Reports on the drop of local VC financing in Israel don't tell the whole story. The latest IVC report reveals that in 2011, 546 Israeli high-tech companies raised $2.14 billion in VC funding, representing a 70% increase compared to the $1.26 billion raised in 2010 and almost double from the $1.12 billion raised in 2009.
You have a few seconds to persuade a user to use your product or service in this age of information overload. VC Cafe brings you six techniques of persuasion researched by Prof Robert Cialdini and applied on the world of online startups and mobile apps. Are you convincing your user enough to buy?
I'm currently at LeanCamp, the unconference that aspires to help people both learn and teach evrerything Lean Startup related. I must admit, I've been to my fair share of conferences in the past few years, some were exclusive and expensive events to produce, some were humble gatherings (maybe too humble at times). LeanCamp strikes the perfect balance between a well-organized event and a community meetup or gathering.
As every month, VC Cafe is re-posting the “Invest in Israel” Newsletter, published by the investment promotion center of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which offers many helpful tools for prospecting investors. These are the top headlines for January 2012.
In a world that suffers from content overload, personal recommendations are a bare necessity. Israeli startup Outbrain, one of the leading companies in the recommendations space, has completed a $35 million in Series D led by Index Ventures and joined by previous investors Carmel Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. This brings Outbrain's funding to $64 million total since its inception in 2007.
Apple is in talks to acquire Israeli flash maker Anobit for a rumored $400-$500 million, according to a report by Calcalist. This would be Apple's first acquisition in Israel and if completed, Anobit and its 200 employees in Herzliya will become Apple's R&D center in Israel.
Serendip is a new social music discovery and streaming service that allows the people you follow on Twitter to curate your personal internet radio station. If your Twitter crowd is busy posting links to YouTube music videos and you feel comfortable sharing your secret love for WHAM! publicly then Serendip is worth a try.
Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur at the moment, and resources such as WorkInStartups, Founder2Be and Enternships have sprung up to help people locate co-founders and create or work in startups. Strikingly the vast majority of startup positions advertised are for technical co-founders such as CTO or Developer...
I'm a big fan of the Lean Startup movement. At the heart of Lean Startup methodology is the concept of "Pivoting", essentially changing the product, the target market, the business model, etc when the startup can't prove its original hypothesis.
This weekend, I took part in Random hacks of Kindness, a social enterprise hackathon taking place all around the world. I usually attend these things as a mentor, but this time I decided to roll up my sleeves, pitch an idea and get a project done in one weekend (48 hours)
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