Yesterday I submitted an interview with the co-founder of SAP, a leading figure in the technology sector[1], about the state of the software sector in Germany. He had lots of criticism and comparisons with the U.S., so if you find this article interesting consider reading that interview: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4344429
[1] I'm a former employee of SAP, so I'm biased :-)
It is a great interview! Both the reporter and Hasso were not afraid to be bold.
It is also a common criticism in the local financial newspapers that Israeli startups have a problem with rapid international growth because of language/cultural differences, so it was interesting for me to compare what he said also to the local scene and not just the American one.
I'm actually considering a Tel Aviv trip in the next year. Would love to make it out there at some point. I'm based in London now so it's a (relatively) easy trip over.
In regards to working with Israelis... The only interaction I had was during an SAP escalation. Typically (and was the case here) customers are extremely demanding during escalations and SAP (globally) would bend over backwards for them. I was in America at the time and working with the guys in Ra'anana. In many cases they pushed back to us and would get very frustrated. Overall I think it was their attitude towards being part of the team that wasn't that great.
[1] I'm a former employee of SAP, so I'm biased :-)