fall 2013
GRADUATES

27 Years Old and Co-Founder of a Multi-Million Dollar Company

Open University of Israel graduate, Amit Avner founded Taykey, a multi-million dollar operation. But, this is not his first company. He actually founded his first company more than a decade ago, when he was 15. Today, at the 'ripe old age of 27' Amit is the only Israeli to make it to the prestigious 2013 Under 30 CEO of Most Influential Young Entrepreneurs USA list.

Twenty-seven-year old Amit Avner has a curriculum vitae that is pretty amazing.

He began his undergraduate degree in computer sciences at the Open University of Israel when he was 15 and founded his first company when he was in high school. Then, when he was 22, he founded his second company, a global operation with international headquarters in New York, backed by multimillion dollar funding.

Today, at the age of 27, he is the only Israeli to appear on the prestigious Under 30 CEO of Most Influential Young Entrepreneurs USA List.

How did all of this transpire?

Let's begin at the beginning. When Amit was 10 years old he exhibited an extraordinary interest and affinity for computer programming. "My mother is a teacher, and when I was in 5th grade she was taking an in-staff training course in computer programming given to teachers. I was really interested in the subject, so each night when she came home, she would teach me what she had learned that day in the course".

Apparently, this was not a fleeting interest because a few years later, Amit decided it was time to study computer sciences more seriously. And, that could only occur at the university level. The Open University of Israel offered the only option for the avid computer programmer, high school student.

"About half of the kids in my high school class attended the Open University 1-1/2 days per week. For me studying computer sciences was just fun and I enjoyed the OUI program a lot. However, while I did enjoy it, and did not find it too exerting, many of my peers did and about half of the kids who were in the OUI program eventually dropped out".

Amit, however, continued. Concomitantly he made some important decisions about his life, and what he wanted from it.

The High School Student Launches His First Company

While still in OUI's undergraduate program, Amit felt he was now ready to launch his first company. Amit not only founded Witty Search, but designed the award-winning search engine, which facilitates searching multiple search engines simultaneously. Within a short while this search system had more than one million users in Israel and Europe.

Witty Search morphed into bWitty/Witty Search, and is mostly known for bWitty Notes, an online free Post-It note-like selection for web-browsers. Web-browsers can create an online note board and stick notes to it, which are saved online. Compatible with all major web browsers, HTML supported mobile phones and PDA's, users can exchange notes with each other.

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