Alon carmeli tips油for companies considering the brazilian marketMIT Forum of Israel
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This document summarizes Babylon's traffic and sales in Brazil. It notes that Brazil is the #3 country by daily traffic to Babylon's website and #1 in growth. It also discusses localization of the website and products for Brazil, including in Portuguese, as well as payment and tax issues. Finally, it provides data on Babylon's monthly online sales and daily advertisement revenues and RPM in Brazil, which represent a large opportunity given Brazil's strong economy and rapidly growing internet market.
1) OurCrowd is an equity crowdfunding platform that allows accredited investors to invest in startups alongside professional investors and venture capital funds.
2) Traditional venture capital investing requires large minimum commitments and management fees, while angel investing provides more flexibility but limited deal flow and support. OurCrowd aims to provide both the professional support of a VC and flexibility of angel investing.
3) OurCrowd evaluates hundreds of potential deals each month and conducts in-depth due diligence on companies that show promising traction, strong teams, large addressable markets, and other factors before presenting investment opportunities to its network of accredited investors.
Yael Elish - Using the Fun & Cool Factor to Accelerate Viral GrowthMIT Forum of Israel
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Waze uses fun and cool factors as powerful engines for viral growth. It motivates word-of-mouth sharing by being useful, cool, and fun like Angry Birds. Contests increased user activity on Waze, with addiction reports finding heavy players ate more virtual "road goodies" and drove more, tripling new users and doubling concurrent drivers. The fun social aspects of Waze increase stickiness and engagement.
The survey of 70 Israeli venture capitalists found that:
1) Expectations of market improvements are beginning to decline while forecasts of new investments reflect cautious optimism.
2) Most believe Israeli IPOs on NASDAQ will resume in 2010 and merger and acquisition activity is ramping up.
3) Geopolitical issues raise concerns and the Treasury Department should focus on encouraging seed investments and getting Israeli institutions more involved in high-tech investments.
This document summarizes 5 emerging blue-sky energy technologies that could help address issues with current energy sources:
1. Plasmonic Solar from Caltech and FOM Institute, which could improve solar cell efficiency.
2. Software-defined Solar Thermal from eSolar, using software to optimize solar thermal plants.
3. Artificial Photosynthesis from MIT, mimicking natural photosynthesis to produce energy from water and sunlight.
4. Liquid Batteries from MIT, using liquid metal batteries for grid-scale energy storage.
5. Superconducting DC Transmission from Tres Amigas Company, using superconductors to transmit solar and wind power over large distances with low
Hilla Ovil Brenner - The White Smoke Online Marketing StoryMIT Forum of Israel
油
Viral marketing is a marketing technique where people are encouraged to spread marketing messages to others, similar to how viruses spread. It relies on people voluntarily sharing brand messages within their own social networks. The document discusses how the software company WhiteSmoke used a freemium model, free basic software with paid upgrades, along with viral features and affiliate marketing to generate thousands of downloads and leads per day.
The document discusses air pollution and how everything manufactured releases harmful gases into the air. It suggests using an app called BreezoMeter to check air quality levels so families know where and when is healthiest to exercise outdoors without risk of sickness from pollution. Brief biographies are provided for the Breezo co-founders who have backgrounds in environmental engineering, software, and business.
Tsofen aims to fully integrate Israel's Arab society into its hi-tech industry by employing thousands of Arab engineers. While Arab graduates outnumber positions in hi-tech 2,400 to 1,000, Tsofen serves as a one-stop-shop to connect Arab talent to opportunities. Since starting, Arabs in hi-tech have tripled to 1,000, Nazareth has become a hub, and the government and media now recognize that Israeli hi-tech needs more Arab human capital. Tsofen hosts events like hackathons and workshops to create hi-tech opportunities within the Arab community.
This document discusses considerations for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) based on Dr. Giora Yaron's experience. It outlines key factors in M&A deals such as maximizing shareholder value, competitive landscape, market maturity, and founders' desires. Both acquirer and seller views are examined through examples like Cisco acquiring P-cube for its technology and HP acquiring Mercury to create a 1+1>2 strategic move. Overall, the document advises considering strategic fit, product portfolio fit, company DNA, and case studies when determining whether to pursue an M&A deal or continue independently.
This document discusses the future of digital payments and commerce. It notes that traditional boundaries between online and offline are blurring with the rise of mobile. The infrastructure for payments is fragmented, making changes difficult. The cloud can help connect merchants globally by providing capabilities like mobile point-of-sale systems. Both large and small businesses are struggling to keep up with changing consumer demands and the fast pace of innovation. The cloud may also help store sensitive financial information more securely. Digital wallets could replace physical wallets, but point-of-sale systems need to recognize digital wallets. A successful digital wallet experience will be about more than just payments and part of a larger consumer experience.
This document discusses referral marketing results for a $99 product. It states that the cost per acquisition was between $233-$388, which was deemed a failure. It also notes that in the past 30 days, users sent 2.8 million direct referral invites. Finally, it mentions that recall increased up to 30% when ads coincided with mentions in users' news feeds of friends who were brand fans.
This document discusses big data and provides examples to illustrate key concepts. It begins by defining big data in terms of volume, velocity, and variety of data from various sources like the internet and social networks. It then discusses enterprise information systems and new paradigms for storing, processing, and communicating large amounts of data using cloud computing and distributed systems. Examples are given of how data can be analyzed to gain insights and knowledge to inform decision making, such as what products people buy before hurricanes. The document outlines the big data technology stack and discusses tools for capturing data, processing it, analyzing correlations and causality, and formulating hypotheses. Finally, it provides the specific example of SportVU, a player tracking technology, to demonstrate how
This document discusses the opportunity for grid-scale energy storage and the barriers to widespread adoption. It notes that energy storage could be the next large renewable energy market after wind and solar. However, existing storage solutions are not adequate and technology breakthroughs are needed to bring costs below $1,200/kW and $200/kWh for large-scale use. As policy and performance barriers are addressed, the market is positioned for growth after 2015, especially if technologies can reach grid parity. Success will depend on developing solutions that meet efficiency, durability and other targets for different grid applications.
GenCell provides backup power solutions using alkaline fuel cell technology. Their fuel cells can provide clean, reliable backup power for as long as needed. GenCell fuel cells offer several advantages over diesel generators and batteries including longer duration backup from a single fuel source, higher efficiency, and lower fuel costs through the use of ammonia. GenCell is also developing hybrid and off-grid solutions to provide continuous power using their fuel cells combined with batteries and renewable energy sources.
Ben-Gurion International Airport implemented a security concept during Operation Protective Edge to protect the airport from rocket attacks by Hamas. The security division operates under the airport managing director and is responsible for preventing attacks on aircraft, in the airport grounds, and admitting explosives. The security concept combines human security officers and advanced technologies. It uses security circles and zones, as well as automated foreign object detection on runways to maintain airport operations during threats of rocket attacks. During Operation Protective Edge, over 4,000 rockets were fired at Israel but none struck the airport grounds, allowing airport activities to continue without interruption.
This document provides an overview of a counter terrorism management system that aims to increase national security capabilities. It describes the system's goal of managing all aspects of a national security service's operations, including mission planning, intelligence gathering and analysis, mission execution and control, and debriefing. It then outlines the system's concept of operations, scope, and key components such as command centers, communication systems, intelligence capabilities, and command and control functions to support counterterrorism operations and management.
This document discusses the challenges that businesses face in effectively marketing to customers and retaining them in today's digital landscape. It notes that identifying what customers want and better delivering it will be crucial to success, as competitors constantly try to win customers over. The document then outlines Software AG's experience in helping organizations transform digitally to better engage customers through solutions that leverage trends in social, mobile, cloud and big data. It highlights Gartner and Forrester rankings that recognize Software AG as a leader in several product categories.
This document discusses different approaches to scaling blockchain technology, including off-chain solutions, alternative blockchains, and merge mining. It then introduces a new concept called "tree chains" which aims to scale blockchains by splitting and distributing them. Tree chains claim to scale by dividing the blockchain across multiple distributed ledgers while maintaining security through cooperation between individuals.
This document discusses factors for success in innovation, particularly for clean technologies. It outlines that innovation is the process of changing the world, not just invention. It then discusses several lessons learned for innovation, including that subject matter expertise is not always necessary, having a "can do" culture is important, thinking both inside and outside the box, taking unusual business approaches, advances enabled by nanotechnology, and setting new rules in areas like energy storage and sharing. The document advocates taking on big challenges through collaboration and outlines some examples of prize competitions to spur innovation.
Two researchers, Boaz Melnik and Nitzan Hoorgin, have developed a super cheap and energy efficient air conditioner that can be built at home for a very low budget using common materials. Their design costs only $90 to make and uses passive cooling techniques to circulate air for up to 6 hours and cool an area of 1.5 meters. It has the potential to provide relief from heat for hundreds of millions of people worldwide who cannot otherwise afford air conditioning.
This document introduces GreenSpense, a new propellant-free continuous dispensing technology. GreenSpense aims to eliminate the drawbacks of traditional pressurized dispensing methods such as high costs, safety issues, and limited material options. It claims to be more eco-friendly by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and allowing for less preservatives. GreenSpense also aims to unleash packaging design creativity by enabling any material and shape. It is presented as reducing production and transportation costs. The technology has received recognition from cleantech competitions and the document promotes joining the "propellant-free revolution."
EVR Motors has developed a new direct drive generator for wind turbines that is at least 50% lighter than existing designs. Their generator uses a novel axial flux permanent magnet topology that reduces the overall costs of a wind turbine by approximately 20% compared to traditional radial flux permanent magnet designs. EVR's 27.5kW generator is over 200% lighter and 12% more efficient than comparable generators from Italy and China. EVR plans to initially produce and market small scale turbines under 100kW and license their technology for larger turbines over 1MW to wind turbine manufacturers.
This document summarizes the findings of the "Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2014" report. The report analyzed which countries have the greatest potential to produce entrepreneurial cleantech start-up companies over the next 10 years. Israel placed first overall, scoring highest in emerging cleantech innovation drivers. This is due to Israel demonstrating the greatest density of high-impact cleantech start-ups and strengths in areas like business sophistication, entrepreneurial culture, venture capital activity, and environmental patents.
AutoAgronom Ltd. is an agricultural technology company that has developed a system called AutoAgronom to precisely control nutrient delivery to plants. Field tests show their system has increased crop yields by up to 1200% while reducing water and fertilizer use by up to 75% and 50% respectively compared to traditional farming practices. The system monitors soil conditions and delivers nutrients as needed through capillary action and automatic delivery, adapting nutrient levels for day and night cycles to optimize plant growth. AutoAgronom's system outperformed competitors by better controlling nutrient levels, moisture, and oxygen availability in soils.
This document provides an overview of key legal and business issues for Israeli startup companies entering the US market through New York State. It discusses New York's startup programs and regions favorable for tech companies. While 600-700 Israeli startups are formed each year, only 1,000 successfully raise local funding, so some seek opportunities in the large and diverse US market. The document outlines steps for establishing a US entity, addressing taxation, intellectual property, financing, hiring employees, office space, and immigration status. It aims to help Israeli founders navigate important rules and regulations for entering the US market.
Tsofen aims to fully integrate Israel's Arab society into its hi-tech industry by employing thousands of Arab engineers. While Arab graduates outnumber positions in hi-tech 2,400 to 1,000, Tsofen serves as a one-stop-shop to connect Arab talent to opportunities. Since starting, Arabs in hi-tech have tripled to 1,000, Nazareth has become a hub, and the government and media now recognize that Israeli hi-tech needs more Arab human capital. Tsofen hosts events like hackathons and workshops to create hi-tech opportunities within the Arab community.
This document discusses considerations for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) based on Dr. Giora Yaron's experience. It outlines key factors in M&A deals such as maximizing shareholder value, competitive landscape, market maturity, and founders' desires. Both acquirer and seller views are examined through examples like Cisco acquiring P-cube for its technology and HP acquiring Mercury to create a 1+1>2 strategic move. Overall, the document advises considering strategic fit, product portfolio fit, company DNA, and case studies when determining whether to pursue an M&A deal or continue independently.
This document discusses the future of digital payments and commerce. It notes that traditional boundaries between online and offline are blurring with the rise of mobile. The infrastructure for payments is fragmented, making changes difficult. The cloud can help connect merchants globally by providing capabilities like mobile point-of-sale systems. Both large and small businesses are struggling to keep up with changing consumer demands and the fast pace of innovation. The cloud may also help store sensitive financial information more securely. Digital wallets could replace physical wallets, but point-of-sale systems need to recognize digital wallets. A successful digital wallet experience will be about more than just payments and part of a larger consumer experience.
This document discusses referral marketing results for a $99 product. It states that the cost per acquisition was between $233-$388, which was deemed a failure. It also notes that in the past 30 days, users sent 2.8 million direct referral invites. Finally, it mentions that recall increased up to 30% when ads coincided with mentions in users' news feeds of friends who were brand fans.
This document discusses big data and provides examples to illustrate key concepts. It begins by defining big data in terms of volume, velocity, and variety of data from various sources like the internet and social networks. It then discusses enterprise information systems and new paradigms for storing, processing, and communicating large amounts of data using cloud computing and distributed systems. Examples are given of how data can be analyzed to gain insights and knowledge to inform decision making, such as what products people buy before hurricanes. The document outlines the big data technology stack and discusses tools for capturing data, processing it, analyzing correlations and causality, and formulating hypotheses. Finally, it provides the specific example of SportVU, a player tracking technology, to demonstrate how
This document discusses the opportunity for grid-scale energy storage and the barriers to widespread adoption. It notes that energy storage could be the next large renewable energy market after wind and solar. However, existing storage solutions are not adequate and technology breakthroughs are needed to bring costs below $1,200/kW and $200/kWh for large-scale use. As policy and performance barriers are addressed, the market is positioned for growth after 2015, especially if technologies can reach grid parity. Success will depend on developing solutions that meet efficiency, durability and other targets for different grid applications.
GenCell provides backup power solutions using alkaline fuel cell technology. Their fuel cells can provide clean, reliable backup power for as long as needed. GenCell fuel cells offer several advantages over diesel generators and batteries including longer duration backup from a single fuel source, higher efficiency, and lower fuel costs through the use of ammonia. GenCell is also developing hybrid and off-grid solutions to provide continuous power using their fuel cells combined with batteries and renewable energy sources.
Ben-Gurion International Airport implemented a security concept during Operation Protective Edge to protect the airport from rocket attacks by Hamas. The security division operates under the airport managing director and is responsible for preventing attacks on aircraft, in the airport grounds, and admitting explosives. The security concept combines human security officers and advanced technologies. It uses security circles and zones, as well as automated foreign object detection on runways to maintain airport operations during threats of rocket attacks. During Operation Protective Edge, over 4,000 rockets were fired at Israel but none struck the airport grounds, allowing airport activities to continue without interruption.
This document provides an overview of a counter terrorism management system that aims to increase national security capabilities. It describes the system's goal of managing all aspects of a national security service's operations, including mission planning, intelligence gathering and analysis, mission execution and control, and debriefing. It then outlines the system's concept of operations, scope, and key components such as command centers, communication systems, intelligence capabilities, and command and control functions to support counterterrorism operations and management.
This document discusses the challenges that businesses face in effectively marketing to customers and retaining them in today's digital landscape. It notes that identifying what customers want and better delivering it will be crucial to success, as competitors constantly try to win customers over. The document then outlines Software AG's experience in helping organizations transform digitally to better engage customers through solutions that leverage trends in social, mobile, cloud and big data. It highlights Gartner and Forrester rankings that recognize Software AG as a leader in several product categories.
This document discusses different approaches to scaling blockchain technology, including off-chain solutions, alternative blockchains, and merge mining. It then introduces a new concept called "tree chains" which aims to scale blockchains by splitting and distributing them. Tree chains claim to scale by dividing the blockchain across multiple distributed ledgers while maintaining security through cooperation between individuals.
This document discusses factors for success in innovation, particularly for clean technologies. It outlines that innovation is the process of changing the world, not just invention. It then discusses several lessons learned for innovation, including that subject matter expertise is not always necessary, having a "can do" culture is important, thinking both inside and outside the box, taking unusual business approaches, advances enabled by nanotechnology, and setting new rules in areas like energy storage and sharing. The document advocates taking on big challenges through collaboration and outlines some examples of prize competitions to spur innovation.
Two researchers, Boaz Melnik and Nitzan Hoorgin, have developed a super cheap and energy efficient air conditioner that can be built at home for a very low budget using common materials. Their design costs only $90 to make and uses passive cooling techniques to circulate air for up to 6 hours and cool an area of 1.5 meters. It has the potential to provide relief from heat for hundreds of millions of people worldwide who cannot otherwise afford air conditioning.
This document introduces GreenSpense, a new propellant-free continuous dispensing technology. GreenSpense aims to eliminate the drawbacks of traditional pressurized dispensing methods such as high costs, safety issues, and limited material options. It claims to be more eco-friendly by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and allowing for less preservatives. GreenSpense also aims to unleash packaging design creativity by enabling any material and shape. It is presented as reducing production and transportation costs. The technology has received recognition from cleantech competitions and the document promotes joining the "propellant-free revolution."
EVR Motors has developed a new direct drive generator for wind turbines that is at least 50% lighter than existing designs. Their generator uses a novel axial flux permanent magnet topology that reduces the overall costs of a wind turbine by approximately 20% compared to traditional radial flux permanent magnet designs. EVR's 27.5kW generator is over 200% lighter and 12% more efficient than comparable generators from Italy and China. EVR plans to initially produce and market small scale turbines under 100kW and license their technology for larger turbines over 1MW to wind turbine manufacturers.
This document summarizes the findings of the "Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2014" report. The report analyzed which countries have the greatest potential to produce entrepreneurial cleantech start-up companies over the next 10 years. Israel placed first overall, scoring highest in emerging cleantech innovation drivers. This is due to Israel demonstrating the greatest density of high-impact cleantech start-ups and strengths in areas like business sophistication, entrepreneurial culture, venture capital activity, and environmental patents.
AutoAgronom Ltd. is an agricultural technology company that has developed a system called AutoAgronom to precisely control nutrient delivery to plants. Field tests show their system has increased crop yields by up to 1200% while reducing water and fertilizer use by up to 75% and 50% respectively compared to traditional farming practices. The system monitors soil conditions and delivers nutrients as needed through capillary action and automatic delivery, adapting nutrient levels for day and night cycles to optimize plant growth. AutoAgronom's system outperformed competitors by better controlling nutrient levels, moisture, and oxygen availability in soils.
This document provides an overview of key legal and business issues for Israeli startup companies entering the US market through New York State. It discusses New York's startup programs and regions favorable for tech companies. While 600-700 Israeli startups are formed each year, only 1,000 successfully raise local funding, so some seek opportunities in the large and diverse US market. The document outlines steps for establishing a US entity, addressing taxation, intellectual property, financing, hiring employees, office space, and immigration status. It aims to help Israeli founders navigate important rules and regulations for entering the US market.
Big Data in context provides new insights. With more data, predictions can be better by lowering false positives and negatives. More data also requires more context to make sense of it all. Space and time data in particular enables new levels of understanding identities and relationships.
Xplenty provides a cloud-based, Hadoop-as-a-Service solution that allows organizations of any size to easily harness the power of big data without needing Hadoop skills. Their platform includes visualization tools and support for both structured and unstructured data stored in cloud databases.
This document provides an overview of OR OFFER, a web measurement company founded in 2009. It discusses the company's history starting with the founder's background in jewelry and transition to web analytics. The company has 60 employees with $7 million raised. It describes the company's technology for crawling, analyzing clickstreams, and ranking websites. The goal is to provide competitive intelligence and democratize marketing insights for industries like internet, government, and marketing tools. The future may include consolidation of marketing tools.
GetTaxi is a taxi booking app that is available on Android, iPhone, and Blackberry. It operates in 4 countries and 24 cities, serving over 1.3 million users. The company has seen 50% quarterly growth in rides and revenues, and has received $42 million in funding. It aims to deliver a great customer experience and has 150+ employees.
1. The document discusses overcoming five major challenges or "breaking points" that startups often face: ups and downs, figuring out when something isn't working, getting along with co-founders and teams, dealing with startup vertigo or self-doubt, and comparing oneself to other startups.
2. It provides examples of startups that took CAD online and leveraged the cloud to change how R&D teams work. It also discusses establishing good habits and routines, the importance of customer feedback, and choosing a company culture.
3. The document emphasizes giving credit to others, enjoying the startup journey, and provides contact information for the author to learn more about overcoming startup challenges.