The high-tech entrepreneurs who made a billion-dollar exit: "This is the hardest decision we have made"
Childhood traumas hardened them and paved the way for great success: Dani Brickman grew up in a family of new immigrants from the CIS and suffered racist harassment at school, Amit Zimmerman was orphaned of his father at age 10 and suffered from learning disabilities. The two, who met in an elite intelligence unit and have been inseparable since, founded the cyber company Oasis and led it to a huge exit. In their first interview, they tell about the difficult decision to sell their life's work to the Israeli company Cyera.
In less than four years, entrepreneurs Dani Brickman and Amit Zimmerman made an exit of about a billion dollars, signing a letter of intent under which Cyera is expected to acquire the startup they founded, Oasis Security. This is an extraordinary "blue-and-white" exit: both the buyer and the acquired are Israeli companies, and in practice, this is the fastest all-Israeli billion-dollar exit.
"It all started in the army, when he would constantly come to my table, hang around me and ask a lot of questions," says Dani about his partner Amit. The two carry a long history that began with joint service in unit 81 of the Intelligence Corps.
The path from the bottom
Amit is 36, married, and a father. Dani is 33 and single. Dani grew up in Ramat Gan; his parents immigrated from Russia in the 90s. The extended family lived in a three-room apartment, and while his parents worked 12-14 hours a day, he grew up with his grandparents, receiving a strict Soviet education. In school, he faced harassment due to his Russian origin.
"I grew up in the Elite neighborhood in Ramat Gan. The 90s for the people of the Russian aliya were not easy. I would talk to my parents in Russian on the side so that no one would hear. They taught us to understand that there is a glass ceiling, and to this day there is a glass ceiling. For those who immigrated from Russia, there were no connections, but in me, it is something very ingrained," Dani recalls.
Amit, who grew up in Ra'anana, lost his father in a car accident at age ten. "It was a life-changing event that made me a big part of who I am today. I was diagnosed with learning disabilities, and it took me years to understand that this is a trait, not a problem. I reached the field even though I grew up far from technology, working in a factory for painting machines with my grandfather." When he realized he wanted to pursue cyber in the army, he locked himself in a room and studied the field, eventually getting accepted into unit 81.
The price of success
Their hard work is financially rewarding: estimates place their joint share in the company at 20 to 30 percent, meaning they will receive between 200 and 300 million dollars. However, the financial success carries heavy personal and family costs.
"From the outside, the entrepreneurial journey looks like success and headlines, but in the end, you are fighting against the forces of nature, trying to bring change and new thinking. The sacrifice is on us, and it has a hell of a price that not everyone wants to pay," says Dani. Amit adds: "My daughter was born the year Dani and I decided to move to the US to be closer to the market. I flew a lot, and even when I was home, the extra room was an office, and I didn't see my daughter because I was living on East Coast time."
