Back to Jerusalem, pt2

On Saturday we woke up at a more reasonable time (leaving Ramat Rachel at 9:30am) for a visit to the Israel Museum. Located on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Knesset, the Israel Museum is most famous for two amazing exhibits. The first is an enormous and fully detailed (22,000sqft) model of Jerusalem at the time of the Second Temple. The second is the Shrine of the Book which contains the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in (now) southern Israel in 1947–56 in 11 caves around Wadi Qumran. 

"Our guide, Israel, talks with us about ancient Jerusalem"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

Our tour guide, Israel, took us on a full tour of the model. Over about 30 minutes we walked to each side - and were provided a thorough history of the city - as it was two thousand years ago. Incredibly - despite the centuries and the modern construction - the actual city retains a very consistent visual appearance to the model. The colors and layout have not changed drastically over the centuries. After our tour of the model we visited the Shrine of the Book. Interestingly, the outside of the shrine is constructed to visually represent the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness. The white dome symbolizes the Sons of Light, while the black wall symbolizes the Sons of Darkness. The interior of the shrine is like a cave, representing the environment in which the scrolls were discovered sixty years ago.

"The Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

That afternoon, a few of the team decided to visit the Old City of Jerusalem again, instead of heading back to the hotel. Those who went did quite a bit of shopping (mostly nargilas) before stopping at a bar for drinks and snacks. I (and a few others) opted to return to the hotel for relaxation either inside at the bar or out at the pool. According to a few people, the water slide was pretty amazing, though I didn't get a chance to try it myself. That evening the team went out on the town in Jerusalem - first to watch the World Cup match between Paraguay and Spain and then later to a nearby dance club. It was a very late night.

"Sherwin Pomerantz talks with the group about Israeli business"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

Sunday was focused on company visits and meetings. In the morning we had a meeting with Sherwin Pomerantz at Shelby's house. A 24-year resident of Israel, Sherwin (and three others) founded the Atid-EDI consulting firm. Atid-EDI is a team of economic, research, trade development and planning professionals who understand the nuances and business climates in Israel, North America and the region. Since 1991, Sherwin's firm has functioned as consultants to Israel's Ministry of Industry, Trade & Labor's Investment Promotion Center. He has also represented the trade interests, in the Middle East, of a number of U.S. states, including Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. As you can imagine, Sherwin had the knowledge to provide for a very interesting meeting!

"The group visits PresenTense to hear from Jewish entrepreneurs"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

After this meeting we traveled to Jerusalem's German Colony to visit PresenTense, a group that aims to foster entrepreneurship and leadership amongst the international Jewish community. While there, we heard business pitches from a group of summer fellows. We made sure to ask them lots of tough questions. The highlight of our visit to PresenTense though was that we got to hear a talk by Saul Singer, author of Start Up Nation (detailed in this previous post). Altogether, it was a pretty cool set of meetings!

"Saul Singer gives a talk on his book Start Up Nation"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

That afternoon, we finished our weekend in Jerusalem by celebrating America's Independence Day, July 4th. Once again, we traveled back to Shelby's house - this time for a BBQ. Hot dogs and hamburgers (sans cheese unfortunately) were plentiful, and everyone was content. Though we weren't able to acquire fireworks, it definitely was a great way to feel like we were back in the US of A. That evening the team hopped in the van for the long trek back to our house in Haifa - one final week of classes left to go.

Start-Up Nation

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to meet with Saul Singer, co-author of the book "Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle." Saul gave a thirty minute talk to the Smith team, as well as interns from PresenTense, about both his book and also thoughts on what factors have driven the phenomenal success of the Israeli economy over the past twenty years. Here's a clip posted below of Saul talking about his book.

It's funny how quickly Start-up Nation has become the de facto story of Israel. No matter where we've been this summer or who we've talked to - without fail - everyone has spent the first few minutes of each meeting discussing this book. Have we read it? What did we think? It was definitely cool to finally hear this story from the author himself.

The Prime Minister

As promised, here is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing the 2010 High Tech Industry Association Conference last week in Jerusalem. The second part of Netanyahu's speech is posted in full at our team's YouTube site.

Hi-Tech Israel

Well it's been a few days since my last post and the Smith team has been as busy as ever! After a relaxing weekend, we departed Haifa before sunrise on Tuesday for the drive down to Jerusalem to participate in the 2010 High Tech Industry Association Conference.

The conference, which ran for two days, was held at the Jerusalem International Convention Center and brought together industry professionals, technology experts, and venture capitalists. Starting at 9AM, the event kicked off with Israel's Mister of Finance, Dr. Yuval Steinitz, as well as other honored dignitaries remotely starting the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

"The opening bell of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange"
Photo by Stephen Kushner

Topics covered during the conference ranged from the future of mobile computing to strategies for market entry into high-tech in China and India. Additionally, there were a number of headline speakers during the two day event including, the godfather of Israeli high-tech venture capital, Yossi Vardi, and Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu talks about Israel's technology future"
Photo by Stephen Kushner

During the two day event, the Smith team had an amazing opportunity to hear from key thought leaders in Israel's high-tech and investment community. Given our ongoing tech commercialization projects at the Technion, some of the contacts we made and presentations we heard had an immediate and practical resonance. Other speakers we saw were interesting more from a general professional development standpoint.

"The Smith team at the hi-tech conference"
Photo by Stephen Kushner

Given the compressed schedule during the two days in Jerusalem, we didn't have too much time to explore outside the conference. That being said, we did get a brief tour of the Old City (courtesy of the conference organizers) on Tuesday night - where we were to have a preview of the Festival of Lights (which was unfortunately canceled due to technical difficulties). We met our guide just outside the Jaffa Gate and then walked past the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, ending at a rooftop overlooking the Wailing Wall. Really impressive!

"Steve captures the Western Wall at night"
Photo by Stephen Kushner

On Wednesday night, after the end of the conference, the team met on Ben Yehuda Street - one of the more popular shopping streets in Jerusalem. We spent about an hour shopping and window gazing. Afterwords, we walked up to Sami's restaurant for a final dinner before hitting the road back to Haifa. 

"The team enjoys an amazing schwarma dinner in Jerusalem" 
Photo by Stephen Kushner

All in all, it was a very successful two days in Jerusalem! We'll be heading back for a more historical and culturally centered visit tomorrow.

Venture Capitalists, pt1

I'm definitely quite a bit late in getting a post out about this, but every time I thought I'd have a free moment to start putting down my thoughts, I'd get distracted by something else. Anyway, better late than never! 

This past Sunday, May 30th, the team visited two venture capital firms in the Tel Aviv area before returning back to Haifa in the late afternoon. Our meetings at both locations lasted a little over an hour, and in both instances we were given an opportunity to ask questions. Given the differences in each visit, I've decided to break up my coverage of each into two separate posts.

The first meeting was at DFJ Tamir Fishman, the local affiliate of Menlo Park, CA based Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson (DFJ). DFJ and its worldwide partner organizations (including DFJ Tamir Fishman) manage a portfolio of companies and assets worth approximately $6 billion. DFJ Tamir Fishman itself is actually the venture capital subsidiary of the larger Tamir Fishman Group, which is a full-service financial management firm.

At DFJ Tamir Fishman, our host and point of contact was Moshe Levin. Currently a managing general partner, Moshe is a 25 year veteran of the Israeli venture capital industry, having previously served as a partner at  Pitango, Israel's largest VC firm. It was pretty clear from the get go that Moshe would be able to offer us a wealth of information and experience - and we were not disappointed.

Moshe's presentation was in some respects a recap of Start-up Nation. That being said, his presentation did dig into some prime examples of Israeli created technologies that many of us had not been aware prior to our meeting. I realize I've already gone into some of this in previous posts, but it still bares repeating.

It is quite extraordinary how many technologies - upon which our current global economy is based - that were created in Israel. To be honest, these contributions are drastically out of proportion relative to the size of this country, its population, or its economy. Listed below are a just a few of these technologies as well as the Israeli (or Israeli subsidiary) that was responsible for each creation.

• Pentium PC - Intel
• Centrino - Intel
• IP Networking - RadWare, Allot
• Flash Memory - M-Systems
• Stents - Medinol
• Generic Drugs - Teva
• Voice Mail - Comverse
• Instant Messaging - ICQ (Acquired by AOL)
• Cable Modems - Libit (Acquired by TI), Terayon
• Cordless Phones - DSPC (Acquired by Intel)
• Cellular - TI
• 3G Cellular - Modem Art
• VoIP - Vocaltec, AudioCodes
• AntiVirus - Symantec
• Firewalls - CheckPoint

Seriously, it is astonishing the range of technological innovations that have emerged from Israel over the past twenty years! From the internet, to personal and portable computers, to telecommunications, and medical devices, each of the above technologies was critical to the development and evolution of these markets and industries. Given their impacts, it would be hard to imagine a world in which these technologies had not been invented.

More Affirmation

To those of us participating in this program - and for our many supporters back in the US - we each already know and understand the importance and relevance of Israel. The case for its economic value has been clearly made. However, as I've come to find, the rest of the world has often been slow to acknowledge this same truth. 

Nevertheless, earlier this past week Israel (as reported in the New York Times) received some important recognition.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a 31-country group often seen as an exclusive club of rich countries, voted unanimously on Monday to admit Israel. On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a news conference to hail the acceptance as a “seal of approval,” saying it would “open doors and provide access to many fields” and increase foreign investment here ... Israel’s economy was close to collapse in the 1980s, but because of a series of difficult market-oriented changes it has grown into a technological powerhouse with an annual per capita gross domestic product not far from Germany’s.

We all know that - when it comes to the world economy - Israel matters. It's nice to know the global community is finally starting to recognize this fact as well.

Four Days To Go

With only a few days left before we arrive in Israel, final preparations, planning, and packing are now fully underway! Earlier today, the team met on campus for our final pre-departure meeting, where we discussed the final iteration of the summer schedule and various other logistics. And - boy oh boy - what a schedule it is! From the moment we land, until the day we depart at the end of July, we will be consistently busy and engaged. It is going to be a summer to remember - and this blog is going to provide a record of it all. 

Additionally, interspersed between information about our program, I also hope to provide commentary and links related more generally to Israel - its economy, its culture, and its people. Once we hit the ground in Haifa, Israel next week, I'll also plan on opening up some future posts to comments from readers. Please be on the look out for that feature - as myself and my teammates would really appreciate your thoughts, suggestions, and feedback. Thanks!

Why Israel? Ctd

Dan Senor, co-author of the recent (and highly recommended) book, "Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle" really captures the essence of what makes Israel worth paying attention to in this November 2009 article in Newsweek. 

How does Israel—with fewer people than the state of New Jersey, no natural resources, and hostile nations all around—produce more tech companies listed on the NASDAQ than all of Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, and China combined? How does Israel attract, per person, 30 times as much venture capital as Europe and more than twice the flow to American companies? How does it produce, for its size, the most cutting-edge technology start-ups in the world?

David Brooks in the New York Times gives some more reasons to study the Israeli model.

Because of the strength of [its] economy, Israel has weathered the global recession reasonably well. The government did not have to bail out banks or set off an explosion in short-term spending. Instead, it used the crisis to solidify the economy’s long-term future by investing in research and development and infrastructure, raising some consumption taxes, promising to cut other taxes in the medium to long term. Analysts at Barclays write that Israel is “the strongest recovery story” in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Interestingly, when Michael Porter (a name near and dear to most MBA students) penned his definitive tome "The Competitive Advantage of Nations" in 1990, in its many pages he saw fit to only mention Israel once! His single comment being that, "Israel's principal clusters [of innovation] are related to agriculture and defense." It seems clear that if Mr. Porter were writing today he'd likely want to revise and elaborate on this assessment.

Why Israel?

Many times over the past few months, I've been asked about where I'll be working and what I'll be doing this summer. After I explain, the question I get again and again is, why Israel? I wasn't sure about it at first either. To many - especially to students in business school - it's easy to be enamored by the economies of China and India - as well as the many other fast growing nations of the developing world. However, in a time when our economy is slowly recovering from one of the worst recessions in modern times, it is the nation of Israel that may in fact provide a model for how to get back on track.

Israel is a nation of survivors and is one of the world's greatest breeding grounds for entrepreneurs. This should honestly come as no surprise. Surrounded by enemies, lacking any significant natural resources, and made up of the cast-offs and refugees of a hundred other nations, Israel has not allowed any of its so-called deficiencies to hold back development. Indeed, Israel has made its perceived weaknesses strengths and has subsequently achieved an economic growth rate over the past 62 years rivaling that of any other nation. 

Israel has become a leading exporter of new patents and technology. Further, Israel is now second to America in the number of companies listed on NASDAQ. Most impressively, Israel attracts more venture capital investment (in full dollars, not adjusted on a per capita basis) than the whole of Europe! Nevertheless, as I've come to find out, Israel's economic successes have too often been overshadowed by the ever present political and military threats to Israel and the Middle Eastern region. This seems staggering, as their economic story is unparalleled in modern history. That being said, the Israeli's haven't seemed to mind the lack of attention or accolades. They've just kept on working.