The false promise of channel partners for startups

Building a strong sales machine is often challenging for a startup. As a small company, you can only afford a small sales team and a modest marketing budget. Further, many entrepreneurs come from an engineering or product background (this is especially true in Israel) and therefore thrive in building incredible products and technologies that customers… Continue reading The false promise of channel partners for startups

Consider This Advice When Trying to Land a Job in VC

I’m often asked what is the best way to get into Venture Capital (VC). Although VC is a small industry, it gets disproportionate amount of attention. This leads to high demand from many qualified candidates: College graduates, MBAs, startup employees, bankers and consultants often inquire about the best way to break into the industry. Until… Continue reading Consider This Advice When Trying to Land a Job in VC

Relocating to the US – Bay Area or New York City?

In my previous post, I have discussed why it’s almost always better for an Israeli startup CEO to move to the US as the company matures. But before you relocate, you need to decide where to set up your company’s main US office. This is an incredibly important decision and a discussion that occurs in… Continue reading Relocating to the US – Bay Area or New York City?

Relocating to the US – the dilemma every Israeli entrepreneur faces

Most Israeli startups target the U.S. as their primary market. As an Israeli entrepreneur, your customers, partners, potential acquirers, future investors, and most importantly, your competitors – are mainly based in the United States. Almost by definition Israeli startups start with an inherent disadvantage when trying to win the U.S. market. At some point, Israeli… Continue reading Relocating to the US – the dilemma every Israeli entrepreneur faces

The stark difference between US and Israeli VCs

We see it over and over again: Israeli entrepreneurs coming back from a fundraising roadshow in the Valley excited and hopeful. They met some of the top investors in the world during their visit and generally heard positive feedback. For the most part, the investors they met seemed genuinely interested and indicated that they want… Continue reading The stark difference between US and Israeli VCs

The real winner behind Snap’s IPO

The big tech story of the week was the highly anticipated Snap S-1 filing release. But besides revealing user growth, revenue, and (partial) engagement metrics, the big takeaway from the filing was Snap’s deal reached with Google a few days ago. As part of this partnership Snap committed to purchasing $400 million in Google’s cloud… Continue reading The real winner behind Snap’s IPO

How to build and approve your startup’s budget

We are now in the midst of the budgeting season, where startups plan and approve their 2017 budgets. As a startup CEO, the annual budget is one of the main tools you have to manage your company. The annual budget sets clear goals for the employees, the management team, and the board to stand behind and do… Continue reading How to build and approve your startup’s budget

The meteoric rise of cloud platforms in 6 images

One of the major trends transforming the technology world is the meteoric growth of the large cloud platforms. Only a decade ago Amazon launched AWS to provide online services for other web sites or client-side application, and by doing so changed the way tech services would be served and consumed forever. Several other cloud platforms quickly… Continue reading The meteoric rise of cloud platforms in 6 images

Angel investing or how to avoid being the sucker at the Poker table

In the past few years, we have witnessed a constant rise in angel investing (startup raising capital from individuals). The Kaufman Foundation estimates that angel investments have long surpassed early stage venture capital investments. Surveys by the Center for Venture Research at UNH indicate that the total U.S. angel market grew from $17.6B in 2009… Continue reading Angel investing or how to avoid being the sucker at the Poker table

Connected Cars: A Multibillion-Dollar Opportunity

A lot has been said recently about autonomous vehicles. But before we see fully autonomous vehicles on the road at scale, there is another important revolution that is already happening across all vehicles, both autonomous and non-autonomous — the connected car revolution. A connected car is simply a car that has an embedded wireless connection, which allows… Continue reading Connected Cars: A Multibillion-Dollar Opportunity