VCinJerusalem

Some More Cool Stuff

Check out the widget below. Definitely cool technology...took me about 30 seconds to create (after a few false starts). Not sure what the business model is, but I leave it up to my former business partner Elie Wurtman (now a Benchmark partner) to help figure it out. Kudos to Eyal Gever and friends at Gizmoz! I wish them all the best. 

Get your own at Gizmoz.com

No Business Model...But

So much of the time we (those of us playing venture capitalist) focus on questions of business model, revenue generation, path to profitability, exit, etc. Once in a while it is necessary to sit back and just appreciate how cool some of the applications we deal with are -- Twitter is an example. I have no idea what the eventual business model will be, but I recommend spending a few seconds looking at TwitterVision. It shows how quickly something can spread around the world...all I could say after first seeing it was "cool."

Would I have invested in Twitter? Probably not (at this point probably way out of our ballpark, valuation wise). That doesn't mean its not cool....

They Came for the Gas Masks: Is that a good thing?

The doorbell rings last night...I am home alone with the kids (Haviva was out teaching). Bathing this one, serving dinner to that one, fixing someone's computer...the stuff of everyday life, no different than the father of five children ages 4-14 in hundreds of thousands of homes in the "Western" world. "Please answer the door,"I call out. My 14 year old daughter, Michal, comes to me and says "there is someone from the Ministry of Defense." (this is a free translation of the Hebrew original...) Ministry of Defense? Maybe she didn't understand. I go to the door, and sure enough, there is a someone from the Ministry of Defense, and he explains he is going door-to-door collecting gas masks.

And you know, it took me a few seconds to assimilate what he was saying...for a few seconds there I even forgot that we have gas masks at home, forgot that for weeks at a time, twice in the past 17 years, we lived in real fear of a chemical/biological attack. We created safe rooms in our homes, walked around for weeks with gas masks, practiced putting infants into their special tents...for a few seconds I forgot all that, and just wondered what this guy was talking about. Then it all came back to me...and I saw in my mind exactly where our family's gas masks were "hiding," far from my mind's eye. So I asked the nice Ministry of Defense representative what this was all about--he explained that there is a massive project going on, called "Collecting from the House," which entails collecting all the millions of gas masks distributed to every household in Israel, because, as he explained,they are expired! If there was a chemical attack tomorrow and we tried to use them, they would be useless. Well, for a few seconds there we  would get a laugh at how silly we all look in those things.

So I asked my new friend, who I burdened with our six gas masks (Nachum, our  youngest,  was born after the last distribution), whether this was a good sign or a bad sign. Did this mean there was suddenly new intelligence, prompting the powers that be to refresh our gas masks? Or did it mean the scare is over, and we will all have a little more room in our closets?  No answer from my friend, he is just doing his job, no time to dwell on the bigger issues. Then, get this, he pulls out a PDA with wireless connectivity, and enters in my ID number, and look at that--full details on the military property I was storing in my house, along  with to which family member it was assigned...what a difference from before the Gulf War in 1990, or just a few years ago when America attacked Iraq, and we needed to to central points, fill out forms, wait in lines.

In 2007,in the modern, high-tech, post-post Israel, the Ministry of Defense pays house calls! What service! 

And then tonight I go out to Emek Refaim (few hundred meters from my house), which just a few years ago was rocked with multiple suicide bombings, to take part in a street festival in honor of the holiday of Shavuot. It was packed, wall-to-wall people. Did all of those people change in their gas masks?

Somehow we try and live our lives, not thinking about the gas masks in the closet. And now they are not even in the closet...I hope nothing happens.

My Jerusalem

I obviously cannot let "Jerusalem Day" pass by without comment. First, a little history. 40 years ago, in the course of the Six Day War, in the wake of the Jordanian retreat to the far side of the Jordan river, the State of Israel took control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Prior to 1948 Jerusalem had been a single metropolitan area, under the sovereign control of many different powers in the course of 2000 years (since the fall of the second Jewish commonwealth). Until the 1800s very little development happened outside the walls of the "old" city, but overcrowding led to neighborhoods built outside the walls, and as a result of urban sprawl outlying villages became part of the expanded Jerusalem.

In 1948, in the aftermath of the British pulling out and the fighting that resulted between the nascent States of Israel and Jordan (accompanied by many other Arab forces, including local Christian and Muslim Palestinians), armistice lines were drawn through the modern city of Jerusalem, physically separating [newer] West Jerusalem, which was largely Jewish, from  East Jerusalem (Christian and Muslim, all Jews had fled Eastern Jerusalem during the fighting). For 19 years,from 1948 until 1967, Israelis were cut off from the Old City, which fell on the Eastern side of the armistice lines -- Jordan refused to allow Israelis or visiting Jews access to the Old City, including the Western Wall (last remaining piece of the Second Temple), synagogues, cemetery at Mount of Olives, etc.

After the Israelis pushed the Jordanians back in 1967, one the first legislative acts was to annex the Eastern side of Jerusalem to Israel, and offer its residents Israeli citizenship (almost all refused, but did accept Jerusalem resident status, which gives same right of movement in Israel but is not Israeli citizenship). 

Without going into details, while technically Israel annexed East Jerusalem, outside of the Old City, not much was done to really integrate the city. For 40 years we have continued to live in the shadow of 19 years...and on many levels Jerusalem remains divided.

Not so different than the 40 years the Jewish people wandered in the desert after the exodus from Egypt...takes time to get over certain frames of reference, mindsets, way of thinking. For 40 years we have mouthed "Unified Jerusalem" without ever really dealing with all that implies.

I do not want to go back to the 19 years, yet we cannot remain wandering in the desert. Change must come, and after 40 years I hope we are ready to enter into a new era.

Most importantly, we all (Jews, Christians, Muslims, Israelis,Palestinians) must come together as Lovers of Jerusalem, proclaiming that above all we want to restore Jerusalem to its rightful place as the center of the world, as a beacon of hope and inspiration, as a symbol of peace and harmony.

Below is information about one effort to symbolize this spirit...I hope you can join, physically or virtually, in re-invigorating a famous line: "From Zion shall come forth Torah and the word of God from Jerusalem." For me Torah and God are calls to repair the world, to bring peace to all people everywhere. Join me.

Hello friends,

Please be sure to join us for a historic 'Big Hug' event around the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem this Monday, May 21. Ibrahim Abuelhawa and I will be at the meeting point of Damascus Gate if you wish to join us there. Please see details below and forward this invite to everyone you know!

Shalom, Salaam,

Eliyahu McLean

Jerusalem Peacemakers

THE BIG HUG

SURROUND AND EMBRACE THE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM

MAY 21 2007

 Join thousands of people holding hands with open hearts

 Love for Jerusalem as the center of the world unites people of all walks of life.  After thousands of years of dispute, and after 40 years of living together on one land, the time has come to respect each other.  We each have our own personal ways and ideas.  The love we share for Jerusalem can facilitate new ways to enjoy these differences and live in harmony.

We, lovers of Jerusalem , call everyone, lovers of Jerusalem around the world, to come and gather together around the heart of the world. This is a call from the center, from Jerusalem, to come and express our love in one big circle that is connecting us all.

On Monday, May 21, 2007, at 1:00 PM, we shall meet, thousands of Jews, Muslims and Christians from Israel, Palestine  and from around the world, at 4 different locations around the old city, in which we will get to know each other, share our views, and enjoy joint activities together. 

 At 4:00 PM, we shall spread, following drummers, around the walls of the city, to create one huge circle, hand by hand, of a joint human hug to Jerusalem, in which we shall express our pure intent ,each and every one of us, to give a blessing of love to the holly city, the heart of the world, and know that we all are doing it together.

Meeting points:to the north-Damascus gate , to the east- yad avshalom(between mount of the olives and the eastern wall), to the south-Dung Gate and to the west-Hutsot Hayotser lawn.

If you wish to help direct and guide please come at 11:00am

*we highly recommend that you bring hats and dinking water

For more details: www.loversofjerusalem.org contact: loversofjerusalem@gmail.com , Maya: 02-6731822 , Michal:054-6678029 

When Silence is Not Golden

We all know the rule of "Silence is Golden," but like all good rules there are exceptions. I will highlight a few here, feel free to send suggestions of more...

1. VC Guy/Angel: Whether as manager of a fund of other people's money or as Angel investor, it is NOT OK to meet with an entrepreneur and simply not get back with clear answer (yes/no, and if no best is to actually say why). I am still guilty of this, both because of email lag (a malady defined by my good friend Jeff Pulver) and plain old procrastination. But we VC guys and gals need to remember back to when we were entrepreneurs (for those of us who were) or even when we were raising money for our funds. No one appreciates investing time in a meeting and never getting a response. At Jerusalem Capital we are trying to do a better job of getting back to people promptly. If you have met with us and did not receive an answer, let me know! Sometimes emails get lost (trust me, it really does happen, digital does not mean perfect).

2. Philanthropic Appeals:  So this even more important (this reveals something about me...I love start-ups, but I enjoy philanthropy even more. One helps enable the other!). If you get spam, obviously ignore. But if you receive a direct appeal, but for whatever reason you choose to not contribute (your time and/or money), at least respond. I introduced an acquaintance of mine to an educational project, and did not receive a response. When I saw that same person at a board meeting of another non-profit, and asked him directly if he received my email, he said with a smile: "yes, but I chose to ignore it."  I did not accept that behavior, and that night wrote him the following: "I expect more. I expect you to at least take the 10-20 seconds to hit reply and say not interested." Obviously would be great to understand why, but like above, some response is better than being ignored.

3. When Something is Really Wrong: Certainly in a start-up, when time (and cash) is precious, if things are going Really Wrong, no matter where you on within the organization, you need to speak up. Do not wait for the "right moment," because it probably will not come. There should exist an environment in all start-ups where everyone is a stakeholder and feels that way -- that their voice counts. There are no prizes given out in start-up life for "not bothering anyone." The Dilbert cubicle life is the nightmare, nameless employees praying that the "Corporation" forgets they exist. In start-up life everyone counts, and everyone should feel impelled to speak their mind, especially if things are Really Wrong.

How I Have Slipped...

Gevalt! (that's Yiddish for Gevalt). I can't believe how long it has been since I have blogged. Oh sure, lots of excuses, like my family, deal flow, holidays, being without administrative support, interviewing new administrative support, bike rides for wonderful causes, more holidays, more deal flow. But those are just excuses...

I was brought out of my lethargy by the lure of riches...got my monthly paycheck from Feedburner for ads on my blog. That's right, I actually make money from this, and will make a lot more money if a lot more people read this blog. Quite a nice incentive. OK, so it was only a few dollars...but its a nice beginning.

But that paycheck reminded me of why I really started this ritual:
-having my own soapbox on matters that interest me
-getting my hands dirty with some web/blogging software
-MAKING MONEY (just joking, never even thought of that....)

Much more important than the money is the feedback I get --  one email and/or comment is worth a lot in terms of incentive to get me writing.

I will try to get back on semi-regular schedule (the most I can aim for), but if you don't hear from me for more than a week, drop me a line, letting me know you care. Or send money, almost as good. Paypal accepted, can email to jacob@jerusalemcapital.net.