Startup Investing

The Startup Nation’s Hall of Fame: The top M&A in Israeli history

The Startup Nation’s Hall of Fame: The top M&A in Israeli history

Jul 30, 2013 | , ,

As the question is posed in Start-up Nation, how could Israel, a country of 7.1 million people, have more high-tech start-ups and a larger venture capital industry per capita than any other country in the world? Authors Senor and Singer attribute the success of the high-tech world to two main factors, including immigration and mandatory military service to maintain the nation’s strong defense system. Moreover, the success of Israel’s high-tech sector has attracted an unprecedented amount of attention from business journalists around the world. The Israeli startup scene is booming. Six out of Israel’s top ten largest high-tech deals occurred in the past three years alone.  According to the IVC Research Center, 2012 was one of Israel’s most successful years for high-tech M&A in the past decade, and the Israeli M&A environment for 2013 has so far been up to par. All of these small (and large) success story are part of and form the miraculous history of the Startup Nation. Here’s a list of all the high-tech M&As in Israeli history. The Start-Up Nation’s Hall of Fame View more lists from OurCrowd...

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The Perfect Pitch: 20 tips to make a killer impression on a VC

The Perfect Pitch: 20 tips to make a killer impression on a VC

Jul 18, 2013 | ,

Nowadays it isn’t easy pitching to VCs. With the demand for series A venture capital soaring but the supply remaining steady, startups are finding it increasingly difficult to go out and make a successful fundraising pitch. An unsuccessful pitch can be the result of something as fundamental as a small addressable market or as mundane as the partner at the VC being distracted by his cell phone during the presentation a la Nikola Tesla Pitching Silicon Valley VCs. There is no guaranteed recipe for success when making a pitch (and here is how we choose startup investments at OurCrowd), but here are some tips and resources that can help: The first step is getting in the door. Tactics that have worked on us in the past include bringing a celebrity musician to put on a live show in the office and offering to bring pizza. On a related note, always be friendly to the administrative assistants. They are the gatekeepers. Create an effective presentation. Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule is a good place to start: ten slides, twenty minutes, and no font smaller than thirty points. Pitches should address...

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OurCrowd’s Jon Medved On BBC Radio 4, Discusses Investing In Startups via Crowdfunding

Jul 15, 2013 | , , , ,

On his recent visit to the UK, OurCrowd CEO Jonathan Medved was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s program “The Bottom Line.” In the episode, Jon and two guest entrepreneurs discuss how much money you need to start a business – and where to get it from. Why do some startups require millions and others just a few hundred pounds? And what are the benefits and pitfalls of finding investors on the web? In addition, they discuss crowdfunding and how investors and startup founders envision it to be the next big thing in venture capital. Listen to the interview Listen to the program below or play it on BBC Radio 4 here. [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/101116485″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true”...

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OurCrowd’s Investor Toolbox: Useful Resources for Investing in Israeli Startups

OurCrowd’s Investor Toolbox: Useful Resources for Investing in Israeli Startups

Jul 11, 2013 | , , ,

Israeli startups are on a roll — lately it seems like every other day we hear  in the news about some Israeli startup going public, launching a product,  making an “exit” or closing a financing round. Truth be told, there are many investors who are interested in investment opportunities in Israel. However, most investors don’t know where to start and need help jumping in…. So we put together a useful list of tools and resources for those interested in investing in Israeli startups: Investor Toolbox for Israeli Startups View more lists from Zack Miller   [xyz-ihs...

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Coming to Terms with Term Sheets: What Angel Investors Need to Know

Coming to Terms with Term Sheets: What Angel Investors Need to Know

Jul 1, 2013 | ,

When an investor plans to make an investment in a startup, one of the things in the forefront of his or her mind is: what are the terms of the deal? Well, luckily a document exists whose sole purpose is to delineate all the deal terms. It is agreed upon by two parties, the startup and the investor, and called, fittingly, a term sheet. Term sheet: investment specifics So what does the big scary term sheet look like “in real life”? While I was reading through terms sheets during my internship here at OurCrowd, I realized that after parsing away the legal jargon (and parsing away some more…), they are basically lists—lists of terms that the investor and the startup have agreed to adhere to in this investment. Note that the term sheet (other than the confidentiality agreement therein) is not legally binding, but under most circumstances, these same terms will make their way into legal documents relating to the deal. The list of terms can be broken down into two categories by asking a simple question: as an...

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