Israel’s official dot com.petition Presenting the selected and most promising Israeli Web 2.0 srartups

Ron Conway, angel investor

Ronald Conway has been an active angel investor for over 15 years. He was the Founder and Managing Partner of the Angel Investors LP funds (1998-2005) whose investments included: Google, Ask Jeeves, Paypal, Good Technology, Opsware, and Brightmail. He was recently named #6 in Forbes Magazine Midas list of top “deal-makers” in 2008 and is actively involved in numerous philanthropic endeavors. Ron has served/serves on Boards/Advisory Boards including: Twitter, Digg.com, Bright Mail, Ask Jeeves, Rupture (acquired by EA), Associated Content, Facebook, RockYou, ScanScout, Zappos, Trulia, StumbleUpon, Plaxo (acquired by Comcast), Photobucket (acquired by Fox), and Anchor Intelligence (co-founder).
Philanthropically, Ron is Vice Chairman of the UCSF Medical Foundation in SF, Board Member of The Tiger Woods Foundation, and SF Homeless Connect, and on the Benefit Committee of Ronald McDonald House, College Track, and the Blacked Eyed Peas-PeaPod Academy Foundation.

Emily Chang, Co- Founder, Ideacodes

Emily is an award-winning web and interaction designer, technology strategist and co-founder of Ideacodes, a design consultancy in San Francisco that specializes in the design and user experience of social applications, networked communities and next generation websites. For more than a decade, Emily has designed, developed and produced online experiences for a variety of clients, including IDEO, MTV, Six Apart, GigaOM, gdgt and MIT. Emily's expertise covers digital strategy, user interface, interaction design, to web apps and social software. She's active in the web community and has been cited among the 50 most influential individuals in Silicon Valley, and most recently in 2009, she was nominated for the prestigious Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards for excellence in interaction design. She has an MFA in sculpture and a BA in literature.

Christine Herron, Principal, First Round Capital

Christine Herron is a Principal with First Round Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm. Previously, Christine was a director at Omidyar Network, where she developed the Media practice strategy. Prior to Omidyar Network, Christine held operational roles with Mission Research, NetObjects, and Microsoft, and was the founder and CEO of Mercury2. She started as an investor with Geocapital Partners, where she funded early Internet and network infrastructure businesses including Netcom and AXON Networks. Christine earned degrees from both Stanford University and Columbia University.

Saul Klein, Index Ventures

Saul is currently a Partner at Index Ventures. Before joining Index, he served as the global VP of marketing and e-commerce for Skype (purchased by eBay), where he is currently still an advisor. Prior to Skype, Saul co-founded and served as CEO for Video Island, an Index-funded venture that recently merged with LoveFilm to become Europe’s leading online DVD rental and movie download service.

Meir Brand, Country Manager, Google Israel

In Sep 2005, Meir Brand was appointed to set up and lead Google's operations in Israel as Country Manager for Google Israel. Brand has a 12 year successful track record as a business and marketing executive with leading global companies such as: Microsoft, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and P&G. He is an experienced internet veteran and joined his first Internet company in 1999 as Business Development Manager at Excite@Home and later as VP Sales and Marketing for ICQ (AOL Timewarner). Meir holds a Master's in Business Administration from Harvard University Graduate School of Business (Honors) and B.A in Economics from Tel Aviv University (Magna Cum Laude). Brand has lived and worked in Europe, Israel and the U.S and speaks English, Hebrew, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Tzahi (Zack) Weisfeld, Microsoft

Zack Weisfeld brings more than 15 years of experience in executive management, strategy and business development, mostly in leading edge technology companies. Prior to re-joining Microsoft, Zack was Founder, Business and marketing officer at Mintigo Ltd. The Social Biometrics company as well as Vice President of Marketing & Strategy at modu, the modular mobile handset company. Before that, Zack held the position of Director of Business Management at Microsoft Corp. and General Manager Americas and Corporate Vice President for the Mobile Market at msystems (NSDQ: FLSH), which was acquired by SanDisk Corp (NSDQ: SNDK) for 1.6B at the end of 2006. Zack Weisfeld holds an International Executive MBA from Kellogg Business School and Tel Aviv University, as well as B.A. in Economics with Honors from Tel-Aviv University.

Roi Carthy, TechCrunch & Soluto

Roi is currently Head of Products at Soluto. He also writes about Israeli startups for TechCrunch.

Gil Ben-Artzy, Yahoo!

Gil Ben-Artzy joined Yahoo! in 2005, and spent 3.5 years in the Corporate Development group working on business strategies, acquisition strategies and internal investments. Among his responsibilities, he managed the relationships with Israeli VCs, entrepreneurs and start-ups, leading the FoxyTunes acquisition and helping to open the R&D Center in Haifa. Gil recently transitioned to the tech infrastructure group, where he’s the Head of Operations Management. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Gil was a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in NYC, where he advised Fortune 500 companies. Gil holds a BA in Economics & Business Administration from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Yair Goldfinger, co-founder and CTO of Dotomi

Being a co-founder and CTO of Dotomi, an online direct marketing leader, Mr. Goldfinger is a passionate supporter and investor in the Israeli hi-tech Industry. Prior to Dotomi, he has co-founded ICQ, the world first Internet-wide Instant Messaging (acquired by AOL in 1998), and served as its CTO, credited with the development of Instant Messaging. He holds a B.A. in Math and Computer Science from Tel-Aviv University. He was awarded with the Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award in 2005.

Ofer Adler, Co-Founder/CEO Incredimail

One of the founders, and CEO of IncrediMail, and one of the first investors of Metacafe.Com and Etoro.Com. Interested in everything to do with Internet; GUI, UI, information gathering methods, email, communication, and interesting ideas in general. Likes to (and wants to do more of some day...) Windsurf, Skydive, Snowboard, RC helicopters, and many more. Before IncrediMail, spent around 8 years in the local capital market, out of which 3 years as a broker in the Tel-Aviv stock exchange market.

Izhar Shay, General Partner, Canaan Partners

Izhar Shay has been the head of Canaan’s Israel operations since 2005. With more than 20 years of operational experience, Izhar was previously Chairman and CEO of V-Secure Technologies, which was acquired by Radware (RDWR) in December 2005. Previously, Izhar was CEO and co-founder of Business Layers, a Canaan portfolio company. Izhar led Business Layers from startup to a dominant player position in the identity management market, until it was acquired by Netegrity (NETE) in December 2003. Izhar was previously VP of Business Development with The BRM Group. He holds a B.Sc. in Electronics Engineering from the Technion Institute in Haifa, Israel, and was a paratrooper in the Israeli army. Izhar serves on the board of directors of Snunit, a nonprofit organization, which focuses on integrating technology and the Internet into Israel’s elementary schools. Izhar is also a member of the Friends of Israel Sci-Tech Schools organization. He writes a weekly column at Globes. Izhar serves on the board of directors of LiveU, Efficient Finance, N-trig and Prime Sense.

Yaron Samid, Founder & CEO, CrowdSpot

Yaron Samid is an Internet entrepreneur and tech community leader. After founding several successful new media companies including Pando and DeskSite, Yaron created TechAviv and NYVideo.org, two of the world's largest organizations supporting new media entrepreneurs. TechAviv brings together Israel's leading hi-tech founders and investors monthly in Israel, Silicon Valley, New York and Boston. Yaron serves on the board of Aprigo, Pond5, InterMatch and the Tevel.org Angel Group.

Kfir Pravda, Pravda Media

Kfir Pravda is a marketer, content creator and blogger. His company, Pravda Media, provides services to companies and organizations in the field of media, content and marketing strategies. His blog, Pravda on Media and Technology, is read and quoted by VCs, content creators, and media executives across the globe. He is a known speaker and editor of international conferences in the fields of innovation, media, and technology. He is also an avid fan of crime films and whisky.

Avichay Nissenbaum, CEO & Co-founder of Yedda

Avichay Nissenbaum is the CEO & Co-founder of Yedda, an AOL company And AOL Israel Country Manager. As co-founder and CEO of Yedda, Inc. Avichay led the company to become a prominent player in the Internet social search space which led to the acquisition by AOL (A Time Warner company Nasdaq:TWX).Prior to Yedda Avichay co-founded SmarTeam (Acquired by Dassault Systemes , Nasdaq: DASTY), a market leader in the PLM domain (Product Lifecycle Management). With over 20 years of experience in the software industry, through leadership positions in management, sales, business development, marketing, and operations, Avichay serves as a board member for Winbuyer Ltd., ComSleep Ltd. And Incredimail (NASDAQ: MAIL) and advises and helps several startups and entrepreneurs. Avichay holds a B.Sc degree in Computer Science and a B.A in Economics.

Deborah Schultz, leader and innovator

Deborah Schultz is a thought leader and innovator on the impact and adoption of Internet technologies and the power of technology to connect society, culture and business. She speaks and consults on the cultural and economic impact of the Internet, and specifically where our social and technological networks overlap. She currently serves as Procter & Gamble’s Strategic Adviser for Social & Emerging Media and has also consulted with and advised Fortune 50 companies including Pepsi, General Mills, and GE, as well as numerous internet startups and VC firms. She is a regular keynote speaker at tech and business conferences. Previously, Deborah was the Marketing Director at Six Apart, ran her own marketing consultancy firm, was a management consultant at AnswerThink and spent five years at Citibank where she developed many of the global bank's first internet initiatives. One of her proudest accomplishments was launching the Downtown Info Center, a lower Manhattan community center & online hub to revitalize lower Manhattan after the attacks of September 11th. Deborah is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University. The former Manhattanite is now a tireless road warrior and can be found in SF, NYC, or Tel Aviv. But wherever she is, she's always 'connected'.

Ayelet Noff, Blonde 2.0, Founder and CEO

Ayelet Noff is the founder and CEO of Blonde 2.0, a New Media PR firm specializing in helping brands use social media tools such as social networks, the blogosphere and social software to create brand awareness. Ayelet has been involved in the social media world before the term social media even existed. She is also a top blogger and currently writes for three different blogs: The Blonde 2.0 blog, The Next Web, Socialmedia.biz.

Yaniv Golan, Vice President, Aol

Yaniv Golan joined Aol in 2007 following the acquisition of Yedda, a company he co-founded in 2006. Prior to Yedda Yaniv served as VP R&D in SmarTeam, a company acquired by Dassault Systemes (DASTY) in 1999. Yaniv is an active angel investor and advisor to startups and is involved in multiple consumer facing and technology internet startups, providing expertise in areas ranging from technology and architecture to social marketing, social incentive systems, monetization and user experience. Yaniv was named one of the Top-40 Israeli Internet Startup Professionals by TheMarker Magazine in 2008. Yaniv is a mentor for up-and-coming high school students with StartupSeeds, where he is also a member of the Board of Directors.

Ofer Sela, Partner, KPMG Somekh Chaikin

Ofer has extensive experience servicing emerging, middle market and public companies, as well as leading IPO’s that are traded both in Israel and NASDAQ. Ofer is focused on servicing companies within the technology and media markets.
Ofer joined KPMG Somekh Chaikin at 2004 after returning from Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent more than 3 years servicing variety of technology and media companies including major US national and multinational enterprises within the communication industry, as well as privately held VC backed companies.
Ofer has in-depth Media Industry experience advising companies through the issues associated with high growth, public offerings and acquisitions. Ofer has dealt extensively with issues associated with mergers and acquisitions, revenue recognition, website development cost, customer acquisition cost, stock compensation, SEC reporting, strategic partnering, purchase accounting, due diligence, licensing arrangements, strategic and operational risk management including development of infrastructure controls.

Oded Hermoni | CEO, High Tech Industry Association

Oded Hermoni is the CEO of the HTIA, as of mid 2010. Oded is a well known figure among the Israeli high tech industry and brings a diversified executive high tech background as an entrepreneur, investor, inventor and a journalist. Prior to joining the HTIA, Oded worked for 4 years in Capital Point (TASE:CPTP), an early stage investment group and its subsidiary Meytag High tech Ventures, a leading technological incubator, where he served as Vice President for Business development.
In 2004 Oded co-founded "ozeret4u", a matching site for households and maids, acquired in 2006 by Israeli Yellow pages.
From 2000-2006 Mr. Hermoni worked as a Senior High tech journalist and as an editor for Haaretz daily newspaper (local edition of the Herald Tribune) economy section and TheMarker, Israel's leading economy newspaper and website. In 2004 Oded became the editor of the high tech section and Captain Internet at Haaretz, and later in 2005, he took part in the small strategic group responsible for the vision of Haaretz and the creation of the new printed economy section known as "TheMarker".