By: Yael Kochman, Class of 2012
The title above was the title of an event that was held by the Israeli chapter of the MIT Forum. As I am currently starting my own business, which has been both exciting and scary, when I heard about it I knew I wanted to be there. I was excited to connect with other entrepreneurs and hear their stories. Although all were interesting, the most compelling presentation, in my eyes, was that by Moran Nir. Moran is a young woman, more or less my age, who founded a company called Funkit- a venture that produces specialized stickers for shoes. The main message Moran shared with us was one that I strongly agree with: if you have an idea, don’t talk. Act. The more you talk before taking action the less of a chance your venture has of coming to fruition.
Although this message is important, it was not the key factor that set her presentation apart from the others.The fact that she was younger and less experienced than the others also was not the distinguishing feature. It was the way she chose to present her point of view that made her stand out. All the speakers prepared professional power point presentations that focused on the idea, stages and vision of their companies. Moran, on the other hand, chose to focus on what it has been like for her to be an entrepreneur. Her talk was very personal. And she did it through one of the most personal mediums that exits today: Facebook.She started with a post: “Mom, Dad, I’m going to be an entrepreneur!” Later, to complement her advice of not letting our ventures take over our lives, her accompanying slide read “relationship status: single.” When she was speaking about the importance of choosing the right partner her slides broadcasted the status update “who wants to be my partner?” with responses of ”I do! Me! Pick me!”. This tactic really delivered the message that although many may offer partnership, it is crucial to make the right (not the popular) choice.
Overall her presentation was creative, informational and drove home a tone of relevant insights. I was so impressed by Moran’s self-confidence, modesty (those don’t always go together) and honesty that I ended up exchanging cards with her and making plans to meet and discuss the possibility of cooperation between our companies. In addition to Moran’s story, there were other stories I was impressed by, including the amazing story of Roni Ros- founder and CEO of Panorama (sold to Microsoft in the 1990′s, one of the first communicated exits in Israel), and the moving story of Rim Yunis, co-founder and CEO of Alpha Omega, who built the company with her husband in order to both help those suffering from Parkinson and to supply job opportunities for Arab engineers. I chose to tell you Moran’s story because I assume the readers of this post are, like me, at the early stages of their ventures, or maybe merely having initial thoughts in this direction, and can relate to her story and the way she chose to present it.
To conclude, the main thing we can learn from Moran’s story, is the importance of acting upon your ideas. If you have an idea, it is OK to talk about it and consult, but talking won’t make it happen. Start building a business plan, list a number of important action and start taking actions. Don’t worry if your idea is not completely formed yet, it is bound to change along the way anyway. Working it out step by step will probably make it seem less scary and you will realize that you can actually make it happen!
The writer is co-founder and co-CEO of IL Couture.
http://il.linkedin.com/in/yaelkochman
Imagine the potential of a network of MBA alumni all over the world? On December 28th 2011, Sofaer International MBA alumni gathered at Rothschild 12 in Tel Aviv to build and strengthen their network, support the budding Alumni Club as well as to have a good time! Sofaer alumni from the first two classes chatted over drinks and appetizers and met with students of the new Sofaer class.
“Investing in Israeli Cleantech”
