Well, it has been quite a while since my last post! That being said, it was definitely nice taking a well deserved break after the hectic - mile-a-minute - pace I'd kept while in Israel. One person who was still working however was trip videographer, Steve Kushner, who after taking a brief detour into Jordan, returned home and pulled together two final videos chronicling our program. These videos capture the essence of our last three weeks in Israel - both in terms of the activities we participated in and the places we visited. Enjoy!
Showing posts with label better place. Show all posts
Showing posts with label better place. Show all posts
More Venture Capitalists
Last Tuesday - July 6th - the Smith team drove down to Herzliya - a suburb of Tel Aviv - for a series of meetings and company visits. Our first stop of the morning was at Better Place, which I've already detailed in two previous posts (here and here). After finishing our meeting at Better Place, we traveled to Benchmark Capital. Later in the afternoon, we had our final visit of the day at the offices of Pitango Capital.
Upon arrival at Benchmark Capital, our first visit was with Shai-Lee Spigelman, the Marketing Manager for Microsoft's Israel R&D Center. Shai-Lee talked with us about the Microsoft experience in Israel. In other words, the when, why, and how they entered the market. She focused primarily on the most relevant aspects related to research and in particular research for a larger multinational corporation. It was my takeaway that Microsoft (as do a lot of other companies) rely on their Israeli team for some of their most difficult problems and tasks. They also see Israel as a focal point for innovation, as exemplified through their ThinkNext conference. All that aside, there are at times difficulties both cultural and logistic in coordinating between headquarters and Israel.
"Microsoft's Shai-Lee discusses R&D in Israel"
Photo by Kristin Thompson
Photo by Kristin Thompson
Following our talk with Shai-Lee, we heard a series of impromptu comments by Ellie Wurtman, a general partner at Benchmark. Ellie briefly talked to us about Benchmark's current investment portfolio, as well as the perceived risks he sees going forward for both his firm and also the broader venture capital market, given current conditions. Ellie then introduced us to the second presenter of the day, Avichay Nissenbaum, the country manager for AOL Israel and the CEO of Yedda Inc.
"Avichay Nissenbaum giving his start-up to buy-out story"
Photo by Kristin Thompson
Photo by Kristin Thompson
The Yedda story is a prime example of a start-up success - and more specifically a start-up that succeeded through the investment and backing of venture capital. The name Yedda comes from the Hebrew word for "knowledge". Founded in late 2006, Yedda is a website built to share knowledge with others by asking and answering questions. What I believe is most interesting about the Yedda story is that they were not the first mover in this space. In fact at the time of launch, Yahoo Answers, Wondir, and Google Answers were already offering similar services. Yedda differentiated themselves based on a number of unique offerings as well as through selling their service as a Q&A platform for other independent sites. Traffic grew rapidly over the first year and by November 2007 they had been acquired by AOL - which has subsequently integrated Yedda into their existing website(s).
Our final meeting of the day was at Pitango Capital. Founded in 1996, Pitango was Israel's first major venture capital firm. Over the past 14 years they have invested over $1.3 billion in 120+ portfolio companies. Pitango has been involved in many of the most successful Israeli ventures over this time period. Our host was Chemi Peres, co-founder of the firm and son of Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister and current President of Israel. Chemi is one of the most well connected and experienced venture capitalists in Israel.
"The team listens closely as Chemi Peres talks business"
Photo by Kristin Thompson
Photo by Kristin Thompson
For about an hour and a half, Chemi provided us a comprehensive overview of the current Israeli economic condition. He definitely had some insights (very pragmatic/realistic) that surprisingly (i.e. Israeli people are notoriously blunt) we hadn't heard yet during our time in Israel. Following this, Chemi then drilled down on the story behind one of Pitango's original venture investments - VocalTech Communications. In many ways, VocalTech exemplifies both a "great" venture capital investment as well as "flawed" investment. It was great in that it delivered a high return on capital. Concomitantly, the venture did not originally go as far as it could have in capturing the value of the space. Other players (e.g. Skype) came late, yet gained more - mostly because they took greater risks. VCs - though they seem risk seeking - are actually as risk averse (if not more so) then most investors. Lesson learned.
Better Place Ctd
As I'd mentioned previously (see here), last Tuesday the Smith team had the opportunity to visit Better Place, Israel's innovative electric car company. We departed Haifa around 9am for the drive to their facility in Tel Aviv. Located not far from the freeway (and ocean), Better Place was already humming from the moment we arrived - as tour groups passed through and saw, heard, and drove the Better Place solution.
"Brad investigating Better Place's futuristic showroom"
Photo by Kristin Thompson
Photo by Kristin Thompson
As we'd arrived early, we helped ourselves to coffee and tea, while we waited for the tour to start. A little after 11am, the tour began. First we had a brief overview of the Better Place facility from our guide. Next, we were directed into an amphitheater to hear the spiel from a virtual "Shai Agassi". To say that this was a flawless presentation - delivered in a futuristic and otherworldly location - would be an understatement. At the end, the bottom of the stage rotated and the model car was displayed for us to see. Really impressive!
"Virtual Shai Agassi talks to us about the Better Place vision"
Photo by Kristin Thompson
Photo by Kristin Thompson
If that wasn't enough, third we were then directed outside to a test track so that each of us could experience the feel of driving a truly 100% electric car - as well as see examples of the charging stations. Among our group, Asher Epstein was able to test drive the single Tesla Roadster on site, while the rest of us were driving Renault's. Though jealous of Asher, I was still lucky enough to be the first in my group to get behind the wheel!
"Better Place's electric cars getting recharged"
Photo by Kristin Thompson
Photo by Kristin Thompson
To be honest, it wasn't what totally what I expected - though I don't mean this in a bad way. When I turned the car on for the first time, there wasn't the "normal" experience one expects when a car motor fires up. Instead it was completely silent. Additionally, as I drove out onto the track and increased speed - the car had "perfect" acceleration - as it had no gear box and hence no gears to shift between. All in all it was a very nice drive.
"The team talks with Mike Granoff overlooking the test track"
Photo by Kristin Thompson
Photo by Kristin Thompson
"A full demonstration of the Better Place battery exchange system"
Photo by Kristin Thompson
Photo by Kristin Thompson
Better Place
Earlier today, the Smith team had the opportunity to visit one of the most interesting companies currently operating in Israel today, Better Place. Launched in 2007 by Shai Agassi, (who we had seen speak earlier this summer at the Technion) the one time future CEO of SAP AG, Better Place has already raised over $700 million dollars in venture backing. The goal of Better Place is to get the world off of oil - focusing on creating an innovative model for the car industry and a new generation of electric cars - whereby the battery is removed from the cost of the car. An idea which has the potential to be a real game changer.
Better Place has already entered into agreements with Nissan-Renault and China's Cherry Automobile to produce full lines of vehicles starting in 2011. Israel and Denmark are the initial target markets - with a planned roll-out in Australia shortly thereafter. In the next day or two, I'll provide some additional debrief and background on our visit (and a full recap of our test drives on their car track), as well as our other company visits. In the meantime here's a video that gives a great overview of the firm and its mission.
Better Place has already entered into agreements with Nissan-Renault and China's Cherry Automobile to produce full lines of vehicles starting in 2011. Israel and Denmark are the initial target markets - with a planned roll-out in Australia shortly thereafter. In the next day or two, I'll provide some additional debrief and background on our visit (and a full recap of our test drives on their car track), as well as our other company visits. In the meantime here's a video that gives a great overview of the firm and its mission.
Second Recap
Another three weeks have passed since our arrival in Israel. The time continues to go by extremely quickly and a lot has transpired in this very short period. As such, I think it's time for another brief summary - for readers both new and old.
Week 4: I wrote about our first class presentations to Israeli venture capitalists at the Technion here. Additionally, the fourth week found the Smith team traveling to Jerusalem during the middle of the week for the Hi-Tech Investment Conference, which I blogged about here and here. Additionally, Israel's Prime Minister made a surprise visit to the conference, which I posted about here. The weekend found the team traveling back to Jerusalem once again - this time for tours of the city's cultural and historical sites.
Week 5: For week five, the Smith team traveled for company visits in Jerusalem (here) and Be'er Sheva (here). Later in the week we went to a speech by Better Place's Shai Agassi at the Technion. This same week I also wrote about our esteemed photographer Kristen Thompson and also posted the latest trip video by Stephen Kushner. Finally, I blogged about the various meetings we've had with entrepreneurs since arriving in Israel. On the weekend, the team traveled to the Galilee and Golan (here, here, and here) - touring Tsfat and rafting the Jordan River. We had a BBQ near Gamla and a water hike at Nahal Yehudia.
Week 6: In the sixth week, the team continued our travels in the Galilee and Golan. We visited Nazareth and the Druze villages, before returning to Haifa. Back in class at the Technion we presented on our "Go to Market" plan. On the weekend, we had free time to travel or relax. Some of us traveled to Bethlehem and the West Bank, while others decided to relax. For me, I used the free weekend to travel and see my wife in Europe. Read about all of our free weekend travels - both inside and outside of Israel - here.
Week 4: I wrote about our first class presentations to Israeli venture capitalists at the Technion here. Additionally, the fourth week found the Smith team traveling to Jerusalem during the middle of the week for the Hi-Tech Investment Conference, which I blogged about here and here. Additionally, Israel's Prime Minister made a surprise visit to the conference, which I posted about here. The weekend found the team traveling back to Jerusalem once again - this time for tours of the city's cultural and historical sites.
Week 5: For week five, the Smith team traveled for company visits in Jerusalem (here) and Be'er Sheva (here). Later in the week we went to a speech by Better Place's Shai Agassi at the Technion. This same week I also wrote about our esteemed photographer Kristen Thompson and also posted the latest trip video by Stephen Kushner. Finally, I blogged about the various meetings we've had with entrepreneurs since arriving in Israel. On the weekend, the team traveled to the Galilee and Golan (here, here, and here) - touring Tsfat and rafting the Jordan River. We had a BBQ near Gamla and a water hike at Nahal Yehudia.
Week 6: In the sixth week, the team continued our travels in the Galilee and Golan. We visited Nazareth and the Druze villages, before returning to Haifa. Back in class at the Technion we presented on our "Go to Market" plan. On the weekend, we had free time to travel or relax. Some of us traveled to Bethlehem and the West Bank, while others decided to relax. For me, I used the free weekend to travel and see my wife in Europe. Read about all of our free weekend travels - both inside and outside of Israel - here.
The Electric Future
This past Wednesday we had an opportunity to attend a speech at the Technion by Mr. Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place. Before starting Better Place, Shai was previously the President of the Products and Technology Group at SAP AG. He resigned from this position in March 2007 to pursue interests in alternative energy and climate change - ultimately leading to his founding of Better Place. Per TED's online profile:
[Shai's] approach to solving the puzzle of electric automobiles could spark nothing short of an automotive revolution. Through his enthusiastic persistence, Agassi's startup Better Place has signed up some impressive partners - including Nissan-Renault and the countries of Israel and Denmark.
The topic and the content of Shai's address was very compelling. Additionally, since the Smith team will be visiting Shai's company, Better Place, later this summer, his speech was a perfect introduction prior to our visit. To give you a taste of what we heard, Shai gave a speech very similar to one he had given previously at TED, which I've posted below.
