Hello everyone! We are very happy that you found your way here. Welcome to the our blog, a newsroom of sorts for Olam Ventures. We also intend to discuss all the tech, start-up, entrepreneurial, and otherwise related topics over the coming months.

Why blog?

This blog was started as a comprehensive and centralised means of better communicating everything we are about to the entire Olam family. We have made a lot of noise across all social media platforms: instagram, linkedin, facebook, email. All these applications are terrific, but we also think a blog could be more wholesome and thorough, so voila, we are here.

We hope this also can transform into a more interactive and critical space, which is why we will include a place at the bottom of each article for readers to comment, submit questions and suggestions for future content, and share their own opinions and knowledge base with everyone else.

Who started all of this?

Besides laying the groundwork in this first installation, I thought it would be quite nice to get to know our founders. They are two very wonderful people – who couldn’t be called shy, rather quite modest – and don’t like drawing all the attention to themselves. However, without them, we simply would not be here. So I think it’s apt to introduce them, tell shortly the story of their meeting, how they came up with the Start-Up Nation challenge last year which has matured into Olam Ventures this year, and most importantly, consider what they have learned along the way as this is what can benefit our readers the most. Without further adieu, I present Simon (left) and Eliott (right), and with them…the story of Olam!

Founders fit from a young age

As you may have seen on our website, these two have quite a cute story of how they met. Believe it or not, they only spent two years together between ages 10 and 12 actually attending the same school… their bond was just so strong that they stayed in contact forever from then on. Both of them came from entrepreneurial families, which explains where they get their natural talent and tendencies from, but they also have always just enjoyed making things. Apparently Eliott often calls Simon to make his initial pitch on an idea (often good, rarely bad, sometimes crazy), and this is exactly how the whole idea for creating a community like Olam began.

The genesis of Olam

When I asked Eliott and Simon, the “exact moment” that inspired the Start-Up Nation Challenge (basically the miniature version of Olam that ran for the first time last year), they told me the story that everyone is all too familiar with, being stuck at home, in the midst of COVID’s first bad wave, with universities all online, and everyone’s lives at quite a standstill. They would both speak often on the phone, and one day in particular they were commiserating over how low and banal student engagement was over Zoom, and in general they felt there was a lack of entrepreneurial support and emphasis in their respective curriculums at LSE and IDC. They wanted to do something about it, and especially with the a program to bring entrepreneurially inclined students to Israel on a “Tech Trip” just having been cancelled, there was a very viable pool of individuals were just waiting to be brought together somehow. One long phone-call in mid-December brought about just the solution.

Learning on the fly

My next question for the co-founders had to do with what they learned and their biggest take aways from ideating, creating, and bringing the SNC to a successful life. What they agreed was first, when you have an idea you’re passionate about and want to start something, it’s crazy how many people will support you, how far that will take you, and how fast it will all happen. This principle is demonstrated not only by how they managed to organise the SNC and get it ready for applicants to begin the competition within a few months, but how less than a year later we are here with Olam Ventures. Simon and Eliott also both agreed that giving students ownership of their ideas and treating them like ‘grown-ups’ per say really brings out their amazing creative sides, and gives them the confidence to build great things. Students are the best entrepreneurs after all…

Let’s make it serious. Let’s make it Olam.

After the success of the SNC, I asked them if they ever had any hesitations before starting Olam. Eliott answered yes of course, mostly the “how” behind the whole process was the most complicated. The technicalities and logistics behind taking a project to an official company standing entails legal challenges, business calls, and one of the best parts of Olam – it’s international reach – also adds a layer of planning and coordination across more than four timezones that is a struggle already, especially for two full-time students. Simon reiterated that they never had any doubt for the concept, it was clear that the ‘market’ was there as they say, and the community existed, they just had to navigate through the formalities and the funding to make it happen; supported by amazing people every moment of the way.

We could never do it alone: thanking & acknowledging the Olam Board

“Without our amazing organisers – team members, mentors, board members, and applicants – Olam wouldn’t be possible.”

Finally, as our two co-founders are always reiterating, the Olam family has been the most important aspect of their journey so far. They are both extremely lucky to be well-guided, to find mentors, team members, family, and friends that will listen to them and support them, either directly or by pointing them in the right way. There is no way this venture could come to be without the individuals on the supervisory board of Olam as well, comprised of three terrific indviduals: Josef Ahorner, Oren Kaplan, and Salomon Aiach. Josef is the founder of Emarsys – a leading provider of marketing software – in addition to being a board member at Porsche SE & Audi. Oren is the founder of Sharing Alpha – a super successful fintech start up that went live in 2016 – and engaged as Israel Director of the Founders Institute. Finally, Salomon is none other than the head of VC and Startup at Facebook France. Simon and Eliott reiterate that without the deep thinking Josef invokes in them, helping them to better understand what kind of entrepreneurs they want to be, and Oren, who always ensures they remain focused on what really matters, or Salomon's incredible energy and deep understanding of the tech & investing ecosystem… they wouldn’t have made it to the point they are today with Olam.

Both Simon and Eliott agree there is no way to do this kind of stuff alone; yes, you need to push yourself to go out there once you come up with an idea you like, and it’s important to have a direct goal in mind (without being stubbornly fixated of course), but there is nothing you can do completely alone. It’s about the people you meet and reach out too, and in this case, the people you bring together.

This is only the beginning

My final question had to do with Olam’s future plans, for which I received a very tantalising response. Now that these two know much better how to get things done, they are excited to create as many opportunities as they can for all the students out there who want to and can be a part. This means there may be even more Olam coming very soon…

The Olam Story