So Long Israel

It's a bittersweet moment as today marks our last day in Israel.  On the one hand we're excited: we came here to build businesses and learn about the Startup Nation in person.  Just a few days ago we pitched our ventures in what was truly the culmination of this experience.  So as we leave Israel, we know that our departure signifies the accomplishment of the task that we set out to complete.  We can all look back on the last two months and know that we got so much from this experience.  We took an idea and turned it into a business, which is no small feat.  Throughout the process, we became master of the elevator pitch, market sizing gurus and all too well acquainted with PowerPoint's features.  

But our time here in Israel means so much more than the business skills, professional development and important people we met.  Two months ago, twelve MBA's from four different universities arrived in Israel, many of us as total strangers.  We spent nearly every moment over the course of the ensuing 8 weeks together, working, playing and living.  When we board our respective airplanes today at Ben Gurion Airport we will never again be strangers because we shared together the experience of a lifetime.  From waking up to this beautiful view out our window:

to sharing our professional and personal goals on long bus drives across the country to visit a company or attend an industry conference, to the amazing Masada sunrise:

we have all grown together in ways we never though imaginable.

At the beginning of the trip, Asher Epstein explained his philosophy on expectations: "set low expectations and over-deliver."  Well, Asher, over-deliver doesn't even begin to describe it.  This has truly been the experience of a lifetime.  Every single one of has has grown professionally and personally, we've seen and done some amazing things, and if nothing else we are walking away with a deep appreciation for this beautiful country.

So long Israel.  It's been wonderful, and I'm sure it won't be the last time.

Final Stretch

After an inspiring talk from Bessemer Partner Adam Fisher, last night we presented our financial projections and sales models to venture capitalists.  This was our last preparatory presentation before making our full sales pitch to a panel of Israel's top venture capitalists next Thursday night.  In order to make a proper fundraising pitch, we've spent the past seven weeks building up to this point.  From week to week we've studied and pitched on all aspects of our venture, each pitch building on the lessons learned the week before.

Seven weeks ago we started with our technologies and thought outside the box to build commercial applications around them.  From there we developed an understanding of the potential market sizes that our businesses could address and how our business models fit into them.  After understanding our markets, we heard from guest lecturers and then made our own presentations on the intellectual property on which our business are built and how to best protect and leverage it in our ventures.  At this point, we began to drill down to specific business-level aspects of our ventures, ranging from research and development plans, our value chain location and how to address the needs of our potential customers and partners.

In the last two weeks we've focused on the final steps of commercialization: the go to market strategy, marketing activities and our sales plan.  These specific actions allowed us to finally put financial numbers and projections behind our pitches and demonstrate not only how much money we stand to gain, but also how much funding we need to raise to get there.  With one more week to synthesize everything we've done and build a fundraising pitch to real investors, we have our work cut out for us.

Getting Down to Work

Between biomed conferences, Israeli holidays involving barbecuing on the beach and a little sightseeing, we have spent countless hours working on our technologies.  On our first full day in Israel everyone met their Israeli counterparts and saw presentations from the Technion innovator who developed their techs.  From that moment on, we have been fully immersed in every aspect of our technologies: wrapping our minds around the science behind them, researching the potential applications for them, meeting with experts in the field and related fields in which they could be commercialized and of course conceiving of the initial business models for their potential commercialization.

With just one week to immerse ourselves in our technologies, each team presented five potential applications to the class and our instructors.  We were encouraged to move beyond the most obvious applications for our technologies, which means we saw some really outside-the-box ideas for commercial applications for these innovations.

While our instructors, Ze’ev Ganor and Asher Epstein, went easy on us in our first class, they turned on the Israeli charm for our second Thursday night meeting.  The first presentation was interrupted during their first few slides for questions – a sharp contrast from the MBA classes back home where professors patiently await the obligatory “Questions?” slide to tell you how wrong your assumptions are.

Olivia and Lisa presenting their technology

To that end, we have learned a lot during our first full week.  First, you must think outside the box when it comes to entrepreneurship – thinking linearly about applications for a new technology is an easy way to get shot down by a venture capitalist.  Second, understanding the market for a new technological application is not as straightforward as it might at first appear.  Numerous assumptions must often be made (especially when dealing with an innovation that solves a problem in a unique manner), and those assumptions must be supported by logical claims.  Failure to do so is an easy way to ensure tough questions from venture capitalists.  And third, selling a new technology is all about solving a problem.  Convincing your audience of the severity of this problem and how your innovation addresses it better than the competition is the basis of your sales pitch, and you should never lose sight of it.