Episode synopsis

Hosts Mike Wagers and Rick Smith interview Amir Elichai, Israeli-born co-founder of Carbyne, about how a beach mugging in Tel Aviv exposed the "broken telephone game" of emergency response and inspired the creation of a modern, cloud-based 911 platform.

How do you modernize 911? Amir shares how a real-world emergency revealed critical gaps in public safety technology—and how that experience led to the founding of Carbyne.

Growing up in Ashdod, Israel, Amir witnessed innovation firsthand through his father's work on the Iron Dome missile defense system. He also reflects on five years in the IDF's elite Egoz special forces unit and the leadership lessons that shaped his career.

After serving in Israeli security roles in New York, Amir launched Sky Project (later Sky Holdings), a pre-LinkedIn deal-flow network that evolved into early-stage cybersecurity investing before helping incubate Carbyne.

The conversation explores why legacy 911 systems lacked critical capabilities such as location data, text messaging, video sharing, and real-time information exchange—and how Carbyne helped bring emergency communications into the cloud.

Amir explains how COVID accelerated cloud adoption across public safety agencies and why Carbyne's breakthrough deployment in New Orleans became a turning point for cloud-based emergency response.

Mike, Rick, and Amir also discuss Carbyne's acquisition by Axon, its fit alongside Prepared, and a shared vision for the future of emergency communications.

Topics include:

• 911 technology and public safety innovation

• Cloud-based emergency response systems

• Leadership lessons from IDF special forces

• Startup building and cybersecurity investing

• Carbyne, Axon, and Prepared

• AI in emergency communications

• Faster time-to-dispatch and better outcomes