A Jeep Adventure in the Golan Heights.
When I met Yoni, he was the mastermind behind a company called Utopia, specialising in educational software for kids.
This was long before Israel earned its reputation as “The Start-Up Nation.”
Yoni and his business partner, Dina, were pioneers in what was then called Edutainment—a perfect blend of education and entertainment.
Yoni was the business genius, while Dina, a child psychologist with visionary ideas, focused on developing skills to help children reach their full potential.
She also handled the human side of things, as Yoni wasn’t exactly a people person back then.
Our first vacation together was in Paris in 1994. While we were there, Yoni received some incredible news: they had landed a contract with a major American company to develop five new games for kids.
The deal was worth nearly a million dollars—a huge sum back then (and still pretty impressive today)!
After returning from our vacation, Yoni and Dina quickly got to work, hiring a team to bring their vision to life.
After the fall of the USSR in the early ’90s, a wave of talented, eager young Russian programers and graphic designers flooded into Israel, and within weeks, Yoni’s company grew to 25 employees.
To build team spirit and celebrate their success, Yoni and Dina organised a 4×4 adventure trip in the Golan Heights and invited the whole company.
Yoni asked me to join him, marking the first time he introduced me to anyone beyond his family.
It wasn’t just a casual outing—it was our first public appearance as a couple.
The day was full of fun, excitement, and a bit of adrenaline as Yoni revealed a side of himself his employees had never seen before.
Gone was the serious-looking guy from the office, replaced by a fun-loving, thrill-seeking adventurer.
But once the adventure was over, it was back to work—and that was a whole different kind of challenge…
