How One Startup Exec Took Charge While His CEO Fought in the Israel-Hamas War

Chen Avni, co-founder and chief product officer of startup Venn, hasn’t shaved for more than a month in solidarity with the hostages kidnapped by Hamas and Israel Defense Forces soldiers battling in the current war. Avni’s boss, Venn co-founder and chief executive Or Bokobza, was until recently one of those fighters.

Bokobza, an IDF reserves officer who was in Israel when Hamas invaded the country on Oct. 7, immediately reported for duty and was deployed to root out the Hamas fighters that day. In Bokobza’s monthlong absence, Avni took over running Venn from its New York headquarters, while coping with personal grief and an urge to join his IDF unit.

Similar situations are unfolding across many Israeli-founded startups both in Israel and elsewhere as leaders and staffers run their businesses while many of their colleagues leave for active duty. All of them want to make sure the soldiers have jobs to return to when the war is over.

A quarter of Israeli-founded companies, including Venn, in the portfolio of Los Angeles-based venture firm Group 11, have had a co-founder deployed with the IDF since the war started, said Dovi Frances, founding partner of the firm.

Bokobza and Avni, both Israeli and 37, met when they were 18 during training for the same elite special forces unit. Each had grown up in an Israeli cooperative living community. They later fought together.

“He’s my brother, he’s my friend, he’s my partner, he’s my boss,” Avni said of Bokobza. In recent weeks, when Bokobza was out of reach, Avni said he had imaginary conversations and even arguments with Bokobza, brainstorming about pending deals, pricing, and management decisions.

The pair founded Venn in 2017 in Israel to bring features of communal living to urban real estate. The company has raised $100 million in venture funding. Both Avni and Bokobza live in New York, where they relocated Venn’s headquarters in 2019. Of the company’s 90 employees, however, about 55 are based in Israel.

On Oct. 8, after a 24-hour battle in the south of Israel where Bokobza saw the aftermath of atrocities committed by Hamas and fellow soldiers were killed, he took a short break from the fighting. Wearing his heavy tactical gear and army fatigues, he called Avni.

“I trust you,” Bokobza told Avni. He said he believed that Avni could lead Venn in his absence and that the company would still be able to hit its year-end financial goals, Bokobza recalled.

Later that day Bokobza returned to the fighting, while Avni began developing a new plan to keep Venn on track.

Venn’s software is used in about 50,000 rental units, in cities such as St. Louis, Detroit and Los Angeles, according to Avni. Through Venn’s app, tenants can pay rent, open doors, message neighbors and organize community events.

Before the war, Venn expected to hit about $10 million in annual recurring revenue this year, with most of its business coming from U.S. clients, Avni said.

Being a largely global business has cushioned the impact of the Israel war on Venn. Yet about 15% of its employees were called to serve in the IDF.

Venn contracted an Israeli outsourcing company to bridge its staffing gap, Avni said.

The company closed its Tel Aviv office because of rocket attacks. It then rented a temporary office that had a better shelter, and employees who had been working at home since the conflict’s outset slowly began to return to work.

Avni increased the frequency of team calls to keep in closer touch with the employees. “The perception of time changes with the velocity of changes in the world,” he said. The company also participated in relief efforts in Israel.
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A crucial task on Avni’s agenda was to ensure that business partners in the U.S. with whom Venn was in advanced discussions wouldn’t back out because of any Israel-related concerns.

Avni sent them emails that were deliberately neutral in tone, informing partners that he would be taking Bokobza’s place while the latter was unavailable. “We made it very operational oriented, super quick, asking what are the next things they need,” Avni said. Customers and partners responded with supportive messages, he said.

‘Expansion Under Fire’

The toll of the war, meanwhile, weighed heavily on Avni.

The war reinforced Avni’s Israeli identity. Earlier this year he tattooed the number “122” on the back of his neck, referring to the number that was sewed onto his family’s clothing to sort it from other families’ at the kibbutz’s communal laundromat.

He knew several victims of the slaughter at a music festival in Israel. His IDF unit suffered casualties. Both his and Bokobza’s hometowns came under heavy missile fire.

Avni was struggling with the urge to put business on hold, fly to Israel and join their IDF unit. “Your heart tells you you should go and fight,” he said. He decided against it, concluding that he is more useful to Venn and Israel if he does his corporate job than if he waits with his unit to be drafted.

A few days after the war started, a Chicago customer expanded an existing account with Venn, one of five deals signed since the war started. “Expansion under fire” is how the Venn team referred to the deal internally.

The next day, Avni learned that two friends had been killed in Israel. There isn’t much time to mourn, he said.

Wearing his beard, Avni attended a real-estate conference in Las Vegas in early November instead of Bokobza, who was still in battle at the time. Events like the conference have become opportunities to not just help Venn grow but also to represent Israel.

“A landlord in Tulsa or Ohio, whose connection to Israel is very limited, they are getting to see someone from Israel and especially these days, it’s a very important thing to do,” Avni said.

A couple of business contacts canceled meetings, however, Avni said, because they said they don’t want to deal with an Israel-connected business at this time.

Avni created talking points for Venn’s sales team to help them address sensitive conversations about Israel, the war and Venn. If someone mentions that what Israel or Hamas is doing is terrible, for example, the talking points advise a response that emphasizes that the situation is heartbreaking and that both peoples deserve safety, freedom and peace.

Bokobza returned from Gaza in November and is on standby with the IDF. The company is on track to meet its annual goals, he said.

“People realized that they are leaders, that they can do much more than they did in the past,” Bokobza said about the Venn team and about Israeli society in general.

Israel and the U.S., meanwhile, are warning of the rising threat of a wider war. With that news, Avni packed his luggage in case he gets drafted. He will shave his beard when the last of the hostages returns.