Young entrepreneur gets apps as thanks for his Mapped site

Israeli start-up wunderkind Ben Lang is at it again. He’s just come out with Android and iOS versions of his Mapped in Israel, a graphic illustration of where Israeli start-ups are located, who runs them, what they do, and who is hiring.

But what’s unique about the apps is that the 20-year-old Lang didn’t create them. They were built by “satisfied customers” who have used his start-up map to advance their careers and their businesses.

“I had nothing to do with them,” Lang told The Times of Israel. “They were built voluntarily by people who have used my map, but I had no contact with them and I did not ask them to develop these apps.”

Mapped in Israel, which is about a year old, is a go-to resource for tens of thousands interested in the Israel start-up phenomenon. Featured on a number of websites (including The Times of Israel), Mapped in Israel lets users view a geographical representation of where start-ups are located. By clicking on a link, a user of the free site (the apps are free too) can get more information about what the company does, its funding and future plans, and contact information.

Recently, Lang added a feature that includes job listings at the start-ups on his map – and that proved to be the key to the development of the Android Mapped in Israel app that was released several weeks ago. The app was developed by a new immigrant from Belgium, Alexandre Gherschon, who had contacted Lang and told him how he appreciated the Mapped in Israel resource, and how he planned to use it to find a job when he made aliya. Later on, Lang got a second message from the same person, saying that he had indeed found his job through the map, that he was very happy to be in Israel, and that he planned to express his appreciation by developing an app for Lang.

It was the same with the iOS app, which came out last week: An appreciative fan contacted Lang, telling him how Mapped in Israel had helped him and saying he wanted to express his appreciation by developing an iPhone app.

Actually, said Maxim Veksler, the appreciative fan, his intentions in developing the app weren’t all philanthropic. “I and my partners run a new design studio for apps, and we used Mapped in Israel to find clients,” he told The Times of Israel. “We usually try to set up meetings with potential clients on a geographical basis, which lets us hit as many clients in as efficient a manner as possible. The map tells us who our best shots are and where they are located. We’ve come to rely on it so much that we decided to make an app out of it so our developers would be able to use it on their handheld devices, not just their laptops.”

But in appreciation to Lang, Veksler said, “we prepared it for the app store so that others could benefit as well.” According to Veksler, the team worked hard to produce something that Lang would be proud to put his name to. “We tried to concentrate on an easy to use and very clean format, raising the level of design for an Israeli app, and I think we succeeded.”

Typically, apps for Android and Apple devices share a lot of similarities, as developers strive to keep a uniformity of experience across platforms. But in this case, the designs are significantly different, as they were developed by different people who had had no contact with each other. “I really appreciate what they did for Mapped in Israel. I’ve discussed the look and feel issue with each developer, and they are going to try and unify their designs in their next versions.”

These were not the only times that Lang has received fan mail. “I have heard from a few dozen people that they found their jobs through Mapped in Israel, and companies that sign up to be listed and post jobs say that their response rate to the postings often doubles or triples.”

Lang, who made aliya with his family several years ago from New York, is currently serving in the IDF, and is also working on Mapped in Israel with a staff of five. “It’s amazing how far it’s come in barely two years. I built Mapped in Israel on weekends home from the army, and now it’s a business” where companies pay to be listed on the map, which is now relied upon not just by job-seekers and design studio start-ups, but by investors, too.

With five people working on it, doesn’t Mapped in Israel qualify as a start-up, too? “I guess it does,” said Lang, although he hasn’t gotten any funding yet. But it’s not for lack of offers. “We’ve been contacted by some organizations which have brought us some interesting offers, but we’re not ready yet,” said Lang. “We’re looking for some cool opportunities, and we’ll see where this journey takes us.”