Best Israeli Coffee Shops

In the past few months I have become quite the expert in Israeli coffee shops. After all, “start-up research” is a good excuse to spend countless hours socializing with other entrepreneurs in cool coffee shops. The coffee shop owners are probably wondering how a tall lanky guy has so much time to meet so many different people in their coffee shop. And the coffee association is probably trying to provide them with remedies for the low return on investment of someone spending hours sipping a measly cappuccino.

My hope is that this post is some consolation for the coffee shops that have been “funding” my journey. Keep in mind that my criteria for the best coffee shop probably varies from the happy go lucky person who just wants his/her caffeine fix. I look for easy access, adequate parking, and a good desert menu. Here is what hopefully won’t be the only legacy I leave behind from my entrepreneurial journey.

The Best Israeli Coffee House List (by location):

Ramat Hasharon - Reviva & Silya (bonus: very easy parking, great service)

Tel-Aviv – Yogo (bonus; serves the best yogurt in the area, enjoyable outside seating along Rothchild Avenue)

Hertzilia Pituach – ArCafe (bonus: unquestionably the best place to run into the start-up “in” crowd)

Raanana – Salta (bonus: San Francisco atmosphere, great food)

Ramat Gan – Anna (bonus: walking distance from my house)

Airport City – AirCafe (bonus: no other choices in the area)

World of Constraints

 

I am a true believer that innovation is born out of constraints. Limited resources cause people to take new approaches to solving problems.

The innovations we see from start-ups are derived from their lack of resources and very limited market power. Start-ups have no choice but to find radically different solutions to existing problems so that they can compete with the Goliaths of the industry. If a person, company, or nation is able to find new opportunities from the constraints that they face then something wonderful usually happens.

Our awareness that our planet’s resources are diminishing has reached an all time high. The convergence of educational initiatives such as Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth”, the rapidly escalating prices of natural resources (oil, water), food crisis, and the booming population growth have reached a tipping point. Our planets’ constraints are spurring a magnitude of creativity and innovation to fix our situation. It is now clear to enough people that we cannot continue to create and consume energy, food and water in the same manner we have done so to date. These constraints are causing us to invent new solutions to these challenges.

Academic thought leaders that have been researching our diminishing natural resources are finally being joined by entrepreneurs and the backing of large financial institutions. In addition, we are also seeing governments setting up the appropriate regulations that will create healthy constraints and incentives to spur new solutions.

This week, on June 2^nd, the Israel government published a new incentives program for private solar photo-voltaic (PV) systems. The program includes feed in tariffs of 2.01 NIS per KWh produced which is four times what we currently pay the electrical company. This creates the financial incentives for consumers, corporations and a commercial ecosystem to install PV systems around the country. Finally, Israel is joining the ranks of Germany, Denmark, and California to spur the growth of alternative energy solutions. After attending the CleanTech conference in Israel this past week, I have no doubt that we will see many new Israeli start-ups creating innovative solutions to solve the biggest constraint we have ever faced – our planet.