The Daily Grind

We've been in Israel for about a month now, and one question that we consistently receive from readers of this blog, friends and family, and Israelis alike is: what exactly are you doing in Israel? The nature of our project was broadly defined in our first blog post, and I have done my best to update on the most salient and exciting trips, meetings and events. And while our busy schedule has meant that no two days in Israel are created equal, I will attempt to express how we spend our time between travel and meeting important dignitaries.

Asher meeting with the group

After a weekend generally packed with travels, meetings and a little down time on the beach if we're lucky, Monday morning the whole team heads to the Bronica Innovation Lab at the Technion. Located on the sixth floor of the Industrial Engineering and Management Building, we work on our technology commercialization strategies while sitting around a large conference-style table. Between market size research, building presentation decks and meetings with Dingman Center Managing Director Asher Epstein, our office time keeps us quite busy.

While we're at the Technion we also take the opportunity to visit the laboratories where the cutting edge research that we are attempting to commercialize originated. Here, we have the opportunity to not only tour the facilities of the Technion but also meet with the innovators behind the technologies in order to understand the scientific and commercial sides of their work.

Touring the Technion Visitor's Center

When we need a break from the rigor of our work and meetings, the team walks outside our office to enjoy the view from the roof of the Bloomfield Building. From our vantage point atop a hill, we can see all of downtown Haifa, the Old City and even a little bit of the beach. Enough to recharge our batteries and get back to work, anyways.

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.