Supporting emerging Jewish tech talent

When Max Kauseman and Ari Kark launched J Combinator after the COVID pandemic, they envisioned more than just another networking group.

They sought to create an impactful support infrastructure for Jewish Australians navigating the rapidly evolving tech and startup landscape.

“It was really about having a ‘pay it forward’ ethos of supporting each other with things like jobs, mentorship, resources and connections,” Kauseman told The AJN last week.

He explained how, as Australia’s startup ecosystem has matured, young Jewish professionals were increasingly joining small tech companies, rather than traditional profession fields like accounting, finance, law or medicine.

“Often, they’d find themselves unsure of who and how to ask for support, as they lacked access to the internal training structures that are in place at larger corporations.