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Google, IBM Select IsIt For First Place At Israel Startup Weekend
Tel Aviv ---- December 20, 2009 ..... It all started as a small advertisement on the social networking Websites Facebook and Twitter. That an organization entitled Startup Weekend was planning to sponsor an entrepreneurial 3 day event in Israel with Google and IBM. Startup Weekend was established in 2007 and operates out of Seattle, WA by Marc Nager and Clint Nelsen. This creative and rapidly growing hi tech program designed to create global startups has gained much success in over 52 cities and 12 countries from Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Boston to London, Paris, Moscow and Tokyo. Over 150 Hi Tech programmers, business development, VC investors, marketing, PR and SEO professionals registered and participated in Startup Weekend Israel. Startup Israel was held at the Tel Aviv offices of IBM Israel. As many Jews observe Shabbat on Saturday, organizers Eddy Resnick, Amir Harel and Shelby Zitelman created a modified and kosher version of Startup Weekend in Israel with day one beginning on Wednesday afternoon and day three ending just before Shabbat on Friday afternoon. It was more than natural for Startup Weekend to take their program to Israel. Israel has the largest number of high-tech startups in absolute terms after the US and 80 percent of the 3,000 Israel companies involved in R&D are less than 10 years old. Today, some 100 Israel companies are traded on the NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX equity markets. Other than Canada, no foreign country is so heavily represented on Wall Street. Most of the firms are high-tech companies traded on the NASDAQ, and over a dozen have market capitalizations of over $500 million.
Relative to the size of her population, Israel has more engineers, and sees more scientific articles published, than any other country in the world (Israel has 135 engineers per 10,000 people; the US has 85). However, the stimulus for the industry's growth has been national survival, both military and economic. Among the global hi tech giants which have research and development facilities in Israel are Intel, IBM, Motorola, Digital, Amdocs, HP, Google, Microsoft, AOL which recently purchased Mirabilis ICQ, and Texas Instruments. On Wednesday evening the participants enjoyed an opening statement from entrepreneur Yossi Vardi. One by one the developers came to the stage and presented some 50 start up ideas. Then these creative Israelis had to select one idea for which they believed in and would be compatible with their professional capabilities. The groups then began a grueling trek working until 11:30 p.m. and then starting the next day at 9 a.m. and again till 11:30 p.m. They all returned to fine tune their demos and presentations at 9 a.m. on Friday morning. Plenty of food and coffee was on hand, although one would suspect that more coffee than food was consumed. It became an extremely intense experience to establish the technological and business model around the idea, and then to decide how the startup group could recruit investment money. Late Friday morning, at 11:00 a.m. all of the participants were asked to come to the IBM auditorium and present their demos to the judges which included Google and IBM. IsIt?, a software application for verifying information on the Internet won first place. The IsIt? team, which coined the slogan "reality in a click" consists of Joel Leyden, Erez Paz, Alon Abadi and Gayla Goodman. IsIt will receive both legal and financial support from Startup Weekend Israel, just enough to get them up and running. "I was and still am overwhelmed," said Leyden, who serves as the Director and VP of Business Development for IsIt. "We knew we had a solution which is in critical demand by the information technology, news, INTEL, B2B, B2C and academia markets, but to have Google and IBM endorse this software, was an honor that I shall never forget."
The two runner ups were PsychTech, which developed a method for analyzing people by how they use a computer mouse and keyboard followed by a Web site called FrayerMeter.com. Astrails, a Startup Weekend sponsor had only one word to describe the 3 day event: "awesome." Tal Ron, CEO of Tal Ron, Drihem and Co, which also sponsored the Startup Weekend said: "We want to sponsor the next 'how many' Startup Weekends. This is great." "I am just floored by what you guys could put together in less than two days. In other Startup Weekends around the world they have two full days plus an evening to put their projects together - and you managed the same in about half of the time. This is wild," said Eddy Resnick, founder of Clouds 'R Us and one of the organizers for Startup Weekend Israel. As the event took place in the warm and well lit offices and conference rooms of IBM, a fierce dust storm was blowing outside. But not one of the participants noticed as they were all glued to their laptops. "This is blast. I'm having a wonderful time," said Shelby Zitelman, one of the organizers, who through the many long hours maintained a smile and cheerful attitude. Amir Harel, another organizer of Startup Weekend Israel stated: "We need more programmers. There are so many great ideas only if we could implement them all."
"Israel is very well known and respected for being a global leader in the fields of technology," said Joel Leyden, President of the Leyden Internet Marketing and Digital PR Communications Group. Leyden, who has a background in journalism and SEO, is a member of the IsIt startup team. "What we saw at Startup Weekend Israel was history. Israel has witnessed hundreds of networking events and trade shows but never before was that networking activity immediately implemented into creating startups. I think coffee was not needed. This was a pure adrenaline rush as we ran fervishly against the clock to create, implement and outperform the other startup teams. It was pretty much like being in a reserve IDF combat unit. You had only minutes to get to know your comrades to carry out an effective and comprehensive mission." Attendees came from Tel Aviv, Ashdod, Hadera, Haifa, Ra'anana, Afula, Jerusalem, Beer Sheva, Holon, Sderot, Kiryat Shomona, Katzrin, Rehovot and Herzliya. The organizers state that Startup Weekend provided an unprecedented level of networking, team building, learning, and life changes for its attendees and their communities. This entrepreneur built event came with 6-7 meals and soft drinks and plenty of coffee. The organizers prefaced the event with a warning: "Since it will be Hanukah, we plan to stuff you with doughnuts and latkes, so be prepared." This writer was not sure which was more dangerous - the stress of creating a startup in 54 hours or devouring thousand of calories from a wide and tasty variety of doughnuts and sandwiches. But one thing was certain, given the competitive nature of this startup event there was still an environment of warmth, friendliness and professional cooperation. Between the intense Java, HTML and Flash programming and the designing of Powerpoint presentations were dozens of smiles and cordial conversations between the various groups. Speakers included: Nir Bar-Lev, Google Head of Analysis Products, EMEA., Ofer Adler of IncrediMail and Avichay Nissenbaum, CEO and Co-founder of Yedda, an AOL company.
This Startup Weekend is the first ever Startup Weekend to take place in Israel. Startup Weekend sent Clint Nelson, a partner at Startup weekend, to join and supervise the Israeli event. In addition to IBM Israel, other sponsors included Astrails, Tal Ron, Drihem and Co., The Marker. see.V and Newsgeek, Amazon Web Services, Zend, and Platonix Joint Ventures. The Israel News Agency and Newsgeek reported live from Israel Startup Weekend via Twitter and Facebook status updates and photos. Regardless of the number of companies created in Israel by Startup Weekend, the event illustrated Israeli determination to break through a global recession. A positive attitude by Israeli entrepreneurs which has not changed since 1948. An effective attitude of survival which serves as a shining example to every person, every political and corporate leader, every company and organization throughout the world.
The Israel News Agency, which is accredited by Israel Government Press Office, was the first on line news organization in Israel. The INA reaches up to 60 million readers through Google News and Internet social networking channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from New York, London, Moscow and Paris to Toronto, Los Angeles, China and India. Leyden is presently launching the United States News Agency using the INA as a successful working model.
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