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An ever-increasing number of Israeli companies seem to agree: as of 2015,
New York City was home to over 268 Israeli startups, and this figure continues
to grow at a pace of 10 new companies a month.
global entrepreneurs and businesses from around the world leverage New York City's
resources and economic opportunities, such as NYCEDC, which assists international
companies in finding affordable workspaces, developing customized solutions to help
businesses grow in a variety of sectors, identifying financing programs, providing
mentors and helping new businesses measure and improve their business practices,
among many other services.
NewYork City also provides an excellent environment for the next phase in a company’s
life, and the cultural differences between New York and Tel Aviv nicely complement
each other. New York, more than any other U.S. city, offers an easy and embracing
environment for Israeli companies to assimilate and thrive. And New York is home to
the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.
Moreover, getting to New York from Israel by a direct flight in 8 hours is far easier than
getting to the West Coast (which takes 20 hours and often entails a stop-over). In
addition, the smaller time difference between Israel and the East Coast versus the
West makes communications with Israeli headquarters easier to manage.
In terms of product testing and launch, New York City is the perfect market because
it is widely considered to be the world’s economic epicenter. The market reach is the
strongest in the world, and the GDP of the city is US$1.5 trillion. Thus, New York is the
ideal location to test and market a new product.
An ever-increasing number of Israeli companies seem to agree: as of 2015, New York
City was home to over 268 Israeli startups, and this figure continues to grow at a pace
of 10 new companies a month.
By the same token, working in a new country presents some hurdles. To Israelis, the
U.S. legal framework can seempuzzling with our vast body of corporate law, significant
differences in privacy law, and highly litigious culture. A business wishing to register
a new firm to do business in the U.S. will face some bureaucratic and legal hurdles,
including reserving a name, obtaining a federal identification number, registering
to collect sales tax, arranging for workers compensation insurance, organizing the
company and documenting the same, among many other things. But none of these
things should be daunting with the right mentors and legal counsel. Israeli companies
new to the U.S. legal market also need to be aware of the differences in billing rates and
the high cost of legal services, but insisting on transparency in billing and requesting
budgets prior to engaging a law firm will go a long way toward avoiding – or at least
reducing – culture shock.