Solution Nation

Angel investing isn’t for the faint of heart, especially when valuations are at nosebleed levels. Before you delve into any specific opportunity, you may wish to take the pulse of the market into account.

You may also want to consider issues such as:

• What is different about Generation Z angel investors?
• What is the impact on angel investors of venture capitalists becoming increasingly involved in seed round investing?
• How can early-stage companies take defensive postures by being receptive to extension rounds, venture debt and warrants?
• What are the risks associated with Simple Agreements for Future Equity (SAFEs)?
• Why should investors be concerned about possible cramdowns and carve-outs?
• What can early-stage companies offer angel investors/groups to accelerate their decision making?
• What is the likelihood of Americans being allowed to fund their angel investments from their retirement accounts?

Ronald Weissman is the Vice Chairman and Board Member of the Angel Capital Association. He is the author of the ACA's courses on Assessing and Managing Risks in Early-Stage Investing.

With more than seventeen years in global venture capital and sixteen years in angel investing. He has recently advised investors, governments, corporate VCs and startups in locations as diverse as Armenia, Germany, Israel, the Republic of Georgia, Italy, Chile, Australia, New Zealand and across the US. He lectures on venture capital at major universities including Stanford, Santa Clara University, the American University of Armenia and the Deggendorf Institute of Technology, where he is an Adjunct Professor.

There is a ton of agricultural innovation in Israel. Whether it is precise genetics, targeted pesticides, indoor farming, robotics, precision irrigation, data management or supply chain management, Israeli companies are working hard to relieve the world of its current food insecurity.

This podcast discusses issues such as:

• How does precise genetics accelerate the breeding of seeds?  
• Are organic pesticides overrated?
• How sensitive is indoor farming to prices of electricity and availability of water? How scalable is indoor farming?
• How can technology reduce food wastage?
• Who increasingly owns data generated by farmers? The farmers or the manufacturers of farming machinery?
• How exact is precision irrigation in terms of optimizing the time at which irrigation occurs?

Among the fascinating Israeli AgTech companies mentioned are Agritask, Agurra, BeeHero, BetterSeeds, FruitSpec, Plantish, Supplant and Weedout.

Dganit was a Venture Partner at Entrée Capital, managing the AgriTech and FoodTech investments. Dganit’s prior experience extends from VP R&D to CEO roles in numerous companies such as Perrigo, Hazera and Nobactra. She started her journey in semiconductors with Intel and in her last position she was Israel Fabs CS site manager. Dganit holds a BSc in chemical engineering from the Technion.

Combine the world’s greatest innovation machine with a fertile land hungry for development and you have tremendous opportunities. Cambodia is rapidly developing, more stable than many believe and already sophisticated in terms of banking, communications and regulation.

Where else can you glean fascinating insights into the Israel-Cambodia relationship? Listen and learn about:

• Israel’s program to train Cambodians in agricultural technology.  
• Cambodia’s currency stability and repatriation laws.
• Why Cambodia is a launchpad for serving the ASEAN countries.
• How to communicate with Cambodians linguistically, culturally and technologically.
• The impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative on Cambodia.
• The ease of creating businesses in Cambodia.
• The Cambodian industries that are best positioned to embrace Israeli technologies.

Moran Hadad is the President of the Israel-Cambodia Chamber of Commerce. Moran is a visionary and successful entrepreneur with a Master of Arts in Civil Engineering and a Master of Advanced Studies degree in Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence. Moran has always been fascinated by the merger of social responsibility and technology which has been nurtured by his decades-long work in emerging markets.

Which countries’ citizens are the most prolific producers of unicorns? At home? Abroad? Why might some unicorns’ valuations be exaggerated? What traps lurk in the data? Listen to our methodology for calculating Solution Nation’s Grand Unicorn Score.

Where else can you glean fascinating insights about unicorns?

Listen and learn about:

• Which countries have the most entrepreneurial innovators in their diasporas?
• How can a company’s unicorn status be manipulated?
• What are the risks of a unicorn facing a downround?
• When conducting worldwide unicorn analysis, should analysts take stated country populations and accounting practices at face value?
• What inducements are provided to late-stage investors to help companies achieve unicorn status?
• How should “flow of unicorns” and “vintage” factor into unicorn analysis?
• How do definitions such as “founders” and “nationals” complicate unicorn research?
• What can we learn from the 1972 Nobel Laureate in Economics in terms of conducting worldwide unicorn research?

David Wanetick is the CEO of Solution Nation and IncreMental Advantage (a patent valuation firm) and a Managing Director at JD Merit (a boutique investment bank). David has valued thousands of patents.

His clients include Fortune 50 companies, emerging growth companies, mid-sized companies, tech transfer offices, national laboratories, venture capital funds and private equity funds. He runs the Certified Patent Valuation Analyst designation and is the author of seven books.

From desalination to water reuse. From smart metering to smart irrigation. From leak detection to new sources for powering water delivery, Israel is a world leader in water management. While many developed countries face water loss rates of 70%, Israel only loses about 5% of its water from source to tap. This podcast covers the gamut of Israel’s water industry. 

Listen and you will learn: 

• Why does Israel’s geographical location present vulnerabilities to its water resources? How does Israel’s geography enhance its water management?
• Why is Israel’s central management of its water resources the right model, at least for Israel?
• What are the concerns associated with installing desalination facilities in terms of costs, electricity consumption and discharge of brine?
• Why is there no hydropower in Israel? What is meant by “negative elevation distances?”
• What is pump-storage? What is the meaning of “the water-energy nexus?”
• How did Israel get ahead of the water rationing movement?
• How are drones, satellite imagery and mini-submarines helping Israel maintain its water pipelines?

Ravid Levy has some 20 years of experience in almost all facets of Israel’s water industry. He is currently a Senior Director at Wateredge.IL, Israel's water innovation community. Wateredge.IL was founded in 2021 by the Ministry of Economy, The Innovation Authority, The Water Authority, and Kinneret Academic College. Wateredge.IL creates a network of professionals, entrepreneurs, researchers, and regulators to promote partnerships, problem-solving, technology development and growth in the water industry.

China. It ain’t Kansas.

You might see panda bears named win-win at a Chinese zoo but you won’t see a trace of the win-win mindset in any Chinese negotiating forum.

If you want to stay above ground and out of jail or quarantine in today’s Lock Up Nation, you really should listen to this podcast. Dan Harris provides excellent insights into many facets of conducting business in today’s transforming China. Listen and learn about:

• What kinds of negotiating behavior should you expect from Chinese counterparts?
• What is needed to memorialize contracts in China? Should contracts be written in English or Chinese?
• What are the risks of commercial disputes devolving into charges of criminal misconduct (against you)?
• To what extent do provincial laws eclipse federal law in China?
• What should you know about the role of precedence, perjury and discovery when preparing to litigate in China?
• How do damages awards, for the likes of patent infringement, compare to those of the United States?

Dan Harris is the founder of Harris Bricken, an international law firm with lawyers in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Mexico City, Barcelona, and Beijing. Dan is internationally regarded as a leading authority on legal matters related to doing business in emerging markets. Forbes, Business Week, Fortune, The BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Economist, CNBC, The New York Times, and many other major media players have looked to him for his perspective on international law issues.

Don’t even think about exiting via a Special Purpose Acquisitions Corporation (SPAC) without listening to this highly informative podcast.

Raj Shah shares a wealth of information about forming and structuring SPACS. The following are among the crucial issues discussed:

• What kinds of companies are good candidates for SPACs? What should management teams do before traversing the SPAC route?
• · What are examples of sponsor misalignment and inappropriate SPAC capital structures?
• When do redemptions occur? What is the role of warrants in SPAC transactions?
• Do SPACs have insider lock-ups? Should SPACs anticipate receiving analyst coverage?
• What impact do forward purchase agreements and share dividends have on stock trading activity?
• How do the expenses and required efforts associated with exiting via a SPAC compare with those of an IPO?

Raj Shah is a Co-Founder of Stoic Point Capital Management. Previously he was Managing Director and Partner at Stillwater Investment Management and Partner at Light Street Capital. Earlier in his career, Raj was an analyst with Highline Capital and Greenhill & Co.

Professor Damodaran, a true luminary in the valuation world, provides his insights into the proliferation of unicorns.

Should unicorns captivate the public’s attention? Why does it matter how private companies are priced?

What, if any, risks do unicorns present to the broader economy if they implode?

What is the utility of calculating impairment charges, post-acquisition of unicorns?

What are the risks of placing hundreds of millions of dollars in the hands of young and unsupervised entrepreneurs?

Don’t miss this unique podcast with the godfather of company valuation.

Aswath Damodaran holds the Kerschner Family Chair in Finance Education and is Professor of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business. Before coming to Stern, he also lectured in Finance at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Damodaran is the author of several highly regarded and widely used academic texts on Valuation, Corporate Finance, and Investment Management.

The food production and supply chain is breaking down. One need not look further than store shelves or grocery store receipts.

Fortunately, a tsunami of innovative Israeli companies is developing an array of protein, dairy, and seafood replacements. Other Israeli companies are busy ratcheting up the health quotient of common consumables.  

This fascinating podcast discusses issues such as:

• What is the difference in plant-based and cell-cultivated protein replacements in terms of processes, regulatory pathways, capital intensity, scalability and consumer acceptance?
•  Are protein replacements compliant with kosher and halal strictures?
• How do foodtech products rate in terms of taste?
• Should production facilities be large—and few and far in between—to achieve economies of scale? Or should numerous smaller factories be placed closer to customers?
• What does the retail price trajectory for foodtech products look like?

Among the intriguing companies mentioned during this podcast are Aleph Farms, Zero Egg, Imagindairy, Amai Proteins and Better Juice.

Amir Zaidman is the Vice-President of Business Development at The Kitchen Hub, Israel’s leading seed investor and technological incubator focusing on FoodTech. Amir has degrees in accounting, law and business. Amir has served on the Boards of a diverse array of FoodTech companies, including Nutritional Growth Solutions, an Australian Stock Exchange company. 

If you don’t go to the desert, the desert may soon come to you. Each year, the equivalent of tens of thousands of football fields of fertile soil turn to dust due to soil degradation. Many other areas of the world’s landmass are experiencing desert-like symptoms such as sandstorms and extreme heat.

This fascinating podcast discusses issues such as:

• Why is it important that Israel more fully develop the Negev? How is Israel more fully developing the Negev?
• How can problems with deserts lead to problems elsewhere?
• What technologies are Israeli companies offering with respect to extreme climates? Water scarcity? Land degradation? Remote living?
• How portable is the technology that is being developed in the Negev to other deserts?
• What is being done to introduce Israeli Desertech to other parts of the world?
• Can Israeli DeserTech companies access funding offered by international or European development funding sources?

Among the intriguing companies mentioned during this podcast are Asterra, Salicrop, Solcold, Dots, and Soled.

Nicole Hod Stroh is the Executive Director at Merage Foundation. A native of Colombia, Nicole’s career includes high-level positions in international development, non-profit management and venture philanthropy spanning the United States, Latin America and Israel.