Let Startup Nation Go to War
If ever there was a time that Israel needed its startups to move fast and break the enemy's things, it's now.
Here’s a conversation I had about Israel’s defense innovation withNicolas Colin in his excellent newsletter Drift Signal.
I have been in touch with Nicolas and following his work for several years, and find him to be a thoughtful, precise, and authoritative source on everything technology, with a special focus on Europe.
Since 7 October 2023 — and the shock of those first few months of war—I have been learning and writing about Israel’s defense innovation paradox: despite having one of the world’s top startup industries with a culture of rapid innovation, not enough of this energy permeates the country’s defense establishment. We saw this again and again, especially in tunnel warfare, drones, hostage rescue, and, just as painfully, on the information warfare front.
Nicolas was following my writing on this and reached out to talk. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation:
Israel’s billion-dollar hi-tech border defense systems were crippled by $200 commercial drones in minutes.
Israel lost air superiority for the first time since 1967 as enemy drones flew freely from every direction in the Middle East.
Bureaucracy, slow procurement, and investor hesitancy block crucial defense innovation. Soldiers paid with their lives.
Dive into the full interview below — what happened in Israel is reshaping modern warfare and exposing vulnerabilities that no nation can afford to ignore.
