Gideon Tolkowsky – SMU IIE Distinguished Speaker – 22 Oct
October 9, 2009 by SGEntrepreneurs
Filed under Events
Speaking on the Globalization of Technology Entrepreneurship, distinguished speaker Dr. Gideon Tolkowsky has more than 25 years of venture capital experience and was one of the founders of Israeli venture capital.
Distinguished Speaker: Dr. Gideon Tolkowsky, BME Capital Management Ltd, Founder & Managing Director; Tolkowsky, Levite Ltd, Co-Founder & Principal; Crystal Beam Melody Inc, Ltd, Co-Founder
Synopsis
Globalization has become a cliché, and in no other field of business has it become more worn out than in technology. After all, technology is universal and its markets are relatively culture-insensitive.
Technology businesses should therefore be the easiest to globalize, and high-tech startups should be natural candidates for global expansion. Still, the fact remains that surprisingly few high-tech startups that were conceived outside the U.S. or, more broadly, outside the world’s primary technology markets, have evolved into global companies, even of medium size.
Why is this so? What are the typical obstacles? And, what are the available methodologies to overcome them? Related to this – how will ’startup globalization’ differ in the ‘post-crisis’ era? Accordingly, will the VC industry have to materially change?
Event details
Date: Thursday, 22 October 2009
Time: 6-7.30 pm
Venue: Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, Level 2, (Schools of Accountancy & Law), SMU [map]
About the Speaker
Dr. Gideon Tolkowsky has over 25 years of venture capital experience in the United States and Israel, being one of the founders of Israeli venture capital. The main fund he co-founded and co-managed, whose capital originated primarily from Anglo American Corporation and De Beers, achieved an IRR of 84% throughout its life.
Among numerous companies Gideon was intimately involved in, he served as Active Chairman of ESC Medical Ltd., from inception to NASDAQ capitalization of over $800M five years later. Similarly, Gideon led the seed investment in, and served as director of M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd., which went public on NASDAQ and was later acquired by Sandisk Inc. for $1.55B.
In recent years, Gideon has been advising to PE and VC entities on how to globalize high-tech companies early in their life cycle. He is also Co-Founder and Principal of Tolkowsky, Levite Ltd., a firm engaged in investment management and advisory services to stakeholders in the nuclear power industry.
Gideon has a B.Sc. degree in aeronautical engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, where he is currently a member of the Board of Governors; an MBA from Wharton, where he is currently a member of the School’s Executive Board for Europe, Middle East and Africa; and a Ph.D. in history from Tel Aviv University. Gideon is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Gideon has published numerous press articles, and lectured, on venture capital, high-tech entrepreneurship and globalization of technology ventures.
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