Last night I attended another TechAviv Founders Club meeting at the IDC in Herzilya. The room was packed and as Yaron, the founder, was asking who crashed the show, I was thinking “this is great! Look how many people showed up, this organization is really going somewhere.” The big news that was announced is that TechAviv is going to run a 2 day startup training and competition event. The first day, start ups will learn how to present an effective pitch. The second day, start ups will pitch the audience and be judged by fellow founders and investors via live SMS voting.  The prize money for first place is $20,000 and they are now working on the second and third place prizes, so if you want to sponsor the event, let them know. The whole idea and prize money was thought up by Daniel Recanati the founder of the Rhodium Group, Kudos to you Daniel!

Presenting last night:

The Founder and CEO Avinoam Rubinstain presented about their unique technology called “digital intuition.” Their unique software allows the user to import their Google Reader account and other information accounts into their reader that sorts and provides the the information most relevant to the user.

my6sense’s super duper AI (artificial intelligence) learns what is most important to you, then separates the signal from the noise and delivers the most relevant information to you. There is nothing you need to do other than simply use the service like you would any other reader/aggregator. No preferences need to be set. No surveys to fill out. No blood samples needed. The service ‘senses’ your interactions with every message; whether you click on it, ignore it or share.

The software now comes as an iPhone webapp and a FireFox add-on, with plans to expand to other platforms soon. They are in alpha right now so sign up to be a guinea pig http://www.my6sense.com

Next up was the founder and CTO of attracTV Guy Tomer. attracTV is “vidget” platform that sits on top of a video stream. The vidgets allow you to interact with your friends on Facebook using Facebook Connect, live chat to others, order pizza, get live stats on the game you are watching and more. The platform is ready to take on any kind of vigdet. I think this is a very useful app and it will catch on quickly.

Eyal Margalit was next up from TicTacTi. He showed a really neat demo on how they use their ads in video games.

T³ is a comprehensive, robust solution that offers publishers all they need, from video player and overlay technology all the way to ad servers and back office capabilities, to instantly deploy and profit from the new and highly lucrative world of in-video advertising. Furthermore, the flexibility, stability and scalability of T3 enables publishers to build on their existing platforms and technology, and add only certain components of T³ they need to enable in-video advertising, with minimal integration and no hassle.

The event was great and ill post back when I get more details about the competition.

-Aryeh

Now, down to the details. All three presenters, as well as their companies, were great and serve a very specific purpose in the market. It was interesting to see how they were all in totally different spaces, one in online video, one mobile, and one in online social interaction.

So let’s get started:

The first to present was Sunday Sky. Their product is seriously awesome and in my opinion, revolutionary. To sum it up in a few sentences, their technology enables them to take the content of any given site, and automatically generate a video from the words and images. Let me give the example that they demoed last night and totally blew my mind. Let’s say for example, you are shopping for a new digital camera. So, of course, you find yourself in the one site you would go to find a camera, CNET.

Now, you are comparing for the sake of the example, a Sony and Canon camera. The site generates a comparison of the specs and reviews, but all the text could get a little overwhelming. In comes Sunday Sky. At the click of one button, all that comparison info is embedded in a video for your viewing pleasure. I really liked what the CTO Yaniv, said to bring the point home. Why is it that when you walk into a store to buy a TV, they have reps trying to sell the TV, and not just a piece of paper on the TV listing the specs? The answer is obvious, human interaction adds the emotional side to it and gets the consumer much more interested in the product. That is what they are trying to do with the Web. Judging by the success of the company so far, they are well on their way to changing the way we view info on the Web.

The second company to present last night was Flyscreen. Now, this one is closer to me for two reasons. One, the Founder and CEO, Itamar, is a good friend, and a colleague. We co-host the best mobile podcast available on the Web today, Likemob. He is a very driven and motivated individual who will stop at nothing to achieve success. He also believes in his product more than anything I have ever seen, which I am sure helps the company. The second reason Flyscreen appeals to me, is because it comes to improve my favorite industry, mobile.

I know I used this exact word about Sunday Sky, but it applies here as well. Flyscreen truly revolutionizes Mobile Web as we know it. Even with the advanced browsers of today’s mobile devices, the Mobile Web is not where it should be. What Flyscreen does, is it uses extremely valuable mobile real estate, the black screen you see on your device when viewing the clock, to display information you would normally surf the Web to find, in practially real time.

Itamar, Founder of Flyscreen

OK, I think an example is in order. Itamar once told me (I hope my numbers are accurate here) that 70% of mobile users use their phones as their primary watch. They look at their device’s display countless times during the day to see the time. Now, a majority of today’s phones have fairly large screens, and all of them have big enough screens to fit content under the clock on the screen. So why not have the ability to customize what content appears there?

Let’s say for example you like sports, no problem, you can have the latest scores appear on that screen. Social networking? OK, have your Twitter feed update on that screen. The options are endless. Now, if you know mobile, you are probably thinking what I thought when I first heard about Flyscreen. This application, no matter how cool it might be, cannot be very good for your battery life or your data charges.

Here is where Flyscreen’s genius comes in. Don’t ask me how, but somehow they managed to have this thing update in almost real time, while using minimal battery life and data. They have Flyscreen versions for multiple platforms and are constantly updating and creating more. If you ask me, they are going to do great things to the mobile Web.

Lastly, the third and final presenter was Oren Todoros from HYPick. Now, before I talk about the company, I want to see them succeed because Oren is one of those people that just deserves success. I met him last week at Mobile Monday and we have been corresponding (mainly via Twitter) ever since. He is just simply a really nice guy, not to mention a really hard worker.

As for HyPick, another great idea, that solves a frustration I have had for a significant amount of time. I know I blogged about it last week, but now I understand it a little more. Check out my last post about it here. Basically, to just add to what I wrote last time, your story will be promoted in the site, not only based on the number of comments posted about it, but also views and other measurements of interaction. It is like I said last time, what Web 2.0 was intended to be. No popularity contest, you post something good, people are interested, you get good exposure. Simple, straight to the point, and brilliant.

Oren, Founder of HYPick

I wish all three companies success, they all deserve it. I am just waiting for the day that I have a capable enough phone that will be able to view Sunday Sky videos of the text gathered from my Hypick on Flyscreen (OK, a little far fetched, but not impossible).

Had a great time last night. Thank you TechAviv,

Hillel

I just got back from a TechAviv meetup of founders and investors at the IDC in Herzliya. Hillel and I were invited as bloggers to cover a little about the event.

What is TechAviv? “TechAviv is a global organization of Israeli hi-tech entrepreneurs and investors that gather monthly in Israel, New York, Silicon Valley, and Boston to showcase, discuss, and help fellow Israeli startups.”  There tag line is “For, by and about Israeli Tech Startups.”

Every month 3 of the startups that are members of TechAviv get a chance to present and take Q&A on their product. This gives them the opportunity to pool the resources in the room and network, to help them progress as a company.

This week’s companies were:  SundaySky, FlyScreen and HYPick. We will be blogging more about the companies soon, but I want to focus on my impressions of the event and the organization as a whole.

Yaron, Founder of TechAviv

It is very refreshing for me to see people  and organizations that just want to help. There is no motive other than just trying to help out startups raise some capital and grow. Yaron and all the organizers are very much needed in today’s dog-eat-dog competitive world. They really do bring a breath of fresh air and remind the startup world that if we just stop for a minute and lend a hand, everyone will benefit. The “paying it forward” aspect and the good heartedness of the organization is truly remarkable to me.

I wish them the best of luck and that at Tech N’ Marketing we are able to “pay it forward” as much as we can to the members of TechAviv. We will start off with posting about the presenters last night, Hillel, get to work

-Aryeh