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cials, Darash learned, don’t operate by the same logic.
Darash tried to appear confident for his employees. But privately he was uncertain. We sat in
his office for 30 seconds in silence
as he fought back his emotions.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” Darash
said. “They’re saying, ‘We believe
in you.’ And I’m wondering, ‘What
are you believing in? I’m not sure
I can fix this.’ It’s a type of feeling
I’ve never felt.”
If Darash moves back to Israel,
his company may survive, he says.
But it may lose momentum. He
figures it could take six months to
reorganize, create new networks
and find new employees in Israel.
It would also be difficult for him
to make day-to-day decisions with
a 10-hour time difference between
him and his team in San Francisco. For that reason, any new
employees that he hires would
be based in Israel, not the United
States, he says.
“Regpack isn’t going away,” Darash said. “The question is ‘Where
will it grow?’”
His concerns go beyond his
employees. He worries what this
uncertainty means for his current
and potential investors. He also
is concerned about the impact on
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his family, particularly his 8-yearold son, if they are forced to leave
the country.
“This is a major thing to do
to my 8-year-old,” Darash said.
“He thinks, ‘We’re here. I have
friends.’ This is the stage where
they build their identity. I don’t
know how this will affect him in
the long-run.”
In recent days, he has explored
alternatives for staying in the
country. He applied for a different kind of visa — known as an
E-2 — that is given to immigrants
from certain countries who invest
a substantial amount of money
in a U.S. business. Darash and
his lawyer expect to learn the
outcome of his application in the
coming weeks.
In the meantime, Darash tries
to remain upbeat — an attitude
that has carried him this far.
“Every entrepreneur is sort of
delusional with how optimistic he
is because that’s what you need to
be,” he said. “You’re taking something that everybody is telling
you ‘No, it won’t work, it’s impossible,’ and you’re doing it anyway.
You have to believe it will be okay
because otherwise we would never
build companies. We would never
go and do crazy stuff that makes a
difference in the world.”
“I have to believe this will
be okay as well,” he said.