In the spirit of Passover, I thought I’d write a post regarding Israel.

Here’s a fact that I was entirely unaware of: Israel is a burgeoning technology startup market.  Indeed, Israel is aptly named “Startup Nation.”

One of the things that is really animating Israel’s rise in the tech startup space, is an ethos of improvisation in the face of adversity.

As Ari Nahmani, founder and CEO of Jerusalem-based Kahena Digital Marketing, asserts: “Israelis are used to things not going exactly as planned. In fact, they expect the unexpected, and improvise and pivot at such rapid speed that it sometimes feels as if the lemonade was made without lemons,”

Another point of strength is that Israeli culture tends to favor directness. This can help in the entrepreneur space. The article reads:

“The classic Israeli mentality is direct, blunt and to the point — sometimes to Israelis’ discredit. But the upside is that Israelis tend to be very transparent in both their business dealings and their personal lives, embodying a refreshingly genuine “what you see is what you get” disposition.Being direct and up-front can serve you well in business. As long as you are tactful, being direct and transparent with your employees, suppliers, and customers will earn you their trust. And, when people trust you, they’ll feel secure doing business with you.”

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/286573

 

This company manufactures and sells lab grown diamonds. As someone who is cognizant of the problematic diamond trade, lab created diamonds are a really great innovation. This article reads like a Q & A, and the ownership team really provides some sound advice, and they touch upon topics that we have covered in this course. I found this excerpt to be particularly interesting:

“What trait do you depend on most when making decisions and why is that useful for you?

LR: We have a wonderful set of checks and balances when it comes to attitudes and ideas. Jason is the visionary; he’s always looking ahead, thinking of the future, and optimistically planning for growth. I’m the small business owner; viewing the problem analytically and in great detail, asking, “How can we make this happen with the budget allowed?”

Given that we are at the group presentation phase of the course, I thought I’d share an article that uncovers the benefits of effective teamwork.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/292565

After using (somewhat reluctantly) Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram for a few years I’ve had a decent chance to consider each platform’s growth. It’s no secret that competitors borrow ideas from one another, and there’s a strong argument that the ability to copy and possibly improve on an idea that another business developed advances technology and benefits society.

Even Steve Jobs, one of America’s greatest innovators, was known to steal/copy/borrow ideas regularly, and we still see this back-and-forth of idea exchange between Samsung and Apple today. It’s all in the name of progress!

But our class’s recent dive into patent law and some blatant feature copying by Facebook have me asking: how far is too far? I ask this question both as a consumer and from a legal/public policy perspective.

Consider Facebook’s recent decision to add “stories” to the platform. Months before, Instagram (owned by Facebook) did the same thing. Next you’re going to tell me that Microsoft Excel is adding stories!

What began as a highly original innovation from Snapchat has now been shamelessly copied by two of its biggest competitors.

As a consumer, I really don’t want stories on Facebook, and I’m not sure that Instagram needs them either. For me, the differences between platforms are what gives each its own unique usefulness. The extra features on an application, like stories on Facebook and Instagram, are just more clutter.

From a legal perspective, I’m surprised Snapchat wasn’t able to secure patent protection for a feature as distinct as “stories.” Of course, this could be due to my very basic understanding of patent law. Do we want businesses to be able to mimic competitors to this degree?

I understand that this move by Facebook is part of an effort to increase sharing among younger users, who are apparently sharing less content than FB’s older demographic. By the way, your Aunt Debbie just uploaded 500 vacation pics and commented on your profile picture from 6 years ago.

This Business Insider article provides a great summary of Facebook’s history of copying Snapchat.

http://www.businessinsider.com/all-the-times-facebook-copied-snapchat-in-2016-2016-12/#the-first-indication-that-facebook-was-wading-into-snapchats-territory-was-in-march-when-it-acquired-the-app-msqrd-which-lets-you-swap-faces-with-goofy-effects-similar-to-snapchats-unique-filters-called-lenses-1

 

This story is quite interesting. The founder solved a problem through his business, which is attracting investors.

http://fortune.com/2017/04/11/simple-contacts-venture-capital-raise/

This article is quite useful to building a business that customers love. The first point hits home as to design thinking. “It’s not what you want to sell; it’s what your customers want to buy. The best ideas (if you are listening carefully) come from your best customers.”

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290684

This article shows how one company solved a problem, remained competitive, and scored because of it. Finding solutions to business problems can make the difference between life and death for a venture.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290450

This article highlights the idea of knowing how to get a business to make money. What might be right for larger companies might not be right for a smaller business.

Their design thinking was not wrong, but they had to change the manner in which they exposed customers to their product. They landed a great deal that has a lot of marketing impact and it makes sense for them.
They additionally have a charitable initiative within their business.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290454

This is an interesting article that walks us through what it believes to be 7 principles for a strong SME business plan. Throughout this class we’ve been focused on how entrepreneurs start their businesses but I don’t think we ever went through the specifics of how they design business plans to attract the requisite funding that helps them start their businesses. I think the article does a nice job of creating a backdrop for audiences who may not be familiar of the inner workings of the business world.

Social media has become a key part of advertising for companies. This article gives some direction as to how to get good engagement on Instagram, particularly through aesthetics.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290541

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/education/edlife/where-non-techies-computer-programming-coding.html

I was reading the New York Times this past weekend and came across this article which I thought was interesting. The article notes that the tech revolution has led to an explosion in the demand for computer science courses among college students and that coding is essentially becoming part of the larger liberal-arts education.

Interestingly, even law schools are getting in the mix. The article notes that Georgetown Law teaches a class in coding. It seems particularly interesting because it so different that a traditional law school course. I feel like that type of course would be valuable, specifically in the case of dealing with sophisticated clients. Knowing the lingo and having a base understanding for some of the more technical nuances of what some of our clients may do in that space would be beneficial to both parties. I wonder, as lawyers begin to represent more clients in the startup and tech space, whether the demand in law schools for computer science classes will follow suit.