Picture Post #3 – Bahá’í Gardens, Haifa

This past Tuesday I had the opportunity to travel to Haifa and check out LFSMD, a cleantech start-up that develops lead-free alloys. After checking out the office, I toured the city and ended at the Bahá’í Gardens. Unfortunately, the Shrine of the Báb (the golden dome in the middle of the gardens) was under construction. However, it was still a beautiful place with great views of the city, and I thought I’d share a few pictures. Click and enjoy!

CleanTech 2010

Last week, Arba gave me the opportunity to attend CleanTech 2010, an international cleantech expo in Tel Aviv. Entrepreneurs, researchers, venture capital investors, large companies, and start-ups from around the world met at the 14th annual event to discuss and demonstrate the newest developments in the cleantech domain.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term cleantech (or believe it has to do with Lysol and Mr. Clean)—think environmentally friendly technologies such as alternative energy and energy efficiency solutions. The 120+ company event was dominated by solar, wind, and water companies so there were huge displays of solar panels, wind turbines, and water management systems.

After walking around the booths for a few hours, I decided it was time to get some free food and listen to one of the keynote speakers discuss water scarcity and the Israeli economy. I assumed it was going to be in English since it was an international expo, but I was wrong. So, I just clapped when everyone else clapped and had some time to appreciate what this day meant. For 99% of the people there, it might have been another day at the office—networking, pitching ideas, and trying to bring in some more business. For me it was so much more.

Since my freshman year at Michigan, I’ve developed a profound and growing interest in cleantech. Last summer, I followed over 150 cleantech start-ups for a database I made for the Office of Technology Transfer at Northwestern University. Even though the database was only comprised of American start-ups, I came across a ton of start-ups from Israel in my research and some of them were even at the event.

All of these companies are making a difference in the cleantech field, and some if not many are going to be the companies that change the world in the future, establishing an energy economy free of environmental deterioration and geopolitical strife. If you’re looking for the next dotcom bubble, look no further than cleantech. If you’re looking for the next Google, it very well may be one of these companies.

Benchmark Dinner

Updated July 11, 2010:

We had another amazing TAMID Fellowship group dinner this past Thursday, and this time it was with Benchmark Capital’s General Partner Elie Wurtman at Mamilla Hotel’s rooftop restaurant. Benchmark Capital is one of the most well-known venture capital firms in the world and has invested in companies like eBay and Twitter. Ever heard of them? Judith Phillips, an analyst at Benchmark, and Hod Fleishman, Founder and Chief of Safety of GreenRoad, also joined us for dinner. GreenRoad is one of Benchmark Israel’s (the Israeli branch of Benchmark Capital) portfolio companies.

After admiring the stunning view of the Old City and munching on some delicious food, we talked about entrepreneurship, innovation, start-ups, and venture capital in Israel and why we see a lot more of these things in Israel than other place in the world. There are two main reasons: First, the skills and traits an Israeli develops during the military are the same skills and traits required to be a successful entrepreneur. These skills and traits include leadership skills, collaborative skills, poise, and, most importantly, decisiveness.

All of the decisions made by an entrepreneur in the early stages of his company pretty much dictate the fate of that company. Hod essentially explained that the difference between an Israeli entrepreneur and a non-Israeli entrepreneur is that if a window of opportunity presents itself, a non-Israeli entrepreneur will wait until the window is fully open, whereas an Israeli entrepreneur only needs a slight crack. A non-Israeli entrepreneur might want to see all the details and make the safe bet, whereas an Israeli will take a chance and try his hardest make it happen. There’s no second-guessing—just execution.

For example, let’s say you’re the CEO of a start-up that manufactures custom eco-friendly natural gas generators. You have 10 employees, an office, and a small manufacturing plant and you currently supply the generators (one at a time) to households and local businesses. You get a call from the executive of an overseas restaurant-chain that has 500 different locations. He loves your product, but he doesn’t have that great of an idea of the size of your company. He tells you that he wants your company to supply generators to each of the 500 locations. What do you say?

Here’s what the typical non-Israeli entrepreneur would say:
“Well, we would love to do business with you in the future, but I’m afraid we do not have the capital or labor to take on a project of that magnitude at this moment”.

Here’s what the typical Israeli entrepreneur would say:
“When do you want them by?”

That wraps up reason one: entrepreneurial spirit is in their DNA and they are able to naturally apply their military experiences to an entrepreneurial setting. The second reason why Israel is a world leader in innovation is necessity. Israel is a tiny country—smaller than the state of New Jersey—in the middle of the desert with scarce resources, especially water. It is surrounded by hostile countries—Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan—and doesn’t have a friendly neighbor like Canada to import all of its oil from. As a result, Israeli entrepreneurs have pioneered the major advancements in solar energy and water-saving technologies.

Only One Month Left

I can’t believe I’ve already been in Israel for over 6 weeks, and I’ve only got 4 more to go. Work is going well, and I’m still working on some really sweet projects. My last project was a 9-page report on the relative valuation of two companies. I spent a lot of time researching and teaching myself how to make a discounted cash flow model and compare multiples. Yesterday I was assigned another project, which involves analyzing the marketing strategies of two competitors. I’m definitely getting a good feel for different aspects of business.

I spent this past weekend in Jerusalem and the inaugural TAMID fellowship class was finally together for this time this summer. Jon Medved, CEO of a company called Vringo, invited us over for a wonderful Shabbat dinner. There was a ton of delicious food—amazing challah, fruit salad, Israeli salad, whitefish salad, Mediterranean chicken, London broil, chocolate cake, and I know I’m forgetting something. Jon, his family, and friends were so kind, and it was truly a warm and welcoming experience.

The following day, Ally, Idan, Jon, Nate and I met at Jaffa Gate and walked around the Old City. On my way to Jaffa Gate, I couldn’t help but notice the vast differences between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem—I felt like I was in a different country. The entire city shuts down on Saturday, and it’s a strange feeling to walk around a city of 750,000 people and not see anyone else. Anyways, we spent some time at the kotel (Western Wall), hung out by the Davidson Center, and then walked back. When Shabbat ended, I took a sherut (share taxi) from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and it only cost 22 shekels ($5.80)!

It was a solid weekend and we have even more plans this week. On Thursday night, I’ll be back in Jerusalem with my fellow interns enjoying dinner with Elie Wurtman at Mamila Hotel’s rooftop restaurant overlooking the Old City. Mr. Wurtman is a General Partner of Benchmark Israel, a branch of one of the most renowned venture capital firms in the world.

Third Week at Arba Finance

Another week just ended at Arba and it’s hard believe I’m closing in on the halfway point of my internship. I just finished touching up my first project, which involved analyzing 8 different high-tech companies in the broadcasting industry from around the world and constructing 10 different reports.

Last week I was assigned my second project after having lunch with Daniel and Dr. Alberto Kaufman, CEO of a start-up called LFSMD. LFSMD develops lead-free solder alloys. I don’t have an engineering background and a lot of the technical jargon is over my head, but I’ll do my best to explain it. In a nutshell, soldering is the process of fusing two metals together. Soldering processes are typically used to make electronic components, such as computer chips, and lead has always been the dominant element in alloys since soldering processes have been used. However, there are many environmental concerns regarding the use of lead, and LFSMD has developed a lead-free solder alloy that is competitive with traditional soldering pastes. My assignment is to analyze the annual reports and company presentations of major players in the materials science industry and conduct research on the soldering sector.

Takin’ Care of Business

I just started my second week at Arba Finance, and it’s been a blast so far! The people here are great, and the projects that I’m working on are really interesting. My first project involved an analysis of a company called Orad and its competitors. Orad is an Israel-based provider of electro-optical, video and real-time image processing technologies for television broadcasting, studio productions and sports events. Many European soccer leagues use Orad’s solutions, such as TrackVision, for broadcasting their games.

Yesterday, Daniel Furman, Founder and Managing Director of Arba, took me to Yavne (a city 20 minutes outside of Tel Aviv) to meet with a company called Urban Aeronautics (UA). Simply put, UA produces hovercrafts. When we arrived at UA’s headquarters, Dr. Rafi Yoeli, Founder and CEO of UA, showed us all of the different prototypes. Initially, these vehicles will be intended for the military but as the company grows, they’ll be used for civil roles including medical evacuation and air-taxi operations. After some schmoozing, Dr. Yoeli brought us into the conference room, hooked up his iPad to a 40-inch flat screen, and went through UA’s business plan. Very cool stuff! Check out this vid to see what I’m talking about:

Picture Post #2 – Saturday in the Port (I Think It Was the 22nd of May)

I spent yesterday relaxing and getting ready for my internship (which I started today, but I’ll talk about that later in the week). It was my first Saturday in Tel Aviv and I’ve never seen so many people at the port. I took some pictures and thought I’d share them!

Picture Post #1 – Jerusalem Shuk

Shabbat shalom!

I spent the day in Jerusalem and met up with a few friends in TAMID, Nathan and Brett. We walked around the shuk, ate shwarma and felafel, and Brett gave us an inspiring pump-up speech to prepare us for our internships!

Quick Update

My Birthright trip ended a few days ago, and I moved into my apartment right after. Birthright was an AMAZING experience. It opened my eyes to a lot of issues and really made me even more excited about living in Israel this summer.

These past few days I have been exploring the city, hanging out on the beach, shopping at the shuk to get some things for the apartment, and experiencing Tel Aviv night life. It’s really easy to get around and I think I’m getting a good feel for the city. My apartment is in an incredible location — two minutes from the beach. It’s in the Namal (the port area in Tel Aviv). I went for a run along the coast and port yesterday and I’ve never seen anything so scenic.

I’m going to Jerusalem on Friday to meet up with some friends in TAMID. Jerusalem is an amazing city and I’m excited to go back there. I’m pretty psyched to start work at Arba Finance on Sunday as well. I’ll post some pics of my trip and apartment at some point in the next few days, so stick around!

One Chapter Ends, Another Begins

Although I can’t wait to go to Israel, I am kind of sad to leave Ann Arbor. It’s really hard to believe that I’m already halfway done with college, and it doesn’t help that Gramps keeps reminding me that these are the golden years EVERY SINGLE TIME we talk on the phone! I thought last year went by fast, but this year went by even faster. Having said that, I do have a lot to look forward to this summer.

In a few weeks, I’ll be heading over to Israel to experience the capstone of TAMID’s three-phased program: a professional internship in Israel. I’ll be working at Arba Finance, a Tel Aviv-based venture capital/business development firm. Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly interested in tech start-ups and venture capital through my involvement in TAMID, my own research, and making databases of cleantech, biotech, and medical device start-ups for the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) at Northwestern University and a database of venture capital firms for the OTT at U of M (I’ll save the topic of technology transfer for another post).

I’ve really come to appreciate the process of taking a novel, revolutionary idea and turning it into a commercial enterprise, and I hope to learn a lot more by working at Arba. Arba is active in the development of early-stage start-ups in a variety of sectors uniquely suited to the capabilities of Israeli high-tech entrepreneurs. In addition to venture capital, Arba also provides merchant banking services including capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, initial offerings, and project and export finance. I haven’t found out what specifically I will be doing, but I am eager to help out in any way I can and will keep you posted.