In Pirkei Avot, the sages passed on their wisdom in many areas of life. It’s lesser known that they focused heavily on startups and the tech world:
Such is the way of a life [of a startup]: you shall eat bread with salt, and rationed water shall you drink; you shall sleep on the ground, your life will be one of privation, and in [your startup] shall you labor. If you do this, “Happy shall you be and it shall be good for you” (Psalms 128:2): “Happy shall you be” in this world [while working on the startup], “and it shall be good for you” in the world to come [after acquisition by Facebook or Google].
On focus:
Rabbi Jacob said: if one is studying while walking on the road and interrupts his study and says, “how fine is this tree!” or “how fine is this newly ploughed field!”, scripture accounts it to him as if he was mortally guilty.
On side hustles:
Say not: “when I shall have leisure I shall study;” perhaps you will not have leisure.
On workload:
Rabbi Tarfon said: the day is short, and the work is plentiful, and the laborers are indolent, and the reward is great, and the master of the house is insistent.
But also on work/life balance:
Rabban Gamaliel the son of Rabbi Judah Hanasi said: excellent is the study of [a startup] when combined with a worldly occupation, for toil in them both keeps sin out of one’s mind; But [work on a startup] which is not combined with a worldly occupation, in the end comes to be neglected and becomes the cause of sin.
On managing:
Judah ben Tabbai said: do not [as a manager] play the part of an advocate; and when the [employees] are standing before you, look upon them as if they were both guilty; and when they leave your presence, look upon them as if they were both innocent, when they have accepted the judgement.
On 10x engineers:
Rabbi Yohanan used to say: if all the sages of Israel were on one scale of the balance and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus on the other scale, he would outweigh them all. Abba Shaul said in his name: if all the sages of Israel were on one scale of the balance, and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus also with them, and Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach on the other scale, he would outweigh them all.
On Twitter:
Shammai used to say: make your [work on a startup] a fixed practice; speak little, but do much; and receive all men with a pleasant countenance. … Shimon, Rabban Gamliel’s son, used to say: all my days I grew up among the sages, and I have found nothing better for a person than silence. Study is not the most important thing, but actions; whoever indulges in too many words brings about sin.
On cancel culture:
Abtalion used to say: Sages be careful with your words, lest you incur the penalty of exile, and be carried off to a place of evil waters, and the disciples who follow you drink and die, and thus the name of heaven becomes profaned.
On regulation:
Be careful with the ruling authorities for they do not befriend a person except for their own needs; they seem like friends when it is to their own interest, but they do not stand by a man in the hour of his distress.
But also:
Rabbi Hanina, the vice-high priest said: pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, every man would swallow his neighbor alive.
On Jobs and Wozniak:
Rabban Yohanan said unto them: go forth and observe which is the right way to which a man should cleave? Rabbi Eliezer said, a good eye; Rabbi Joshua said, a good companion; Rabbi Yose said, a good neighbor; Rabbi Shimon said, foresight. Rabbi Elazar said, a good heart. Rabban Yohanan said to them: I prefer the words of Elazar ben Arach, for in his words your words are included.
And all who labor with the community, should labor with them for the sake of Heaven, for the merit of their [predecessors] sustains them, and [those previous innovations] endure for ever; And as for you, you will receive a rich reward [building on top of earlier tech], as if you had accomplished it all.
On the importance of tech hubs:
Rabbi Yose ben Kisma said: Once I was walking by the way when a man met me, and greeted me and I greeted him. He said to me, “Rabbi, where are you from?” I said to him, “I am from a great city of sages and scribes [Silicon Valley]”. He said to me, “Rabbi, would you consider living with us in our place? I would give you a thousand thousand denarii of gold, and precious stones and pearls.” I said to him: “My son, even if you were to give me all the silver and gold, precious stones and pearls that are in the world, I would not dwell anywhere except in a place of [tech].”