We have been working with Ron Miasnik for over a year — he helped incubate and acted as CEO of our portfolio company Duality Labs before heading to our New York office as a fellow — and now we are thrilled to announce that he has been promoted to associate on our investing team. Ron is dynamic, entrepreneurial and thoughtful, and has already made a mark on our team. He will be working with Enrique on infrastructure investing in Israel and will continue working with Noah on incubating and building companies in New York.

Israel’s tech community has long been important to BCV. We invested in Armis and led the Series A and E of Redis Labs and continue to add to our position in it. Now more than ever is a great time to commit more resources to the Israeli startup ecosystem, and Ron is perfectly poised to focus in this area as someone who has a robust network in and personal connection to the country, and has organized tech delegations there since college. 

Aside from building out our Israel practice, Ron’s incubation work will continue in New York. We are excited to continue seeing his entrepreneurial energy produce great companies and bring great founders close to BCV. As a matter of fact, he’s already helped close two investments since joining! 

Wherever he is in the world, Ron is in his element when he is having lively discussions with founders and other leaders, and we encourage you to reach out. We had him answer some questions so you can learn more about him and why we’re so excited to have him on the team.

What is your connection to Israel?

For me, working on bringing Bain Capital Ventures into Israel is more personal than professional. My four grandparents all moved to Israel to build up the country in its early days. I grew up with Israeli parents, speaking Hebrew at home, and visiting family and friends in the country every year.

In college, I started organizing tech delegations to Israel for entrepreneurs and tech leaders to be exposed to the Israeli ecosystem. I’ve continued to organize these trips since graduating. I also spent a year in the country working as chief of staff to Michael Eisenberg at Aleph, an early-stage Israeli fund. 

I intimately understand how important it is that Israel thrive, and feel grateful that I can contribute in my small way, by bringing an institution like Bain Capital into the country.

Which opportunities will you be looking for there?

I am excited to build on BCV’s successes in Israel, with early investments in companies like Redis and Armis, and to continue investing in the Israeli cyber and security ecosystem. Security is core to Israel’s identity as a country and is, unsurprisingly, a sector where it continues to punch far above its weight.

I hope to leverage the full power of Bain Capital to help Israeli startups go global. We are building a robust practice to help Israeli companies hire great people, close important customers and build out their business from early stages through scale, with BCV supporting all the way through.

What about timing?

The past few months have been tragic for Israel and the entire tech ecosystem that thrives on Israeli innovation. We have watched, horrified, as the country faced a brutal terrorist attack on its civilians which has turned into an active war. As investors, we are long-term thinkers and optimists, and are more excited about the opportunities in the Israeli ecosystem than we’ve ever been. We are excited not only to continue investing in Israeli tech, but to show our support for the Israeli people.

Back in New York, you’ll be focused on company incubations. Why are you attracted to this process?

I am, in my heart, an entrepreneur. Prior to joining BCV, I co-founded and sold a bootstrapped SaaS company and ran one of Bain Capital’s incubations. To me, the zero-to-one has always been the most exciting part of company creation. It takes an extreme level of boldness, optimism, and “chutzpah” to believe that you, with an idea and small group of people, can build something that will, over time, reach a global scale.

One of my core focuses at BCV has been helping to build out our incubations practice. I am focused on incubating tech-enabled services businesses here at BCV — the types of “boring” services businesses that are in drastic need of a refresh, and can be transformed using software and AI.

I’m lucky to be able to scratch my entrepreneurial itch by systematically building and launching companies at BCV, especially getting to leverage the expertise, resources, network and reputation of Bain Capital. I believe that building companies makes me a better investor and investing in companies makes me a better builder.

How do you approach investing?

The first question I ask myself when meeting a founder is, “Is this the type of special visionary that I’d be excited to learn from and grow with for the next decade?” It takes an exceptional person to build an exceptional company, and my hope is to work with ambitious, obsessive, mission-driven founders at the earliest stages.

I also love investing with a mission in mind, where the problem space has a tangible impact on the real world. I believe that everyone, including myself, wants to work on problem spaces that matter. Feeling like your work has a real impact on the world is not only more meaningful, but keeps you motivated when things (inevitably) get hard.

Who would you like to meet?

I’d love to speak with Israeli cybersecurity and infrastructure founders, anyone looking to build or ideate in tech-enabled services, or anyone who’s thinking about their next step and wants to brainstorm and think big. You can reach me at rmiasnik@baincapital.com.