Israeli VC on Sand Hill road

Shai Agassi leaving SAP

Israel is a small country (reminding us all, it’s about the size of New Jersey with ~7 million people).  When an Israeli becomes successful, be it in soccer, tennis, violin, chemistry or software, all of Israel knows about it and feels a sense of ownership and pride.  

There is no doubt that Shai Agassi’s vision and drive has helped this giant software company spring forward, and if I quote one of Shai’s speeches (forgive me if I got some of it wrong), “It’s like watching an Elephant charge at 200MPH, and being able to ride it”. 

However, given the state of our environment, I am thrilled to have Shai refocus his energy (!) in this direction. 

Good Luck!

Tags: Shai+Agassi, SAP

First women to receive Turing Award

The prestigious Turing Award has been given annually for the past 41 years  – and finally – a women, Fran Allen, is it’s recipient.  Isn’t it amazing how we STILL have the first women this, and the first women that… and it’s 2007!

Fran Allen has some encouraging messages for women and views the change in the work environment as one that will help women advance in scientific careers.

It is my belief that beyond the evolving work environments, the fundamental change will come from home and school during a girls earlier years.  It is the responsibility of parents and teachers to make sure that both girls and boys are pushed to science - if that is where their personal strengths lie.  I don’t have any girls to push…. but I do have a niece

 

 

Tags: Turing+Award, Frances+Allen, Women+in+science

Oh my, we're being rated!

Yes, it’s true… there’s a website dedicated to rating VC funds.  It’s open to all - as is the case in the Internet – and allows anybody (except the VC’s themselves) to rate VC funds according to several parameters.

Gemini has already been rated by 2 individuals, for whatever that’s worth.  What can I say, we rate anything from movies, shoes, cars, so why not VC’s…. So, feel free…. another example of freedom of speech at it’s finest.  Gotta love this Internet!

 

Tags: TheFunded, Gemini+Israel+Funds

Being a tourist in your own backyard

This week, the CICC is leading a Global Technology Mission to Israel, the focus of which is Software.  A group of Senior Executives representing the most powerful companies is spending a few days in Israel, meeting with government, venture capitalists, industry representatives, start-up companies and generally the movers-and-shakers of Israeli hi-tech.  The main objective is to reinforce the already strong ties with Israeli technology companies, while understanding what makes this country tick.

Of course, a mission to Israel is not complete without a glimpse into the culture and history, so this morning, the group had a whole 3.5 hours to “do” Jerusalem.  I was fortunate enough to join this morning and become a tourist in my own country.  My only comment is that I should do it more often - and not just with groups of business people!

Tags: Jerusalem, CICC, California+Israel+Chamber+of+Commerce, Mission+to+Israel

Com.Venture 2007 - On Ubiquitous Computing

I’ll bet that 50% of the people that actually attend conferences, never enter any of the sessions… at today’s Com.Venture 2007, there was no exception.  I did take the time to sit through several of the sessions, and wanted to share some thoughts from the Ubiquitous computing panel.

Panelists:

• Esme Vos, Founder, Muniwireless.com
• Matthew Snyder,  Head of Business Development/Strategy Mobile Advertising, Nokia Multimedia.
• Gary Shainberg, VP, Technology & Innovation Support, British Telecom Group Technology Office.
• David Isenberg, Founder, Isen.com
• Ron Moritz, Sr. VP, Chief Securty Strategist, Computer Associates
• Abdul-Malik Al Jaber, Vice Chairman, CEO, Paltel Group

Comments:

• “Ubiquitous computing” is about access everywhere/anytime and multiple access devices - it’s not just “computing”. 
• Wi-Fi enabled cellphones will be huge
• Business models are changing rapidly, with advertising-funded models expected to make it easier for users to access content cheaper
• Ubiquitous also means that users will access content from different places, and business models will have to become contextual.  Accessing the same information within a different context will be billed differently.
• Service providers will have to shift the business model from selling access to selling content.
• On cellular advertising there are many dimensions to address – not just content (keywords), but location, time, demographics. Of course, all this without invading users privacy (Hah!)

• Interesting comment from Gary Shainberg from BT re: reverse marketing, via an advertising campaign for BT OpenZone hotspots, users were provided the ability to SMS a 3 digit number, and the service would ping back with the nearest OpenZone hotspot.  In 2 sets of tests, the first branded (meaning, where’s the nearest OpenZone hotspot) and the second un-branded (where’s the nearest hotspot), 3 times as many people submitted their request to the un-branded alternative! This means advertisers are going to have to make some changes in the messaging.

• Broadband penetration in the Arab world is almost 0.  It’s cost is prohibitive.  This results mainly from the initial costs to the service providers for set-up.  Until the governments reduce these fees, the cost to the users will remain unattainable.

In a discussion of who are the expected Winners and Losers from the changes in the industry, the winners will be:

• Search engines that manage to deliver relevant info – based not only on location, but on taste

• Organizations with a strong focus towards end users, that mobilize via advertising, and aim to get as many end users to use a service as possible

• Older telcos (like BT) that have accepted that there is competition, and have found new ways of embracing new technologies

• Small, nimble teams that are forward looking, and understand that large companies are not always able to drive innovation

• The incumbents if they act in a wise way

… and the losers:

• Traditional telco’s and service providers
• Those organizations that are trying to hold on to today’s business models
• The people that don’t listen to what innovation is coming out of Israel….

Quote of the session:“innovate or die”… but innovation is not mandatory.

Tags: ubiquitous+computing, esme+vos, matthew+Snyder, gar+shainberg, david+isenberg, abdul+Malik+Al+Jabar, ron+moritz, muniwireless, nokia+multimedia, british+telecom+technology+office, isen, paltel+group, computer+associates

Com.venture 2007 – The Israeli Internet Scene

So, this morning, I ventured out to Com.Venture 2007, the Internet conference that TheMarker sponsors yearly.  Knowing that it was taking place at “Airport City”, I looked around for some driving directions (I’ve never been there…)… I couldn’t find directions on the Com.Venture site, but I figured that the hi-tech Airport City park would certainly have directions on their site – WRONG! After living in “soft” Silicon Valley, these things are even more annoying than they should be.

But, eventually, thanks to the good ‘ole cellphone, and some patient people along the way, I made it.  Only to find no parking….

Again - welcome back to Israel.

Oh, almost forgot, the conference was actually quite good.  Packed with entrepreneurs, industry representatives from all over the globe, and of course VC’s – local and foreign.

Tags: airport+city, com.venture+2007, themarker

Women in the Board Room - where are they??

The Mercury New’s leading VC story is entitled “Women likely to remain rare in boardrooms”. The article is well worth the read, but fundamentally, it all goes back to the same core issue.  Until there will be more women executives and venture capitalist, this will not change. It's a prerequisite to hold key corporate positions, which train you and give you access to the next step. The higher you climb in this corporate world, the fewer women. The transition to Venture Capital typically goes through the corporate world, and for that reason, there are fewer women VC’s too.  It’s going to take quite awhile for this to change. 

Incidentally, right now, I am the only women on all of my boards.  In fact, this is usually the case, but every once in awhile, one of my women VC colleagues and I share a common board. 

BTW - publicly traded Israeli companies - are required by law to have a women in the board of directors.  This is part of the broader discussion about affirmative action, but does force the issue.

Web Applications and Disk Crashes

I've been making Digital PhotoBooks for awhile.  I've used many services, checking to see who offers   the best quality (and not necessarily best price...).  I've used:  My Publisher, Snap Fish, Douglas, Picaboo, Pica book, Vivi, to name a few.  Some of them offer web-based solutions, other downloadable software.  But basically, the idea, you drag and drop photo's, create your personal photobook, and it's sent to you via the mail.  Cheap it's not, but when done properly, the result is beautiful.

So, recently, I suffered a disk crash (yes, this happens to VC's too).  And now, was showtime for my Sysadmin (we all know, backup is only 1 part of the process... it's restore that we want to see!).  Without going into too much detail, the restoration process went quite smoothly.  That is, until we started to reinstall apps!  We do not backup applications (why bother???).  So, when your system dies (or when you upgrade to a new computer, etc.), you have to reinstall one application after the next.  Only, in many cases, the version on the web is no longer the version that you had running; you encounter licensing issues, and backward compatibility issues.  Those were the least of my problems!  My challenge was reinstalling one of the digital photobook applications - Picaboo.  Now, the application was installed with no problem, and I still have all of my digital photo's, but Picaboo stores their files somewhere that.... of course was not part of my backed-up data.  This I realized only when I read about how to backup my digital photobooks (-- which, I did post disk crash).  Basically, all the work that I had done was gone.  This is hours and hours of work, much of which already exists in beautiful hardcover photobooks, but there were still those books that I hadn't completed, etc.

While I was contemplating the correct response to my Sysadmin, I sent a note to Picaboo customer support.  Miraculously, they had the ability to recover all but one of my photobooks, including those which I had not yet printed.  I was delighted.  Their customer service was indeed outstanding, and for that I commend them.

At the same time, it does raise the issue of separation between data and applications.  When you're working on a web app, do you know what is being saved where on your computer (for purposes, such as backup this is quite useful information). I like to think of myself as a semi-sophisticated user, but I had never paid attention to this point.  I will now!

technorati tags: digital photobook picaboo digilabs picabook mypublisher snapfish backup and recovery

Software 2007 - The Israeli Pavillion

The California Israel Chamber of Commerce (CICC) is launching its efforts to host the first Israel Pavilion at Software 2007, featuring innovative technology from Israel's finest Enterprise Software companies:

• Only 12 companies will be selected
• Each company gets space in the Pavilion for 1/2 a day
• Companies will be chosen by CICC steering committee

For application, click here.

technorati tags: software 2007 israeli pavilion

Why do we blog?

The other day, Guy Grimland, journalist with TheMarker (and Hebrew blogger on his own right), wrote a piece on the Israeli Venture Capitalist bloggers.  The title (for those unable to read Hebrew) was "Making an Impression on Entrepreneurs".  I feel compelled to react (sorry for the delay, it's been busy around here....) and post about why do we blog.

Actually, I don't know about "we", but rather "I", and I'm not quite sure the I have all the answers about why I blog, but I can tell you with 100% certainty, it's not to make an impression!  VC's are known to be somewhat opinionated (!) and now I have another platform in which to voice my opinions.  It's the ultimate freedom of speech.  There is something very compelling about sitting in my Herzelia office, and reaching people all over the world.  Other than the voice, I've found that it's also a great way to stay in touch.  Not just with entrepreneurs, but my friends and family. 

Having said all that, it still is a big investment of time (which is not something that I have plenty of).  But worth remembering, not all things are done for a specific reason.... and my blogging falls into that category. 

I blog, because I can :-)

technorati tags: israeli vc bloggers guy grimland themarker