12 | JUNE 29 • 2023
Mark Davidoff, Matt Elliott and Quentin Messer Jr. unveil the chosen name “The Elevator.”
According to Davidoff, The
Elevator’s roots reach back to
2014, when, after returning from
leading a mission to Israel, he
wrote an essay for Crain’s com-
paring Detroit to the Jordan
River.
“The Jordan River was going
through a reclamation process,
and my essay compared Detroit
post-bankruptcy and the Jordan
River in its reclamation,
” he said.
“The topic was: What happens
when something of a biblical
nature isn’t taken care of? That
article inspired a number of
conversations amongst the CEO
group in Detroit, and the com-
mon theme was, to me, they
hadn’t been to Israel and needed
to go.
”
In 2015, Davidoff led the
Michigan CEO Israel Mission
with 20 CEOs from across the
state. They went to Israel for five
days to study the incubator eco-
system of Israel. “That mission
led as a catalyst to, in 2018, the
formation of the Michigan Israel
Business Accelerator, for which I
was among the first board mem-
bers,
” Davidoff said.
Today, MIBA has a team of
four professionals in Detroit
and two in Israel. “We take a
consistent flow of leaders from
Michigan to Israel,
” Davidoff said.
WHAT IS THE ELEVATOR?
“The Elevator is the only soft
landing zone exclusively for
Israeli startups in the United
States. And we’re so proud it’s
here in Detroit,
” Davidoff said.
The Elevator expands upon
MIBA
’s existing services that
connect Israeli innovators with
Michigan partners to foster
collaborative and strategic part-
nerships for mutual benefit. The
Elevator’s added offerings include
regular networking events that
bring together ecosystem part-
ners and facilitate introductions
between Israeli partners and
Michigan businesses, as well as
educational programs focused on
market penetration techniques
such as sales training and mar-
keting strategies to accelerate
expansions.
Members of The Elevator will
not only gain access to corporate
enablers, experts and preferred
resources — such as legal, mar-
keting and accounting — they
will also have the opportunity to
participate in regularly scheduled
strategic events and mixers that
align with membership interests
and notable conferences held in
OUR COMMUNITY
ON THE COVER
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