My friend Doron Habshush over at DH Consulting has set-out on a series of posts outlining the process of writing a business plan. It’s a good read so go check it out:

• Introduction: From Concept to Realization
• Part 1: Executive Summary

One of the key ingredients to success on the Web is rapid iteration, and to do so, eliciting user feedback is a must. As we know, TechCrunch is a breeding ground for avid beta testers keen to provide input and suggestions. Yet, more often than not, when we do offer feedback to a site all we receive in return is an auto-reply, thank-you email. When was the last time you submitted feedback to a site that was then followed up with an actual acknowledgment that the bug was fixed or the feature integrated? My guess, not very often.Kampyle—yet another Yossi Vardi startup from Israel—has developed a feedback management platform aimed at assisting site owners better manage this feedback loop and, along the way, increase customer loyalty and satisfaction. The underlying premise here being that users expect not only to be heard, but also responded to. This is especially true when providing feedback on services, products or customer experiences. Sites that manage their feedback right end up with deeper customer engagement, lower shopping cart abandonment, and better usability.

There are four moving parts in Kampyle’s feedback analysis platform:

1. Collection: A feedback collection form (see screenshot on right) is launched through buttons scattered across a site. Kampyle will roll out advanced customization options throughout the coming weeks.

2. Analysis: Kampyle provides user feedback along with contextual data such as screen resolution, browser type, operating system, etc. Slicing and grouping functionality delivers a greater understanding of why an issue occurred, which ultimately translates into what to do about it.
3. Management: Data and suggested corrective actions are arranged in intuitive dashboards. Data is exportable to XML & Excel. Nothing much to write home about here.

4. Action: CRM-like functionality completes the feedback loop by allowing site owners to inform groups and individual users of the corrective action they have taken. The notification even includes a link to where the fix was made and offers a thumbs-up/down rating to further express satisfaction.

All-in-all a wide variety of companies can benefit from a service such as Kampyle’s, which is bridging the gap between CRM and site-side analytics. Extending the CRM functionality to piggyback on full-blown CRM platforms such as SalesForce, SugarCRM, and even Zoho would go a long way in popularizing the service.

Kamplye is still in closed beta so pricing is yet to be established, but once the service is commercially available 250 TechCrunch readers will get their first month free. Sign-up here to get on the list.

This post was originally posted on TechCrunch.com where I cover the Israeli startup scene.

Just when I thought I was able to get over the reactions to my Globes interview (see earlier posts), here comes a Union Square Ventures deal that stirred my emotions again.

I always tell people that the readers’ comments on my TechCrunch posts–even the negative ones–are substantive and form conversations which are no less interesting than the post itself.

This is not the case in Israel where comments–or “Talk Backs” in the local jargon–are essentially sound-offs, with zero inclination for a conversation. In fact, the term itself–”Talk Backs”–is completely against the notion of a “conversation”.

I find this sad. Sadder even is the fact that I sense neither Globes nor TheMarker are making any effort to develop in-article conversations.

Fortunately, this is not the case in the rest of the world, and companies such as Disqus and VC’s such as Union Square understand the force and quality of conversations–and empowering them!

The Israel Venture Association (IVA) is announcing that this year’s AnnualIsrael Startup Competition will be held in partnership with DEMO and Red Herring Magazine as part of the IVA’s 2008 Hi-Tech Conference to be held in Tel Aviv onMay 19 and 20, 2008.

This year’s competition will be split into 4 categories: Software and Internet; Communications; Life Sciences; early stage (pre-revenue startup). A Judges Panel will select 3 finalists from each f the above-mentioned categories. The finalists will be invited to present their product at a DEMO-style session to be held on the opening night of the conference, May 19, 2008. Following the demo session, the overall winner will be selected: 50% f the vote from the Judges’ Panel and 50% via SMS by conference participants.

The overall competition winner will receive:

• Automatic entry into DEMO Germany 2008 as a demonstrator
• Profile in Red Herring Magazine and the Israeli media

To be eligible to compete in this year’s competition, companies must:

1. Be private companies in one of the above-mentioned categories
2. Be venture funded by an investor that is a member of IVA
3. Have 2007 revenues of less than $20 million
4. Have a physical presence in Israel
5. Have a product that can be demonstrated at the Conference without the assistance of PowerPoint slides, screenshots or other ways of representation.

What products is the IVA looking for?

• A product that makes a significant contribution to the state of the art in its target market
• A product that changes the marketplace into which it is introduced

Application deadline is: April 8, 2008.

Sign-up Form: Here (Word doc)

MeeMix is looking for an internet marketing professional.

If you are one or know a person with relevant qualifications let them know at: jobs@meemix.com

The position is full time in Tel Aviv.

Qualifications:

• English as a mother tongue
• Experience with SMO methodologies and strategies
• Experience with SMM and SEM
• Some experience with editing and creative/marketing writing
• Experience with account management, media buying, inventory sales
• Project Management

Advantage:

• Creativity
• Internet savants/power user
• High analytic abilities
• Experience with SEO
• Experience in the music industry
• Previous experience in internet companies

Well, I am very frustrated with the Globes interview with me and more specifically the reactions it has received.

The face-to-face interview was conducted over a week ago and to the best of my recollection I was rather positive throughout. The printed interview came out with what I and other are perceiving as a negative overtone. As I said, I’m pretty frustrated about this.

I’ve emailed Noa Pereg the Globes reporter asking that she provide me with a copy of the recored interview so I can be absolutely sure of what was said.

I’ll keep you updated…

An interview with me was published in Globes yesterday. This was my first first-hand experience with Israeli “Talk-backs”. What is interesting about these is that unlike comments in my posts on TechCrunch, the comments made on the article were not meant to spur a conversation among the readers—the criticism was not followed-up with a substantive argument.

Many of my quotes in the article were out of context and a couple were mis-quoted, so I’d like to take a moment and clarify some points:

1. FoxyTunes: Love the company, but would not have invested in them—in fact, no VC invested in them. The founders—Alex & Vitaly—are great guys, but FoxyTunes is far from your a-typical VC investment. This is why we need Yossi Vardi… His foresight and “balls” allow such companies to come about. The Globes reporter neglected to include this explanation.
   

2. Video: Yes, video is hot. Thing is, there are hundreds of companies in this space and innovation is slowing down significantly. My main reasons for not entering this space are: a) very difficult to gain the traction to generate the amount of traffic necessary to monetize, and b) no one has figured yet how to actually monetize. On the flip side, while bandwidth costs have decreased, if you do have a site that gets traffic, your CDN will make a killing off of you and you won’t be making a nickel. Food for thought.

3. Social Gaming: If there are any true social gaming networks here in Israel I’m not aware of, please contact me. Gambling does not fall under this category… I’m talking the likes of Zynga.
   

4. Objectivity: So if wasn’t clear yet, yes, you can pay me so I’ll write about you on TechCrunch…! You will need to forward the payment to my Cayman Island bank account. :) Please read my About page for a crystal-clear explanation on this matter.

The traditional press in Israel is more about generating controversy than generating a conversation—it’s a shame, but that’s how the cookie crumbles… In any case, I hope this sets the record somewhat straight.

If anyone would like to contact me directly, you can always email me at: roi.carthy@gmail.com

The recently released iPhone SDK opens a new realm of opportunities for application development. L Capital Parters is now seeking to fund entrepreneurs and companies which will chart a new course for application design for the iPhone.

If this sounds like you, contact me at: roi@lcapital.us

Too often it is still easier to search the entire Web than a single site. In-site search leaves much to be desired in its ability to provide users with accurate search results, let alone assistance in performing more accurate searches. Israeli PredictAd is attacking this challenge head-on by offering auto-complete functionality for search boxes with an added twist: monetizable real-estate.

Already deployed across 6,000 websites and generating millions of monthly impressions, PredictAd is announcing the launch of PredictAdPlus+. Targeted at media networks and high-traffic websites/blogs, the offering provides greater control of the look and feel, customization, dedicated databases, and advanced display options. Most importantly, it allows a number of sister sites to be integrated into a single search box. As an example, the TechCrunch search box at the bottom of this post incorporates CrunchGear, MobileCrunch and CrunchBoard. The auto-complete needs time to learn, but you’ll get the general drift.

PredictAd is making 250 invites available to TechCrunch readers. Sign-up here.

PredictAd’s twist on search monetization begins by helping users refine their in-site search queries by way of real-time search suggestions—think Google Toolbar’s auto-suggest feature. PredictAd continuously optimizes its suggestions based on the community search patterns for any given site. Beyond collaborative filtering PredictAd also takes into account historical searches, geo-location, time of day, common misspellings, connections between words, and more.

Not only should users benefit from more accurate searches, site-owners should benefit from increased page views as a result of user exposure to additional site content. Site-owners can also benefit from SEO insights drawn from the service’s analytics backend.

This is where ad monetization comes into play. PredictAd injects contextual advertising into the search box. The ads—text or image—change dynamically as users type out their search queries. In practice, PredictAd creates its own ad real-estate and then monetizes it. An important element in PredictAd’s offering is the fact that the ads are displayed directly in the user’s focal zone, unlike traditional ads which are susceptible to “banner blindness”. Rev-share is 50%/50% on run of network ads, and 80%/20% (for the publisher) when the advertiser selects specific publisher sites. PredictAd is claiming click-through rates in range of 0.5%-4%.

PredictAd might appeal particularly to blog owners who would welcome any spare cash they can get from their sites, along with additional upsides such as higher page counts and increased user engagement. Blog integration is a piece of cake, especially for bloggers using WordPress, TypePad or Blogger, who can hit the ground running with ready-to-go plugins. A pure JavaScript version is also available that just requires cutting and pasting.

This post was originally posted on TechCrunch.com where I cover the Israeli startup scene.