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Jewish Community News

JCN: February 2007

Jewish twenty-somethings leave promising corporate jobs to launch their own businesses

Ron Peled, 29, and Michael Avrukin, 22, two tech-savvy Generation Xers who spent years in promising careers in the corporate world now sit in a plain, undecorated office in Sunnyvale with a mezuzah hanging on the door.

Peled worked for the software company Niku Corporation before it was bought by Computer Associates International. Avrukin held an ambitious position as a programmer for Adobe. After meeting at Hillel of Silicon Valley and traveling to Israel on a high-tech tour, the two men discussed the possibility of creating their own company.

When Niku was bought out, Ron decided to leave the well-established company with stock options, medical benefits and an appealing salary, and launched his own start-up Activo. He asked Michael to come onboard eight months later.

“When you’re working for a corporation—even though it’s nice and cushy—it’s boxed,” Peled said.

Welcome to Jewish Silicon Valley, where young Jews hoping to make their mark are leaving the established corporate world and entering the unknown territory of starting their own businesses. While this story is not a new one, these young Jewish entrepreneurs are turning to their own community for customers, funding and support. Although the final success or demise of these start-ups remains to be seen, it is clear that tremendous talents and ambition exist in Silicon Valley’s Jewish, tech-savvy young people.

Peled and Avrukin estimate that Activo–their web-development start-up–obtains nearly half of its business from the Jewish community. One example is Jeremiah’s Pick, a Jewish-owned coffee company that sells its roasts both to restaurants and online. Peled designed the company’s original website a few years ago while still a student at San Jose State University; several years later the coffee business returned to Peled under the auspice of Activo, seeking a streamlined, online ordering system.

“I value my connections to the Jewish community,” Peled says. “It allows me business connections and learning opportunities.”
Towards this end, Peled not only ‘takes’ from the Jewish community but ‘gives’ to it, too. Despite the demands of being chief executive officer, he serves on the Silicon Valley Young Adults Division board of directors and recently created a customized website for the group gratis.
Avrukin is actively involved with the Sunnyvale Chabad House and Hillel of Silicon Valley.

Both men thrive on leading the growth and success of Activo. “When I worked for Adobe, I never even saw the client,” Avrukin says. “I was given the specifications for a project and did the job according to somebody else’s idea of how it should be done. Here, I have to understand how clients think, how they behave and adapt to their needs. Every single time it’s an improvisation and a learning experience.” Avrukin and Peled know the options are in their favor. They are young, bright, technically skilled, socially connected and have little to lose by risking a start-up. Says Peled, “There are so many options out there, I can afford to start my own business.”

STATIC PRINTING

Tomer Kagan, 23, found a niche out-side of the high-tech industry. While a college student at U.C. Santa Cruz, he launched Static Printing, a custom apparel company, serving the garment needs of companies and non-profit organizations.

Rather than a garage, Kagan and an Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity brother ran the company out of his (Kagan’s) college house using a single, silk-screening press. Everyone thought the business would dissolve after the students graduated, but Kagan took a gamble and bought out the business—a move that later turned out to be a valuable one.

For the first few years after graduating, Kagan did little work with Static Printing and instead took advantage of his molecular biology degree and entered a lucrative career in DNA sequencing. The pay was right, but Kagan found that his social life was lacking from working in the lab from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., and the constraints of the bureaucracy left him feeling like he couldn’t further his career without a master’s degree.
Kagan finally said “enough is enough” and left his DNA sequencing job in February 2006 with the intent of reviving Static Printing. He labored over his business model and solicited the advice of his mentor and former Jewish youth group adviser Dan Appleman, a computer scientist who has written technical books and founded two companies. Finally, Kagan emptied his savings and investments into his checking account and took the plunge.

“You have to be insane to start your own business,” Kagan says, referring to the risks involved. “[But] the worst that could happen is I’m back sequencing DNA.”

Kagan put his ideas to the test and ran the business out of his home, this time working as a broker between companies and printers rather than printing apparel himself. Static Printing works with organizations and individuals who need custom apparel printed at almost any quantity and makes sure the job gets done for the right price.

With the help of fellow UCSC graduate and Congregation Beth David young adults group leader Aleeza Abramovitz, the business worked out exactly as Kagan envisioned it. In early October, he hired two more full-time employees and a few salesmen and moved into a large office in northern San Jose.

The company has taken off. The first three weeks in the new office saw the business grow 800 percent, and Kagan doesn’t think it will stop anytime soon.

“Our whole motto is that everyone’s a customer,” Kagan said, but he has found his most loyal customers in the Jewish community such as B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and Jewish fraternities across the country.

Even though anybody is a potential customer, Kagan likes working with the Jewish community in particular. He has worked with organizations such as Alpha Epsilon Pi across the United States and Hillel of Silicon Valley.

Kagan helped to found the Jewish fraternity chapter at UCSC and more recently in the Silicon Valley, where he now advises. He has been long involved with BBYO and the Simon Wiesenthal Alpha Zadik Alpha, a high school group in Palo Alto. He hopes to expand his connections by hiring a salesman who will work solely with the Jewish community.
He also uses his business for good by donating extra shirts to Jewish groups and has printed at-cost orders for special events for youth groups.

“It’s an opportunity to explore ideas and try something new,” Kagan says. “And it’s satisfying seeing my ideas blossom.”

Obituary Submissions

If you have news to include in this column, please contact Cecily Ruttenberg You can call Cecily at (408) 357-7505.

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