Walking into the Crown Plaza in the Tel Aviv Azrielli mall on Tuesday, I was hot, tired and overwhelmed by the crowd that had come out to get a chance to speak with Mark Fidelman from Forbes. My friend Chaim Meir Tessler had facebooked me in the morning and invited me- he was sitting at the bar when I arrived, trying to organize the masses. He seemed surprised that so many people had showed up, but I wasn’t. While there are a lot of startup events in Tel Aviv, and you often get the chance to meet amazing people, it is very rare to get the chance to be interviewed by someone from a top tier publication like Forbes.
I will admit, when I arrived I did nothing but complain. That day I had lost my wallet, run out of gas, had nothing to eat and walked up and down the beach in Tel Aviv looking for the Crown Plaza, only to arrive at the wrong one. (Tel Aviv, apparently has two Crown Plazas- one at the beach and the other by Azrielli mall)
Mark was unfailingly patient with everyone who came and even though I was last (due to my pre-event beach wandering) he was interested, engaged and genuinely excited about what we are doing at Bukit. (cause we''re like, you know, saving the economy :)
When we finished the interview, just about everyone else had left (after all, it was after midnight), Chaim and I stayed for the “after party” which was a great chance to talk to Mark, hear about his upcoming book Socialized! How the Most Successful Businesses Harness the Power of Social (which I can’t wait to read) and get the chance to pick his brain a little bit. Its always interesting to hear from industry insiders about what it takes to make it and what they think of the Israeli start up scene.
When I finally did get home it was 2am, I was exhausted but it was totally worth it. As a start up, being featured in the press is something that can make or break you. I am really excited that our first coverage is coming from such an amazing source. Look out- follow up post to come with links!