MYBLOG by Ouriel

Nicolas Sarkozy is a sex symbol in Israel

There is a lot of negative press in France around Nicolas Sarkozy. Too much in my opinion. Actually there is always negative press in France when you try to change things and in France a lot of things need to be changed. However in Israel, some people think he's pretty sexy and make very strong declarations. Below a video collected by a friend of mine that is quite "refreshing". Maybe he would have stayed a little more had he seen it? :) See for yourself below.

I am not sure you would hear that in France. I have not pushed it yet and the videos has been watch already close to 700 times..

By the way the annotations/bubbles on the video were made directly out of YouTube that released the new feature a few hours ago, shooting in PlyMedia's field an israeli startup

Technorati Tags: sarkozy funny carla bruni france israel

[podcast] Speech of Nicolas Sarkozy today in Jerusalem

I attended today the conference for entrepreneurs in Jerusalem in the presence of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. It was a fantastic place for networking and met many friends i have not seen for a while. He spoke in French and i had the idea the record it in a podcast you can listen below (he spoke in French). He spoke very directly and clearly said that business relations between both countries are not enough.

I am not sure he is aware of my small contribution to this: TechCrunch France (one of the top french blogs i am writting) is written from Israel neither than Gemini and LightSpeed invested in 2 French startups (Wikio.com and Bahu.com) but i am sure there is something right about his observations. Too many entrepreneurs still think the US market is the gold mine. It is a crowded one, with a weak money. Europe is not so crowded with a strong Euro..Make the maths..

Laurence Parisot, president of the MEDEF (corporate organization in France) also delivered a great speech. She came with 100 french SMBs ( a first in the history of israel) that were impressed by the israeli creativity and dynamism. One quote to remember "In israel believing in Miracles is being realistic". Inspiring

Technorati Tags: sarkozy israel parisot jerusalem conference

Admitting of being wrong is a good thing

Very often i meet startups and do not "connect" with their services. This leads me to give an opinion on why this cannot be successful.I always try to justify it rationally (adding this is my opinion). Most of the time i think i can do that. the problem is that many times i am wrong. Of course i am not always wrong otherwise my employers would have fired me by now.... One of the thing i am trying to learn through my job as a VC is keeping track of the thing i was wrong about, understand why and improve the way i evaluate things and people.

Example

About a year ago, when i first heard of Dopplr, a travel sharing service, i thought this would never catch up because the service was based on a simple declaration of your trips. But then they introduced sharing with your friends and improved dramatically the user interface. In my last trip to Korea i updated my dopplr account and i got instant information of a good friend travelling there the same dates. I would have never known that otherwise. Dopplr proved to bring a strong added value. Now this will be part of my every trip. I admit i was wrong about Dopplr (but right in the way it was originally built).

I could give a long list of services i would have never bet on and that are now succeeding or starting to succeed (and a longer list of cases where i was right). I think it is important to admit you are wrong even if the exercise if painful. Put your ego aside, analyze your own biais, and correct it.

For example i have been saying for a couple of years there is no web2.0 bubble. I still think i am right and that most people that are trying to explain do not have solid backup (most of the time journalists). I could be wrong and a bubble will happen. I will then admit it, publicly but will try to understand why. And make sure next time i have a better evaluation.

Same thing goes with evaluating people. This is why a second chance is important.

Admitting you are wrong can only work on a dynamic basis. A one off is close to useless.

President Nicolas Sarkozy comes to Israel

France will be well represented next week in Israel. President Nicolas Sarkozy is coming for a visit of State to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Israel. He will be accompanied by many personnalities and startups.

I will have the opportunity to meet him and a delegation of companies next Tuesday in Jerusalem.

For those who don t know: i am French but live in Israel. Lot of political encounters lately. More soon also. keep track

Technorati Tags: france israel nicolas sarkozy

In Korea and Japan next week

I am very excited by my upcoming trip to Seoul and Tokyo. I was invited to join a delegation of business men by french foreign trade minister Anne Marie Idrac. I ll spend a couple of days in Seoul and Tokyo for several interviews and meetings with key local business men, politicians and trade organizations.

I have travelled a few times in the past for business to China and Hong Kong but this is my very first time in those two countries.

Right now i am trying to find out how to get a 3G phone there. Neither my blackberry or iPhone are working there (nor the collection of nokias or LGs i have at home)

I will have close to zero connection to internet and cellphone. Funny for countries where very high speed internet is years in advance of our old countries...

If you have any special tip, please drop them in comments

Technorati Tags: korea, japan, trip, france, annemarieidrac

Eurovision. Israel: zero points

Zapping on my TV i stumbled upon Boaz Mauda singing at the Eurovision 2008. Beyond the fact i think the Eurovision is one of the poorest musical programs ever created on TV in terms of musical quality, i was really wondering why Israel chose Boaz and chose this song (Fire in your eyes) .

Boaz is a gracious guy, and probably has a nice voice although i cannot fully appreciate it. But the young kid, winner of the israeli Pop Idole, does not have the charism of a great singer. He cannot stand right without making me feel uncomfortable. He does not have the presence and the magnetism you expect from a star.

Israel is a fantastic country for music (Israel won twice the eurovision with fantastic songs and has great composers like Matti Caspi, Aviv Geffen, Yoni rechter,...), i found here some of the best pop singers i have heard. Why have we chosen him? Because he won Kokhav Nolad (less than a year ago)? Not a good reason. Does he represent best Israel's music scene? Not in my mind.

But the worst part in my mind was the song: it was composed by Dana International (ex winner of the Eurovision). The song was dull, the melody boring and i had the impression it was heaten in a microwave. That s a shame cause the first 10 seconds were very promising. Maybe that was composed in the "standards" of the Eurovision. Because if you compare Boaz's song to others, it was far from being the worse (i heard a couple)

Eurovision should be a place to promote musical quality instead of musical popularity (the winners usually are not original). We have so many talents. It is about time a true quality event came on stage. Sorry Boaz if you read that, but i could not like your song, even though i supported you 100%

Note: Boaz arrived in position 9. Russia won.

Technorati Tags: boaz mauda eurovision fireinyoureyes

The Laptop/Bathroom situation

I wanted to write this post for a long time but i have just read this great article in Wired about what you should/could do when you work in a cafe with your laptop and that suddenly mother nature calls you to your duties. Working myself often in Cafes in Israel or Abroad i perfectly know the situation. In the article the writer mentions 5 solutions that do not work for me.

1. Solution 1: Leave it there on the table

2. Solution 2: Ask the person next to me to keep an eye it

3. Solution 3: Bring it in with me

4. Solution 4: Bring everything in with me

5. Solution 5: Lock the thing up

Here is my advice: for me the only thing that works, is to take care of what should be taken care of BEFORE you sit down. You might be afraid to lose this great table you spotted. I just ask someone to keep me the place and we re done.

Sorry for the unusual interruption of the blog, you can go back to work

San Francisco's Mayor: Tel Aviv "Better" than San Francisco

Always great to hear popular figures talking about Israel so positively. The San Francisco's Mayor in visit in Israel seems impressed and has exactly the same reaction i had when i first come to Israel: the reality here is SO different from the one distributed over the media.

Video: China trains have created a new job: passenger pusher

What i really wonder is what is going to happen once the door will open at the next station

The Typical Israeli Customer Service is so bad

I love israel. I decided to move there because quality of life is outstanding and the mentality is dynamic and young. But there is one thing i hate: the lack of culture of basic customer service with service providers. I have lived in several countries and can compare from my own experience how this is addressed here and there.

It does not matter what service you subscribe to (mobile, internet, telephone, electricity, gaz, bank...) it is just a nightmare to get to talk to the right person.

THE WRONG COMMITMENT SYSTEM

But the worse is not here. Most of those services are working on the basis that you commit to a minimum period with their services (say 6 months) and receive a preferential price for it. The problem is that you NEVER know when this period comes to an end unless you start receiving the new bill with a new higher amount, meaning this is too late.

Of course the service provider will never call you to notify you that your promotion is about to end and that you need to renew it. I wonder how many customers like me over paid for too long because those services are not educated to call their customer before the promotion period ends. And it happens with each single service (internet, tv, mobile...). They claim they add a mention in the bills. My ISP say it appears in the email they created for me (I never use because their webmail suck: 013 FYI). Then i asked a paper bill. But i checked and it appears lost in other mentions and it is definitely not enough.

Then you have to call them to explain you overpaid (they will claim you did not since you did not renew your commitment) And the only way to get your money back is to threaten you are going to close the account. Then they offer you a special "new" promotion coming out of nowhere asking you to commit to a new period and if you shouted loud enough they will refund the months you overpaid. Imagine you have to do that every 6months/12 months with each one of your provider. This is not sustainable

This is UNACCEPTABLE. Of course all communications are on your account....

What should they do? call their customers when they are asked to (some will be happy with a letter) and ask them to renew their promotion. Could they do it? Of course, although they claim they can't (because it serves them well and because they are not educated correctly to serve their customers). This should change and the government should be involved in this change at it has a direct impact on the citizens savings and therefore on the economy.

THE HIDDEN BANK COMMISSIONS

I have an account in Discount Bank but i believe this is true with other banks. I have observed over time 2 problems

• They take a lot of commissions that are never explained or detailed. Why? Because the information system is not unique (bank, credit card) and because you are supposed to know exactly what you do and what you pay for, which is impossible once you know the complexity of their fee system.
• their internet website is not relating well the operations forcing you to call them all the time for explanations. My contacts at the bank claim that they are not responsible for what is appearing on the site and that i should speak to another department in charge of the internet site. Same thing for operations that are made in foreign currency. WTH???

Many times i have discovered some of the commissions were not justified and were paid back to me. but this is NOT NORMAL. i don't have time for this and i need to trust my bank. And i wan't to talk to only one person to solve my problems. i want someone to take responsibility. I just wrote a complain letter to the person responsible of my branch. I am not naive this is not going to change things a lot. It is very likely one day i will close my account there and will start off with a new bank that will have a clearer fee system but also a good customer service.

What is missing: responsibility and transparency

The real problem is that Israel is a very small country and service providers know very well they don't need to make so many efforts because choices are limited. That's why the government should force those changes for the good of consumers.

I am sure i am not alone in this case. I am sure that this should change. I am sure this will change because it does not make sense a customer has to waste time to pay the right price of the service is subscribed to.

update: i printed this post and sent it by fax to my bank branch manager. Immediately i got a call and commissions were paid back to me and my situation in order. The miracles of the Holy land...

Technorati Tags: israel, customer service, service providers, 013, discount