CIRCUIT Q&A

Catching up with Yossi Vardi, wisecracking patriarch of Israel’s startup culture

At his DLD tech festival, the 80-year-old entrepreneur talks with The Circuit about how to survive the drying up of venture capital and the hype about AI

JONATHAN FERZIGER

JONATHAN FERZIGER

Yossi Vardi holds court in lobby of Habima theater at DLD Tel Aviv Innovation Festival.

Leaning back on a white couch in the lobby at Tel Aviv’s Habima national theater, where he was hosting one of Israel’s top technology conferences, Yossi Vardi gets ready to shmooze. At 80 years old, he dresses in a...