Entrepreneurship Experience

Entrepreneurship Story

This past summer I embarked a six-week program through Washington University in which I traveled to Israel to study venture capital and venture creation, where I received 6 entrepreneurship credits towards my college degree. One of the assignments on the program was a mandatory interview who an entrepreneur. I interviewed a woman by the name of Shiri Ksantini-Mor, she received her bachelor's degree at Tel Aviv University in 2003 and received her MBA at IDC Herzilya in 2009. She currently works in venture capital at AxcessNet. AxcessNet is a company primarily concerned with technology mergers and acquisitions. They also are an advisory firm for business development. They aid technology companies in puncturing the United States market.

I first discussed the distinction between Israeli entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs from other countries. She first stated that the distinction is inherently rooted in the culture. Israelis always have a feeling that their back is against the wall. There is a sense of perseverance. She focused a lot on how since Israel’s inception, the country has needed to focus on solutions to prominent issues in order to survive as a country. Israelis always think their ideas are good. However, they are open to criticism, and willing to alter ideas based upon insight from others.

Her definition of success is about making the world a better place. Shiri claims that the main function of corporations and companies is to make profit for their shareholders. But, on a more personal level, she thinks life is about making the world a better place. Shiri says that the companies she works with have potential to make life easier and increase quality of life. By focusing on making these startups become the next big thing, she feels that she makes dreams become a reality. She claims that many of her friends share this sentiment, and that this is another strength about israeli entrepreneurship. One of her biggest successes is being a women in the venture capital industry. She told a story about how she was at a meeting with a company they were considering investing in. Shiri was the only women in the entire room. The people that didn’t know Shiri thought she was the secretary for the President of AxcessNet. She claimed that this was one of many stories about the hardships she went through in order to be big in venture capital. At first, she was frustrated by this. But, it motivated her to do better. Her perseverance is her greatest success, and enabled her to make the world a better place.

            The thing that I found most interesting in our interview was her ideation process which differs drastically from that of a serial entrepreneur. When thinking in terms of a serial entrepreneur, one is generating and developing ideas in hopes of creating a million dollar startup. Contrary to a venture capitalist like herself, who focus more on taking a product and understanding if it will penetrate its product. According to the Harvard Business Review, “Venture capital fills the void between sources of funds for innovation and traditional, lower-cost sources of capital available to ongoing concerns.” Therefore, I believe as if our ideation process aligns more with that of a venture capitalist such as Shiri rather than a serial entrepreneur.

I ended the interview by talking about the future of the world, especially in a business context. I told her that I keep hearing that the future is tech and were wondering if she felt that is accurate. She concurred. Shiri said if she could pick anything to study right now it would be computer science. She also claimed that concrete knowledge in technology is advantageous but necessary. There will be more tech jobs for the future but, that doesn’t necessarily mean working as an engineer. There will be more business minded individuals for tech. There will need to be more lawyers concentrated in tech. Regardless of the skills I have, Shiri claims there is a strong likelihood I work in tech. I took Shiri’s words with a grain of salt since she works in tech, but her words confirm what many other predictors claim.

I enrolled in ENT3003 to gain another view point on entrepreneurship as a whole because I believe there are two ways of learning. One can learn in class as well as out of the classroom. Since I was in Israel for six weeks and met with an entrepreneur in the heart of Tel Aviv, I have already gained that out of the classroom experience. Going forward I look to gain insight in the classroom on the principles/fundamentals of entrepreneurship.