Israeli VC on Sand Hill road

Blogging is like going to the gym...

When you’re in the swing of things, you just keep on blogging.  However, take a quick break (for whatever reason), and you find it quite challenging to pick it up again.  Reminds me of what happens when you miss a few spinning classes in a row .

Tags: blogging+and+the+gym

While on the "NatBag Express"

As I was preparing for my upcoming trip to the US, I decided to to check out the “Natbag express” – the train which will take me almost from my Moshav, all the way to Ben Gurion Airport for 23 NIS (vs. 230 NIS for a cab, or similar in parking fees).  If I do this in Milan or London, then why not TLV???  Not only is this a convenient way to arrive at the airport, putting me straight into the terminal, it is cheap and environmentally friendlier than any other alternative.  I am now officially ‘hooked’.

While on the Natbag Express, I flipped through a copy of TheMarker that somebody had left on the seat and much to my surprise, found my own photo in print.  The Article by Guy Grimland was about TheFunded.com and my blog was quoted in print!!! That’s a first for me.  My blog has been linked to, linked from, commented, criticized, listed in other blogs, etc., etc. but quoted in print?  I suppose there’s nothing really wrong with that, but it still feels odd.

 

 

Tags: israel+railways, ben+gurion+airport, train+to+tel+aviv+airport, guy+grimland, themarker

Playing around with Widgets

It’s not that I’m not swamped… it’s just that I need a break from the latest deal that I’m working on… thought to add something “important” to my blog.  Check out the widget on the left (from YourMinis)… it’s getting *hot* in Israel!

Tags: yourminis, israel+weather

Blogging as a form of procrastination

Right now, 11:29PM,  I should be reading 2 HBS case studies for tomorrow's IVA Capital Executive Educational Seminar, being taught by  Prof. Paul Gompers (photo on the right).  I was trying to remember when was the last time I sat in a classroom, as a student, in any type of course.  It was so long ago, that I don't want to think about it anymore.

So now, as I've completed most of my urgent emails (since I spent all day in "class" instead of the office)... I just absolutely had to post to my blog.  Yes, definitely procrastination.....

technorati tags: IVA Paul Gompers

Men - and why don't they notice obvious changes !

Was not sure if this should be part of my blog, but after a quick chat with Ouriel, here it goes.

The story is simple.  Since the day I turned 40, I’ve started to need “long arms” to read small print.  After awhile, you reach a point where your arms aren’t quite long enough.  Following quite a few months of pure denial, I came to the conclusion that it’s time to get multi-focals.

To shorten this story, while my multi-focals were being prepared to be mounted on my old (and perfectly good) Silhouette frames, I wore a temporary pair of glasses.  Silhouettes are minimal, frameless, almost not there. My temporary pair was red, plastic, with red sides, heavy and you could spot them a mile away.

Well, all the women at Gemini noticed right away…. In the office, only 3 of the men paid any attention.  We had our Monday staff meeting, so everybody had the opportunity to see.  How can you not notice something that’s SOOOO obvious?!

My 3 boys all noticed, with various comments: #1 “Yuck, they’re ugly”, #2 “Since when are you wearing glasses”, #3 “Why are you wearing somebody elses glasses”.  You can try and guess which comment to attribute to which boys (reminder: ages 13, 9, 3).

I wonder what will happen when my boys grow up to become men… will they still notice?

Tags: new+glasses, multi+focals, silhouette

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

Don't believe everything I blog about

Tel-Aviv, Monday 2:50 AM.  So, I took my "knock-out melatonin" hours ago, and I'm still tossing and turning.  The only thing I can think of right now, is that bloghers often write stupid things.  Ignore my post on "Jetlag- and how to overcome it".  Seems useless right now.

technorati tags: blogging jetlag international travel israel travel israel