Tag: Israel

We got to the beach bright and early and ready to learn. Today, our classroom was the beach. The conversation started out about the Better Place project and entrepreneur Shai Agassi’s image of a “better place”.

With almost $1 billion in funding and ambitions to replace petroleum-based cars with a network of cheap electrics, Shai Agassi’s Better Place was remarkable even by the standards of world-changing startups. So was its epic failure. A 21st-century cautionary tale.  –Fast Company

Since we were on the beach, it was hard to hear everyone and comments continued to be repeated. So we went off the original plan, split into groups and continued to discuss the project. We all took part in the conversation within the smaller groups and discussed the execution and the failures of Shai Agassi’s vision.

Guest blogger: Leana is a sophomore at Brandeis University

I learned a lot about this lesson on the beach and not only about Better Place. We are all here to invest our time to learn about start-ups, Israel, venture capitalists, and more. And especially in startups, nothing ever goes as planned, and you can either give up or find a new way. And here Steve saw a situation what wasn’t working as planned and directed it in another direction.

I usually like to have a plan and stick to it, but that’s not reality. Things change and life takes us in every direction and it’s our turn to go with it and find the best way to move forward. So I look at the beach class as a success, because it was a minor example of curve balls that will be thrown our way. Since we broke up into smaller groups, we had the opportunity to listen and talk with our peers and open our minds to what could have been improved to really make Better Place, a real better place.

In the past week, we have been lucky enough to visit a number of very well known companies.  Two of my favorite visits have been to AT&T and to Microsoft. While I expected to have very formal lectures at both places, I was pleasantly surprised by the laid back nature of the discussions. We were graciously welcomed into both establishments.  The presenters were wearing jeans and seemed very excited to talk to us. I did not find out until later that one of the speakers at Microsoft was actually a very senior executive who is responsible for running a large part of the Israeli firm. This is more evidence of the casual, and humble nature of many people in Israel.

Guest Blogger: Jessie is a junior at Washington University in St. Louis

Aside from the welcoming atmosphere, I was impressed by the topic of discussion. At both places, we talked about the role these companies are playing in fueling Israel’s startup culture. Both AT&T and Microsoft have programs that encourage young entrepreneurs who have valuable ideas.

More specifically, the AT&T center has its International Innovation Center in Ra’anana, and Microsoft funds a start up program called Microsoft Ventures. The innovation center is a place where a number of innovators collaborate, share ideas, and think of ways to better the experience for an AT&T customer. It is interesting to note, however, that AT&T has no ownership over these companies and they can scale, grow and shift market in whichever way they please.

I found the Microsoft Ventures program particularly interesting because it is a program that pairs a startup with a mentor company in order to help the business grow. This semester, I did a presentation on Arch Grants, and had the pleasure of learning about their entrepreneurial competition. Just as Microsoft Ventures aims to foster the entrepreneurial spirit of Israel, Arch Grants aims to do the same for St. Louis. Just as Arch Grants funds a number of companies located in T-Rex, a center for entrepreneurs to collaborate, both Israeli accelerators give different entrepreneurs a physical space to exchange ideas.

I saw many other parallels in the programs, but he most astounding one was that neither Microsoft nor Arch Grants took any equity in the companies they helped. Although Arch Grants does not currently pair a start up with a mentor company, my team suggested they should. As proven by Microsoft, having a mentor company can give the startup a number of extremely useful resources. They are also both competitions, funding only the winners of extensive rounds of selection. Picking the finest companies and assisting them does great service to both the startup culture and the innovative spirit of both regions.

Today after having class in the morning and discussing the Waze case, we were fortunate to hear from one of the co-founders of Waze, Uri Levine. Seeing him clad in athletic clothing and sneakers, everyone was at first unsure if this was actually one of the co-founders of a more than billion dollar company.

Guest Blogger: Jackson is a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis

Rest assured, he was. We later learned that Uri biked to IDC to speak to us. In fact, I think this informality, along with his laid-back, almost nonchalant temperament is what most impressed me and what I liked the most about him. This is because, although he definitely does impress, he doesn’t feel the need to do so, often mentioning that everything that he was saying was only his opinion and not to be taken for the final word. That said, I learned much from Uri that I hope to apply to my future work.

With Waze app, you can see other friends also driving to your destination, when you connect to Facebook. Coordinate everyone’s arrival times when you pick up or meet up with friends.

The first lesson relates to the initial steps to a start-up. Specifically, you need to a have a dream or passion about your start-up. Being an entrepreneur is extremely difficult, full of ups and downs, and is never a sure thing. So, it’s very important that you are pursuing your start-up for the right reasons, rather than to chase money. As Uri put it, you need to “fall in love” with your idea.

In addition, you need to find a solution for many users with a problem, and your solution needs to be “big.” In order to determine if your idea is big enough, you should ask yourself: Who will be out of business when I succeed? If you don’t know, the idea is simply not big enough. This notion was very meaningful to me, as my first thought would be that you would want to start small and be realistic. However, he said that when you think big, you have much more drive to accomplish your goals, even if you don’t get there right away.

Next, I learned a great deal about leadership. First, not everyone is best suited to be a leader in a company. Although Uri co-founded Waze, he said that he knew himself well enough to know that he wouldn’t be the right CEO. However, because he told us to reach high, I took some valuable advice away. That is, if you are ever CEO of a company, ego management is critical. As a leader of a company, it’s important not to let your ego get in the way of what is best for your company and its shareholders. In addition, it’s vital to be the type of leader that you would like to follow. This can’t be overlooked, as leaders of companies play huge roles not only in decision-making, but also the overall morale of the workers.

I could go on and on about what I learned from Uri, but these were a couple of the bigger takeaways. Near the end of his visit, I asked him why he decided to sell and leave Waze instead of either continuing to grow it with his team or joining Google once it sold. He responded by saying that he left in order to build a new startup because “this is what entrepreneurs do.” To me, Uri is a role model for any aspiring entrepreneur, and his advice will most certainly be something that I’ll never forget.

*Waze is the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app. Join other drivers in your area who share real-time traffic and info, saving everyone time and gas money on their daily commute.

On June 9, we went on our first company visit to Pitango, Israel’s leading venture capital fund. As we pulled up to the Corporate Park filled with beautiful office buildings and great restaurants, I thought I was in New York City. I immediately became even more excited than I was before and curious about what I was going to experience inside one of the buildings.

Guest blogger: Rachel is a sophomore at the University of Michigan.

Mlavsky

First, Dr. Ed Mlavsky, Chairman Emeritus and Founding Partner of Gemini Israel Ventures, spoke to us about the transition of Israel to a high-tech world. The organization of his presentation was timely and precise. Dr. Mlavsky described the days before the Internet to the present, in terms of investing in high-tech companies. He specifically noted that between 1999 and 2008 the Israeli Venture Capitalist Evolutionary process was in a time of “Survival of the Fittest.” This phenomenon occurs when too many funds are established, thus competition is inevitable between them. I found it interesting that the same term I learned about in high school science is applicable to business in the past and present. By 2012, the Israel Venture Capitalist Industry was in maturity.

Another important topic that Dr. Mlavsky thoroughly discussed was the American- Israeli culture gap and how it affects the industry. It is important to consider this dilemma when the firms debate hiring an American or Israeli CEO. After being in Israel for only a few days, the mentality of Israeli business is palpable. Dr. Mlavsky’s discussion was a great introduction to this summer’s adventures and educational experience.

Similarly, Rami, from Pitango, charismatically discussed his take on the industry, his personal experience and methods. Rami put the rather large terms we discussed in class into applicable advice that sparked my inspiration. One survival skill that specially stood out was the need to find your weapon. In other words, one needs to find what drives them in order to be successful. Over the next six weeks I am excited to explore this question further and hopefully will leave here knowing what my weapon is.

I have had a crash course in Middle East politics within the past five days, especially about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I had a very shallow understanding of the conflict coming into my study abroad but since the beginning of “Operation Protective Edge*,” I feel as if I’ve become an expert on the topic.

*Operation Protective Edge is an Israel Defense Forces operation in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, launched on July 8, 2014.

On our way back from the Dead Sea, our tour guide and Adam, the person in charge of us, told us that it was possible we would hear sirens indicating incoming rocket fire in Tel Aviv that night or the next morning. Some of us took the threat seriously and others thought the possibility of sirens was far fetched.

Sure enough not even an hour after we got back to Tel Aviv, the sirens went off. At first we weren’t sure if it was the siren or an ambulance. But after a few moments we realized it was the siren and headed to the staircase for shelter.

The Iron Dome is honestly the most fascinating piece of technology I’ve ever encountered. It intercepted those rockets over Tel Aviv and all the ones we’ve experienced since being in Israel. The fact that it can detect whether a rocket is going to hit a populated area and intercept the rocket all within a very short amount of time is both life-saving and incredible. Being in Israel during time of conflict has been both challenging and a learning opportunity. I feel as if I have a completely different view on the world and how lucky we are to live in a country where our borders aren’t threatened on a daily basis.

Sara Jackson is a sophomore at the Olin Business School and a member of the first class in Olin’s Israel Summer Business Academy.

On our second day of classes at the Israel Summer Business Academy (ISBA), we were off to Google Israel, located right in the heart of Tel Aviv. Class was held in “Campus TLV”, a portion of the Google office dedicated to entrepreneurs who come to work on their ideas within the confines of a very creative space. We, too, got our creativity flowing as we worked in teams to talk about what we believe has made Israel the innovative nation it is today, and what our definitions of an entrepreneur and innovation are.

After class, we were taken on a tour of the Google offices. From the oranges to the arcade, and even the workout area, I was so impressed with all of the different floor themes. I also loved the signs posted on all of the doors with various health and nutrition facts. It was fascinating listening to Yossi Matias, the head of Research and Development for Google Israel. To learn that the Israelis are responsible for the suggestions that pop up every time I make a Google search and that the World Cup scores are being updated in their office was very cool. I am so happy we had the opportunity to visit there!

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing work and relaxing under the sun. A group of us  had a nice dinner just down the road and topped it off with some delicious Italian style gelato. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s discussion of Israel’s venture capitalist firms and can’t wait to try the highly praised chocolate at Max Brenner.

Carly Bloom is a sophomore at Olin Business School and a member of the first class in Olin’s Israel Summer Business Academy.