The Truth About Israeli VC’s?

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The judgments are quite hard with a few exceptions: Giza Venture Capital: Arrogant and untrustworthy Genesis Partners: They thing you work for them Walden Israel: This VC is asleep please do not disturb Apax Partners: If they invite you, it’s to learn…not to invest Benchmark Israel Capital: Michael Eisenberg – One of the most sophisticated/manipulative/dangerous people in the industry Pitango Venture Capital: Large tanker VC – too large for Israel Evergreen Venture Partners: They were very impressed, and we are still waiting Jerusalem Global Ventures: Shlomo Kalish is/was the alpha male of this VC Fortissimo Capital: One of the few serious guys in the industry Carmel Ventures: An investment company that thinks it’s a VC Zone Ventures: If you got extra time on your hands to burn It is not clear to me what parameters they use for passing judgement on the VC’s, however I think initiatives like thefunded have an important role to play…. I therefore recommend any entrepreneur to really examine carefully every potential investor beyond the money and the term-sheet, and question themselves if this really is a partner I can imagine to “live with”?

The Funded , the recently launched resource for entrepreneurs (or gossip about VC’s as some would call it), just posted a number of profiles on Israeli VC’s. The judgments are quite hard with a few exceptions:

It is not clear to me what parameters they use for passing judgement on the VC’s, however I think initiatives like thefunded have an important role to play. If nothing more, at least for forcing some kind of transparency on the VC’s. I have seen & heard too many bad stories from entrepreneurs raising capital so it’s good that a rating site like this exist.

It is not very difficult to find venture capital now a days. What is difficult though, is to find a suitable VC. A friend of mine once compared partnering with a VC like a software bundle, you have to be careful of what comes with the bundle.. I would say its more like a Catholic marriage. It’s is nearly impossible to get out once you are married…

I therefore recommend any entrepreneur to really examine carefully every potential investor beyond the money and the term-sheet, and question themselves if this really is a partner I can imagine to "live with"? Besides the cash, can they really add value? Scrutinize any potential VC like you would a bride to be and don’t exchange rings before you are absolutely sure that this is going to be the "mother" you want for your baby ;) .

It will be interesting to see once the list of Israeli VC’s is complete who will take the lead.



I know some of the VC’s above better than others. The only thing I can say is that I have heard the same about Giza from many different people. The other thing is that if your market is in the US – be very careful of who you are partnering with. I would go directly to a US VC rather than an Israeli.  The network and in-depth knowledge about the market is key to success (unless you already have the network and only need their money).

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Israeli VC’s & The Search for the Internet Success

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What have we learned from our mistakes? Will the local Israeli venture capitalist’s get in the game? With these questions in mind the Israeli VC Gemini Israel Funds gathered a group of former and current influential from the Israeli Internet scene.

There where people from ICQ, Speedbit,

What have we learned from our mistakes? Will the local Israeli venture capitalist’s get in the game? With these questions in mind the Israeli VC Gemini Israel Funds gathered a group of former and current influential from the Israeli Internet scene.

There where people from ICQ, Speedbit, Hotbar, Aladdin, Netsnippets, Spearcast, Maxthon (guess who..) and others I don’t know. The event was opened up by Bob Rosenschein, CEO and President of Answers.com (formerly Guru.net) sharing some of his lessons learned over the years. Afterward Gemini Israel’s Daniel Cohen, gave a presentation to open up a discussion on why it is so quite on the Israeli Internet scene. Where is the next ICQ, Hotbar or Answer.com ? What are Israeli VC’s lacking that the US based VC are not? Why can’t Israeli VC spot an Internet success in the making?

Well, one of the explanations David gave was the geographical distance that somehow does not seemed to be bridged by cutting edge communication like Skype etc. We are just not there in the coffe shops of Paolo Alto or hanging out in Silicon Valley. I agree on that one, but I believe some of the main hurdles of Israeli VC’s are:

  • Lack of balls – they are simply to afraid to follow their gut feelings (after having been burned by the previous bubble)
  • An obsession with R&D based companies
  • A fixation with patents and unique technology platforms

With this in their back heads, they are simply missing the lesson that successful Internet companies are not rooted in heavy R&D, patent and they often lack any particular cutting edge technology. Rather their DNA is made up by

  • A cool brand that is community oriented and sharing based, or answers an immediate need (think Maslow‘pyramid) and are often disruptive.

Anyway, I think it was a very good initiative to organise the get-to-gether – and who knows, perhaps the next Internet success in the making is really just around the corner or right under their noses….

 

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