Israeli Startup Success Stories: Lessons from Optibus, Seeking Alpha, and Building the Israel Daily News

Shanna Fuld Hosted a Tribe Tel Aviv event featuring two entrepreneurs behind remarkable Israeli startup success stories: Amos Haggiag, CEO and Co-Founder of Optibus, and David Jackson, Founder of Seeking Alpha.

This week I hosted a Tribe Tel Aviv event featuring two entrepreneurs behind remarkable Israeli startup success stories: Amos Haggiag, CEO and Co-Founder of Optibus, and David Jackson, Founder of Seeking Alpha.

The discussion offered valuable insights into entrepreneurship, innovation, and what it takes to build a successful business from the ground up.

Israeli Startup Success Stories and the Power of Persistence

Amos Haggiag shared the origin story of Optibus, a company whose software helps manage transportation systems in more than 16,000 cities worldwide.

The idea began at his family dinner table. His father, who served as CFO of one of Israel's largest public transportation companies, often complained about the inefficiencies of manually planning routes, schedules, and driver shifts using spreadsheets.

Recognizing the problem, Haggiag and his co-founder developed software to automate and optimize transportation planning. Today, Optibus powers transit systems around the world, and even a small system error can have immediate effects on public transportation networks.

What stood out most from these Israeli startup success stories was the ability to identify a problem and remain committed to solving it at scale.

David Jackson shared a similar lesson while discussing the growth of Seeking Alpha.

When he launched the financial content platform, the market wasn't ready for the product he envisioned. Rather than abandoning the idea, he kept building, improving, and maintaining the business until the market eventually caught up.

His message was simple: timing matters, but persistence matters more.

As a media entrepreneur, I found his story especially relatable.

Building the Israel Daily News Podcast Before the Market Existed

When I launched the Israel Daily News Podcast in 2020, there were virtually no established English-language Israel news podcasts.

I pitched the concept to multiple English-language news organizations across Israel and offered to produce it for them. The response was overwhelmingly negative.

One publication that declined the idea was The Times of Israel. Later, as podcasting grew in popularity, several major outlets launched their own shows, including The Times of Israel, Haaretz English, and The Jerusalem Post.

Looking back, the growth of the Israel Daily News Podcast reflects many of the same lessons found in these Israeli startup success stories: believing in an idea before others do and staying committed long enough to see it succeed.

Today, the Israel Daily News Podcast remains one of the leading results for listeners searching for Israel news in podcast platforms, proving that innovation often requires patience before it gains recognition.

The evening served as a reminder that successful businesses, whether in technology, finance, or media, often begin with a simple observation: there has to be a better way.