About a month ago I embarked on a journey to work with the MassChallenge team as we began our global expansion opening our first office outside of Boston in Tel Aviv.  It was a really exciting, scary, and most-of-all unknown endeavor that I was about to begin.

It all happened really fast – I first discussed the opportunity of doing this with MassChallenge’s Founder and CEO, John Harthorne, in mid-December and by New Years I had a flight booked and soon after had an apartment to live in.  It’s nice being young that I was able to make this decision, not everyone has the ability to pickup their lives for 5 months to move to a new country and not everyone works for a company like MassChallenge, which has an entirely entrepreneurial spirit and can make huge momentous decisions so quickly.

Before leaving I had one last session of drinks with the MassChallenge Boston team following our New Years party.  I spent a lot of time that night talking with John and Scott Bailey, MassChallenge’s Director of Partnerships and the guy who first hired me on the team.  John made a promise to me that night.  Not only did he make this promise, but he documented it on a small post-it note and signed it.  The note said, “Israel for MassChallenge will be the best experience of your life. Guaranteed. – John Harthorne”.

Now that’s a big promise to make, and one that John 100%, whole-heartedly means and believes.  John is, without a question, the best mentor and supporter I have ever (and probably will ever) have in my life.  I have learned a lot from him and trust him completely.  Saying the “best experience of my life” is a bit extreme but John means it and I promised him that I would take every opportunity to make it exactly that.

I also promised a lot of people that I will blog during my trip, and three weeks in I don’t have anything posted.  But, I am going to change that.  Over the past few weeks I have made a lot of interesting observations of the culture of Israelis – specifically Israeli entrepreneurs – and will use this forum to share my insights and things that I think Americans can learn from Israelis and visa-versa.  And, most importantly, I will use this to share why the remaining 4 months I have in Israel really culminates in “the best experience of my life”.

So here are my key takeaways:

• Carpe Diem – If you have an incredible opportunity like I have to explore a new country and learn a lot while being part of a mission bigger then yourself, do it.  Don’t think twice, just do it!
• Trust & appreciate your colleagues - Without John, Scott and MassChallenge I wouldn’t be the person I am today.  Find opportunities and individuals like this and surround yourself with them.  Dave Balter gives a talk about being a sponge and a stone and I firmly believe in surrounding myself with great people and learning from them as a “sponge” does. Get close to people like John, follow their guidance, trust them, appreciate them, and absorb as much as you can from them.
• Find a job that you love & that respects you – Building MassChallenge isn’t even a job, it’s a love of mine. I am grateful to wakeup every morning and love what I do and this is critical to getting meaningful opportunities in life.  If you find a job you love, you will work hard, if you work hard, you will gain respect, if you gain respect you will get amazing opportunities.
• If you make a promise, keep it – John promised me that this will be the best experience of my life and I promised my friends and colleagues that I would share this experience.  Talk is cheap (and especially in Israel they believe that) so I am going to keep my promise – I hope you enjoy reading my insights over the next few months!