'At one time Israelis were known to invent products with little marketing capability, but not any more...'

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The younger of the two brothers, Zohar Zisapel is among the early breed of entrepreneurs, who left his job as head of the Electronic Research Department of the Ministry of Defense, to start an enterprise along with his brother. In 25 years the duo, credited with having sown the seeds of entrepreneurship among Israelites, has grown RAD into a group with over 21 companies, 5 of which have been sold in due course and half a dozen of them traded at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

Among the most respected of companies in Israel, RAD was part of the wave that represented the transition of the Israeli technology industry from strictly defense to commercial enterprises.

The profusion of greenery, with plants in every office and corridor, and lovely paintings hit you as you enter the RAD office building. It is philosophy and passion combined. Dressed in trademark casuals of jeans and shirt, Zohar Zisapel walks us through various aspects close to his heart.

How were the early days for RAD in Israel?
In 1981, the year RAD was founded, there was no high-tech industry in Israel. It didn't have the image of being a high-tech place and there was no venture or government backed funding as we now have. I think there were fewer than a dozen when we started. There was no money, no recognition. Though there was a lot of talent and getting people was no problem, but raising capital, even as little as $4 mn, was a major hurdle. So, we had to grow the company step by step.

We had our fair share of ups and downs but we held fast. We started selling outside the country. Slowly other technology companies came up. They raised capital and we saw them and learnt the process. We grew steadily. We expanded at the rate of one company a year and this helped us not to lose focus. We maintained ourselves as a private company because of the flexibility it gave us in setting up companies and supporting them with services such as HR, accounting, legal and so on during its early days so that we could focus on our core competency.

In retrospect, the business model looks like one of incubation. We saw several incubators coming up in the US, though all of them flopped. But it works for us and that is because we work hard on the idea, hire the right people, ensure that the market is ready and only then we start. Also, we work in the area that we know best and where our knowledge and skill sets help.

At the end of day, we are a technology company and I have a technical bent of mind more than that of a professional manager. So, unless we have a specific edge in technology, we do not do it. I was never interested in creating an empire, but creating new companies was both challenging and inspiring. And while some have been successes a few have failed. For instance, my foray into bio-technology was not a successful one.

How has RAD grown over the years?
As mentioned earlier, it was not an easy task. We started out as a sales and distribution of data communications products company and then set up RAD (which stands for Research and Development) to build our product capability and engineer new products. Early on we decided not to grow all products and technologies under one company. This way, we have been able to develop, manufacture and market solutions for diverse segments of the networking and telecommunications industry.

The way we go about is by identifying a niche, developing a business plan and hiring a CEO with matching skill set, and working on the idea/product. We also found that it is better to sell a start up with a new idea than sell a division of a company. This way, we have successfully built and sold several group companies.