[7][8] The Council on Foreign Relations stated in its publisher's blurb for the book that Start-up Nation addresses the question: "How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million people, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources—produces more start-up companies on a per capita basis than large, peaceful, and stable nations and regions like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and all of Europe?

"[2] Neither ranks nor ages matter much "when taxi drivers can command millionaires and 23-year-olds can train their uncles," and "Israeli forces regularly vote to oust their unit leaders.

"[13] Additional factors cited by the authors include a sense of dissatisfaction with the status quo, a culture that encourages experimentation with technology, and government policies that support start-ups.

The authors tell vivid stories of entrepreneurial success, such as that of Shai Agassi, the son of an Iraqi immigrant to Israel, with his electric-automobile technology, now in the process of creating 'Car 2.0.

'"[2] Publishers Weekly stated that "the authors ground their analysis in case studies and interviews with some of Israel's most brilliant innovators to make this a rich and insightful read not just for business leaders and policy makers but for anyone curious about contemporary Israeli culture.

"[21] David Horovitz of The Jerusalem Post said that conclusions of Start-up Nation are validated by real-world events, such as the treatment given to Gabby Giffords after the 2011 Tucson shooting, where an emergency medical team used a elasticized bandage developed in Israel to control her head wounds.

[22] A review in The Washington Post says that "the book weaves together colorful stories of Israeli technological triumphs" such as the story of Shvat Shaked, who "founded a cybersecurity firm with his old buddy from Army intelligence and had the chutzpah to bet a top executive at PayPal, the online commerce company owned by eBay, that his few dozen engineers could beat PayPal's thousands in developing secure online software.

"[23] A review in The Christian Science Monitor notes that "critics say that the story behind how a country of 7 million has more Nasdaq-listed companies than Europe is more complex than Singer and Senor paint it to be.

"[15] Yusuf Mansur, writing in The Jordan Times, contends that two factors cited by Senor and Singer as key to Israel’s success—the IDF and Soviet-Jewish immigration—have only been sustainable due to foreign aid from the United States and private sources.

[24] Gal Beckerman, writing in The Forward magazine, observes that the book "presents Israel in an extremely positive light as a bastion of entrepreneurial spirit and technological achievement.

"[30] Former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad reportedly kept a copy of Start-up Nation on his desk as a source of inspiration for the West Bank's own burgeoning technology industry.