Startup Investing

The Genius of the Startup: Jon Medved and Barbara Corcoran discuss the genius of great business ideas

The Genius of the Startup: Jon Medved and Barbara Corcoran discuss the genius of great business ideas

Mar 4, 2014 | ,

On Monday, OurCrowd’s founder and CEO Jonathan Medved and ABC’s hit show “Shark Tank” investor Barbara Corcoran  took part in an exhilarating conversation about the genius of great business ideas. The Genius of the Startup event is part of 92nd Street Y’s 7 Days of Genius festival on genius. The event was moderated by Betty Liu, award-winning business journalist and editor-at-large for Bloomberg Television. He has invested in more than 100 Israeli start-ups, helping 12 of them get in excess of $100 million. She went from straight-D student to a multi-millionaire when she parlayed a $1000 loan into The Corcoran Group, which sold in 2001 for $66 million. Jon Medved and Barbara Corcoran discuss the genius of the startup.   Missed it live? View the 92Y event webcast recording here or watch the video below.   Jonathan Medved and Barbara Corcoran in Conversation with Betty Liu: The Genius of the...

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3 Due Diligence Lessons the Small Investor Can Learn from the “Big Guys”

3 Due Diligence Lessons the Small Investor Can Learn from the “Big Guys”

Feb 20, 2014 |

This guest post was written by Rafi Musher, founder and CEO of global strategy consulting firm Stax Inc. and its business-incubator affiliate Stax Development Corporation (DevCorp). He is also founder of Israel and Co., a non-profit that brings current and future business leaders to Israel to get a firsthand, working knowledge of Israeli innovation. When backing a startup, early-stage or fast-growth company, you certainly want to get smart about the capabilities of the management team and general trends in the industry. Once you have that nailed, it’s time to talk tachles, or practical details in Modern Hebrew. At Stax, due diligence is our bread and butter. In 20 years of helping corporations and private equity firms—including more than a dozen of the top 25 LBO firms in the world—make significant investment decisions, we’ve seen that the most important element for commercial due diligence is getting to the the customer. Lesson #1: Is The Company Solving A Real Problem? What is the need this product or service is trying to address? If you’re looking at a technology company, which is...

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The 3 Most Common Crowdfunding Concerns (Part 2): “It’s Too Complicated & I Don’t Have Enough Time!”

The 3 Most Common Crowdfunding Concerns (Part 2): “It’s Too Complicated & I Don’t Have Enough Time!”

Feb 20, 2014 | ,

Today, OurCrowd is featuring Part 2 of a special 3-part series from Matt and Wayne, the founders of Crowdability Crowdability provides individual investors with independent research and education on equity crowdfunding. With their free service, they aim to simplify the process of discovering and evaluating crowdfunding opportunities. In this series that they’ve created especially for OurCrowd, Crowdability will address investors’ 3 most common concerns about Equity Crowdfunding. ——————————————————————— In Part 1 of this Series, we addressed a concern about whether equity crowdfunding makes sense for ordinary people who aren’t intending to invest millions. Today we’ll address another common concern – namely, that early-stage investing is too difficult, or takes too much time. These are valid questions.  Early-stage investing certainly isn’t easy… For one thing, since the companies raising funds are private, they’re not obligated to disclose details of their operations or financial results.  Gathering this critical information can be challenging and time-consuming, and interpreting it can be even harder. That said, there are many ways to make the process faster and easier… Let’s look at three of them now....

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OurCrowd’s Portfolio RESERVE: Making investing easier by putting the investment process on autopilot

OurCrowd’s Portfolio RESERVE: Making investing easier by putting the investment process on autopilot

Feb 19, 2014 | , , ,

OurCrowd launched a new webinar series called ‘Teach-In Tuesdays’. In this series, we’ll explore investing in early-stage Israeli companies, identify and explain influential tech trends, stay up-to-date with the crowdfunding industry, and examine actionable insights from our own experience running OurCrowd’s investment platform. Yesterday, we held the 2nd installment of the OurCrowd Teach-In Tuesdays series on OurCrowd’s new product, Portfolio RESERVE, and how interested investors can use it to make a one-time investment with minimal paperwork to guarantee you never miss an opportunity. Additional topics about the Portfolio RESERVE covered in the webinar: You decide how much you’d like to invest in OurCrowd companies Get automated allocation to future investment opportunities One time funding, limited paperwork You retain ability to opt-out of any deal ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: To stay updated on future events and the best news from the Startup Nation, sign up for our newsletter, email us, and follow us on social media. To contact Danna Mann, follow her on Linkedin To contact Zack Miller, follow him on Twitter / Linkedin View the FULL program Download/view the presentation OurCrowd’s Portfolio RESERVE: Making investing easier by putting the investment process on autopilot...

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Meet The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Israel according to Fast Company

Meet The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Israel according to Fast Company

Feb 19, 2014 | ,

Last week, award-winning tech magazine Fast Company released its annual  report on The World’s Most Innovative Companies. In addition to the noted 50 Most Innovative Companies and the accompanying top 10 companies in various sectors — which included a number of Israeli startups — the magazine recently released a list of the world’s top 10 most innovative companies in Israel. There is no doubt about it, Israel has become a world leader in startup success. Famously titled as the Startup Nation, Israel has earned international acclaim for its cutting-edge innovations, startups and research in the fields of science, technology, medicine and the environment. Israel has more high-tech startups and a larger venture capital industry per capita than any other country. Many attribute Israel’s thriving startup ecosystem to its mandatory military service, immigration history, government tax policy, limited natural resources and the illustrious chutzpah characteristic of Israeli culture that sparks innovation. Fast Company’s report lists Israeli companies that are currently at the forefront of business, challenging industry assumptions and exhibiting economic ingenuity. Each company illustrates the power and potential of innovative ideas and creative execution. The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Israel Nice Systems WaterGen BillGuard Mobileye Vision Technologies Silentium Moovit Wix Outbrain Zerto SecureLogic Read...

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