“American employees tend to do more homework ahead of the interview,” according to Israel’s Cynerio

Each culture and country has a different way to do business and negotiate their roles within specific industries. The same can be said for employees who are looking to join organizations during the recruitment stage.

“It's a different recruiting culture in the U.S.,” explained Leon Lerman, CEO and co-founder of Cyenrio. “American employees tend to do more homework ahead of the interview, they learn more about the company and come prepared. They also tend to sell themselves really well so the interviewer needs to ask more specific questions. In Israel, candidates tend to be more direct.”

Lerman has joined CTech on behalf of the healthcare IoT cybersecurity company to share some of the most helpful tips when recruiting and setting up shop in the U.S.

Company name: Cynerio

Field of activity/product: Healthcare IoT cybersecurity

Founders: Leon Lerman - CEO, Daniel Brodie - CTO

Year of founding/start of New York operations: 2018

Number of employees and whether the company is active in other locations: 50 employees, actively hiring in the U.S, Israel, and Europe

Sum of total funding to date/funding rounds completed: $40m

Names of investors/VC backers: Alive Ventures, Elron, Accelmed, MTIP

General background on the founders/senior managers:

Leon and Daniel are cybersecurity experts with over 20 years of experience in the industry, both served in the Israeli intelligence corps and held senior leadership roles in both startups and large companies. Leon moved to New York City two years ago to open the U.S office of the company.

Background on the product/service/platform/solution:

Cynerio offers a one-stop-shop security platform for healthcare IoT. As healthcare is getting more connected, hospitals have tens of thousands of medical and IoT devices that are vulnerable more than ever to cyber threats like ransomware. These attacks put patients at risk. Cynerio's platform is preventing those attacks and ensuring patient safety, data confidentiality, and service availability.

Why New York? What advantages does it offer? How does the market differ from Israel? How does the competition differ?

New York is a great ecosystem for a cyber company. It has great access to talent, a strong healthcare ecosystem with a lot of hospitals, an easier time difference with Israel, and similar direct culture to Israel.

Two things you learned about the U.S. market from operating in New York:

1) It's a must for a company to have a presence in the U.S if their market is in the U.S - it significantly accelerates the go-to-market strategy.

2) It's much easier to build trust with U.S-based companies when they know you have a presence in the U.S.

Two things you learned about American investors as a result of starting operations there:

1) You will get a better valuation than an Israeli investor.

2) More focus on business and go-to-market strategy, less on technology.

Two suggestions for Israeli entrepreneurs on what to do in New York:

1) Visit the Miznon!

2) Join communities, there are a lot of things going on but you have to be proactive or you will be lonely.

Two suggestions for Israeli entrepreneurs on what not to do in New York:

1) Don't forget an umbrella, ever. The weather is crazy.

2) Don't try to skip lines, you can get shot.

On a scale of 1-10, how much did the Covid-19 pandemic impact your work?

7 - It mostly had a positive impact, we sell to hospitals and Covid-19 increased their awareness of security and resilience. Internally, we became much more efficient, learned how to communicate better, and conduct business over Zoom. We grew our revenue by 300% during the pandemic.

What are the differences when it comes to recruiting employees?

It's a different recruiting culture in the U.S. American employees tend to do more homework ahead of the interview, they learn more about the company and come prepared. They also tend to sell themselves really well so the interviewer needs to ask more specific questions. In Israel, candidates tend to be more direct.

What are some of the workplace culture differences between Israel and New York?

It's actually similar - fast-paced, loud, fun, and collaborative.

The IL Tech in NY project is a collaboration between CTech and Israeli Mapped in NY. For more information email Guy Franklin via this link .