Since the economic reforms of the 1990s, Israel has become a country that leads the world in the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) per capita—the so-called start-up nation. Yet this trend is beginning to slow. Peter Cohan argues that a change is necessary in order for the Jewish state to continue its extraordinary economic growth:
[T]he most significant transformation that Israel must undertake [is to go] from a creator of business leaders whom I call sprinters—who can turn an idea into a company that gets bought out by a larger one—to a nation of marathoners—who take such companies public, generate revenues in the billions of dollars, and keep growing at a rate of 20 percent or more.
This matters because if Israel can produce more marathoners, it can host more . . . locally headquartered, publicly traded companies that invest in local startups to create more local jobs and provide tax revenue to help fund the expansion of infrastructure needed to reduce the traffic and housing crunch that accompanies Israel’s current economic success.
Whether such “marathoners” will emerge remains to be seen, writes Cohan, but he believes it to be possible.
Read more on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2019/05/26/can-israel-become-a-nation-of-startup-marathoners