israel, people speak quickly, interrupt each other, and consider an argument a perfectly acceptable way to develop a friendship. In Palm Beach, everyone is remarkably polite. Sometimes so polite that I’m still not entirely sure whether they agree with me.

The concept of time is different, too. In Israel, lunch is something you squeeze between meetings. In Palm Beach, lunch can be the meeting. I’ve learned that some remarkably important business conversations happen over meals that would be considered irresponsibly long in Tel Aviv.

But my biggest surprise wasn’t the lifestyle. It was the extraordinary concentration of entrepreneurial experience and capital in Palm Beach, and the opportunity I see to connect that experience with the next generation of technology companies.

Palm Beach is home to an unusual concentration of successful entrepreneurs, investors, former executives, and families who have built substantial businesses.

I even opened an office on Royal Palm Way, where there seem to be so many investment firms that I sometimes wonder whether it’s a zoning requirement.

Many of the people I’ve met here have spent decades building companies, identifying opportunities, and navigating economic cycles. The depth of business experience is remarkable.

South Florida’s technology ecosystem is also growing. According to eMerge Americas, startups across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties attracted approximately $4.13 billion in venture capital in 2025.

Yet there’s an important distinction between having substantial capital, investing in technology companies, and becoming a place where new companies are actually built.

And here’s what I find particularly interesting: the challenge isn’t necessarily a shortage of capital or an unwillingness to invest in technology.

It’s that capital, entrepreneurial talent, and investment opportunities don’t always move through the same networks.

Technology investing remains deeply relationship-driven. Many attractive opportunities circulate through established networks of founders, investors, and executives in places like Silicon Valley, New York, and Israel.

Meanwhile, investors outside those ecosystems may have limited access to opportunities that fit their interests, just as entrepreneurs can struggle to reach investors who would be natural partners.

Geographic proximity doesn’t automatically create access.

But Palm Beach has an opportunity that goes beyond connecting local investors with technology companies being built elsewhere.

It could become a place where experienced entrepreneurs choose to build their next companies.

The Second-Time Founder Opportunity

When people imagine technology entrepreneurs, they often picture young founders building their first companies.

The research tells a different story.

A major study using U.S. Census Bureau data found that the average founder of America’s fastest-growing startups was 45 years old. The researchers also found that previous experience in a particular industry was strongly associated with entrepreneurial success.

Someone who has already built and sold a successful company often has established relationships with engineers, executives, investors, and customers. They’ve learned how to recruit, raise capital, and navigate the inevitable challenges of building a business.

They don’t need to rebuild their professional network from scratch.

And increasingly, they may not need everyone working in the same city.

Artificial intelligence is changing the economics of software development, allowing smaller teams to accomplish work that previously required much larger organizations. Access to talent and customers remains essential, but entrepreneurs have greater flexibility in choosing where to establish their businesses.

For these founders, Palm Beach offers an attractive combination: experienced business leaders, long-term capital, international relationships, and quality of life.

Of course, attracting successful entrepreneurs as residents isn’t the same as building a technology ecosystem. The opportunity emerges when those entrepreneurs establish businesses, develop teams, work with local partners, and become part of the community’s economic fabric.

The next great technology company built from Palm Beach may begin with someone who already built a great company somewhere else.

Connecting Two Entrepreneurial Worlds

I’ve spent much of my career investing in technology companies and working alongside entrepreneurs across Israel, the United States, and Europe.

I founded Titan, a growth-equity and secondaries investment firm, and moved to Palm Beach as part of our expansion in the American market.

My mornings typically begin with Israel, my afternoons with the East Coast, and California frequently gets the last word.

So despite the beautiful surroundings, retirement hasn’t exactly entered the picture.

Living here has given me a new appreciation for the complementary strengths of different entrepreneurial cultures.

Israel’s technology industry was built around urgency, technical ingenuity, and a willingness to challenge conventional thinking. Entrepreneurs learn to operate with limited resources, move quickly, and compete globally from the beginning.

Palm Beach represents a different kind of strength: accumulated business experience, long-term capital, and relationships developed over decades.

These are not competing models. They are complementary ones.

Consider an Israeli entrepreneur who has already built and sold a successful technology company. That founder may have access to world-class engineers, experienced executives, and established venture capital relationships. What they may be looking for next is closer access to American customers, commercial partnerships, and a community of experienced business leaders.

Palm Beach has much to offer such an entrepreneur. The same logic applies to experienced founders from New York, California, Europe, and elsewhere who want to build their next businesses in a different environment.

Connecting Palm Beach capital with international technology opportunities is valuable in its own right. But attracting experienced founders who establish their next businesses here could have a more lasting impact. That’s an opportunity I believe is worth pursuing.

Beyond business, the personal adjustments have been equally interesting.

For example, I almost never attended synagogue in Israel. When Jewish culture is part of everyday life, you don’t necessarily feel the need.

Within our first month in Palm Beach, we attended a Sukkot gathering at a local synagogue. Shortly afterward, our family appeared in its community newsletter.

We had barely unpacked and were already making the local news.

It was an amusing reversal. Moving from Israel to America had somehow brought me closer to a synagogue.

More importantly, we discovered a welcoming community, one where being Israeli was met with warmth and genuine solidarity at a time when that can’t always be taken for granted.

Earlier this year, I also celebrated the launch of my book, Decoding the Software Landscape , in Palm Beach. Sharing that milestone in our new hometown was particularly meaningful.

But I should also give credit where it’s due. My wife has been extraordinary throughout this transition. Moving three children across an ocean, rebuilding routines, establishing new friendships, and making a new country feel like home is no small undertaking. She’s an architect by profession, and she’s brought that same creativity, determination, and care to building our new life here. I’m deeply grateful to her for making this adventure possible.

These experiences have made the transition feel less like relocating and more like beginning a new chapter.

They’ve also reinforced something I’ve come to appreciate about this community: behind the impressive professional accomplishments are people who genuinely value personal relationships.

And those relationships are ultimately what make any community, business or otherwise, successful.

I don’t believe Palm Beach needs to become another Silicon Valley.

Its opportunity lies in developing something different: a community where experienced founders, global technology networks, and sophisticated capital intersect.

But ecosystems don’t emerge simply because successful people live near one another. They develop through repeated interactions, shared ambitions, and relationships that eventually turn into partnerships, investments, and new businesses.

That’s something I intend to help build here.

Over the coming year, I plan to bring more of these worlds together: experienced Israeli and American entrepreneurs who have already built successful companies, alongside Palm Beach investors and business leaders who can help them build their next ones.

Not necessarily through another large technology conference, but through smaller gatherings where people can exchange ideas, develop genuine relationships, and discover opportunities they might otherwise never encounter.

Not every conversation needs to lead to an investment. Sometimes the most valuable outcome is simply introducing two people who should have known each other years ago.

If Palm Beach can combine its extraordinary concentration of business experience and capital with the entrepreneurial energy of people who are still eager to build, it could develop a distinct place in the global technology landscape.

A year after moving, I’m still very much Israeli. I speak too quickly, check my phone too often, and occasionally confuse a friendly conversation with the beginning of a business negotiation.

But I’ve learned something important.

Palm Beach may be better known for where successful entrepreneurs end up.

I think its next chapter could be about where they start again.