You Can't Build A Startup Ecosystem. You Can Only Recognize One When It Starts Happening.

You're the government. Or a development authority. Or an ambitious city leader. You want to be the next Silicon Valley. You want to attract startups. You want innovation jobs. You want economic growth. So you build an innovation hub. You announce it. And then you wonder why nothing happens.

Because building an ecosystem isn't something you decide to do. It's something that either emerges or it doesn't.

I recently talked with Oded Barel, who did something unusual in Jerusalem. Instead of trying to create an ecosystem from the top down, he helped midwife one that was already starting to exist.

And the story of Siftech—Jerusalem's first startup accelerator—reveals something nobody wants to admit: Ecosystems aren't built by command. They're built by people who love what they do, working together over time, in spaces where they actually want to be.

The Wrong Way To Build An Ecosystem (That Everyone Tries)

Here's how governments usually try to build startup ecosystems: They pass laws. They create tax incentives. They build fancy office spaces. They recruit people with impressive credentials. They announce it loudly.

None of that matters.

What matters is whether people in that city actually want to start companies together. Whether they trust each other. Whether they're willing to take risks. Whether they have something to prove.

Jerusalem had the ingredients for an ecosystem but not the actual ecosystem. It had universities. It had venture funds. It had a tradition of successful companies. But it didn't have the thread connecting them. It didn't have a community of people in coffee shops talking about their startups. It didn't have a narrative of "we can build this here."

There was, instead, a steady narrative of failure: All the creative, ambitious, talented people were moving to Tel Aviv. Jerusalem was for history and culture and religion. Not for startups.

That's a powerful narrative. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Unlikely Beginning

Oded wasn't trying to build an ecosystem. He was just trying to help his friends.

Two amazing women—Stav and Inbal—decided to start an accelerator program. Literally. Under the university. Underground, on the minus-one floor. That's where they held their first workshops.

Oded didn't have a grand master plan. He joined because he knew these people and he trusted them. He cared about them. And he believed in what they were trying to do.

Here's the important part: He wasn't recruited by a government program. He didn't apply for a leadership position. He just showed up and helped.

That's how ecosystems actually form.

The Other Ingredients That Actually Matter

Siftech succeeded because of something more than just meetings and workshops. They created gathering spaces. Events. Conversations.

They hosted "Off the Record"—intimate meetups with successful entrepreneurs who shared their stories. The founder of Waze. The founder of Fiverr. But in a format where 20-30 people could actually have a conversation, not just listen to a speech.

This mattered because people could meet each other. They could have conversations about their ideas. They could see what was possible. They could feel the energy of people who were actually building things.

Other initiatives happened simultaneously. Made in Jerusalem. Other accelerator programs. A wave of activity around the same time. And what made it stick wasn't any single program. It was the critical mass of activity creating a narrative shift.

Suddenly people started saying things differently. Instead of "All the talent is leaving," they started saying "There's something interesting happening here." That shift in narrative is actually the ecosystem forming.

The Trust Problem That Precedes Everything

The thing that makes Oded different—and what made him valuable to Siftech—is his capacity to build trust.

He founded a company with friends because he loved them and believed in them. He joined a bar with people he trusted and was willing to get his hands dirty (literally washing dishes) because he cared about the mission. He joined Siftech because he knew Stav and Inbal and genuinely believed in what they were trying to do.

This matters because startups are fundamentally about trust. You're going to work 80-hour weeks. You're going to face constant uncertainty. You're going to be broke for months. You need to know that the people you're with aren't going to bail when things get hard.

That trust doesn't come from credentials or business plans or impressive talk. It comes from knowing someone, having worked with them, understanding what they value.

The ecosystems that work are built by people who already know each other, or quickly build deep relationships. They're not built by parachuting in consultants or creating anonymous programs.

Oded didn't have a "ecosystem building strategy." He had relationships. And those relationships scaled. Because people trusted him, they trusted what he was building. And they wanted to be part of it.

The Narrative Shift That Changes Everything

Here's what actually happened in Jerusalem: The story changed.

It wasn't: "Here's a new program. Come build a startup."

It was: "Something is actually happening here. People like you are building things. It's possible here too."

That narrative shift is more powerful than any marketing campaign. Because it's based on reality. It's based on actual people doing actual things.

When founders from Jerusalem started winning, when accelerators started funding, when meetups started happening, the narrative shifted. Slowly. But it shifted.

And as soon as it shifted, more people showed up. Because people want to be part of something that's working. They don't want to be part of your master plan. They want to be part of the movement.

The Uncomfortable Truth

You can't build a startup ecosystem by deciding to. You can only build one by doing something you care about, with people you trust, in a way that creates enough momentum that other people want to join.

If the government wants an ecosystem, they can't buy one. They can, however, get out of the way. They can provide space. They can remove barriers. They can celebrate the people who are building. But they can't manufacture the trust and energy that actually creates an ecosystem.

What they can do is support the people who are already trying. Fund them, not their fancy programs. Give them space. Celebrate what's working. And then, most importantly, get out of the way and let the community evolve.

What This Actually Looks Like

If you want to help build a startup ecosystem, here's what works:

First, find people who are already trying. The people who've already started companies. The people who understand the context. The people who want this for its own sake, not for career advancement.

Second, create gathering spaces. Coffee shops. Bars. Meetups. Conferences. Places where people can actually connect. This is not sexy or strategic, but it matters more than anything else.

Third, tell the story. The narrative matters. What's the story about your city or region? What kind of businesses are being built? Who's the founder you'd want to know? Make people want to be part of it.

Fourth, get out of the way. Don't micromanage. Don't require metrics on every initiative. Don't bureaucratize the thing. Let it evolve. The best ecosystems are messy and uncontrolled.

Fifth, be patient. Ecosystems take time. Siftech took years to really matter. But the momentum compound. The network effects compound. The success stories attract more people. But it takes time.

The Real Requirement

The biggest requirement for building an ecosystem isn't money or government support or a brilliant plan. It's people who actually care. People willing to show up. People willing to help their friends without expecting an immediate return. People with skin in the game who are genuinely trying to make something happen.

Those people are rarer than you think. And they matter more than the rest of it combined.

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Want the Full Story?

If you want to understand how startup ecosystems actually emerge—not the theoretical version, but the real story of how it actually happened in Jerusalem—listen to Yaniv Corem's full conversation with Oded Barel on The School of Innovation podcast.

It's a conversation about how trust is built, how narratives shift, and how you create community around something you believe in.

Because here's the truth about startup ecosystems: You can't build them. But you can be the kind of person who helps them emerge. And sometimes that's enough.