Yossi Vardi, the father of the founding fathers of Israel, thinks of two outlets: IoT and network security

Yossi Vardi, father of the founding fathers of Israel

If you happen to meet on the street, the portly, "old Israeli man" may not get your attention at all.

But his reputation in the technology sector, especially in the entrepreneurial circle, almost no one knows no one, his entrepreneurial story not only in the Israeli young entrepreneurs word of mouth, but also in the global arena to become the spiritual idol of entrepreneurs.

He in Boao Forum and host Aishing funny, said the Chinese really is "Detective" spirit. At the age of 71, he was amusing in the conversation, triggering a burst of laughter from the audience.

As the father of the founding fathers of Israel, Yossi Vardi has too much halo and glory.

He started his business at the age of 27, investing more than 80 High-tech companies and 5 successful listings.

The ICQ he founded sold 420 million of dollars in 1998. The software is the originator of instant messaging software, QQ was imitating it in the domestic shot.

His success has sparked countless young Israeli entrepreneurs, and High-tech start-ups based on computers and Internet applications have sprung up in Israel.

The American Times Magazine once remarked that one of the fundamental reasons for the prosperity of Israel's technology industry is that more and more entrepreneurs profit from the development of the technology industry, and then actively invest and guide the emerging enterprises, thus driving the development of the technology industry and forming a virtuous circle. Israeli entrepreneurs said: "In the past, the Israeli technology industry has only one Yossi Vardi, and now, such a growing number of people." ”

He has many classic quotations, such as "Business Plan and PowerPoint", "investors rather than investment projects" and so on.

In the exclusive dialogue with Sina Technology, the pioneering circle is full of wisdom and very humble. He thinks it's overrated to call him "the father of the business", saying that if he can be remembered, he wants to be remembered for making a little contribution to society. This contribution is to encourage young people to start and innovate.

He told Sina Science and technology that he thought the next two "Tuyere": Internet of Things and network security.

According to Gartner's forecasts, global networking equipment will reach 25 billion by 2020, while the United Nations estimates the global population will reach 7.7 billion by 2020. The proportion of networked devices to humans is 3:1.

Yossi Vardi said that smart devices in the network with a hundredfold increase in the same time, the vulnerability of the Internet of things is also gradually highlighted. Therefore, network security will also be accompanied by the outbreak of the Internet of things.

Although his entrepreneurial experience is full of legends, and has been engaged in the field of entrepreneurship. He still advises the entrepreneur to be prepared well enough.

"If you have enough preparation, strength and confidence to face possible failure, it may be frustrating to start a business failure and dismiss all employees, but these are part of the business." "he said.

But once the decision is made, he believes that both the entrepreneur and the investor should stick to it. He said that despite his many successful investments, some of the investments were "stupid" or "very embarrassing". He said he had invested 85 companies and sold 24 of them, but 27 did not perform well.

He thinks entrepreneurs have to do something about it, such as his investments are in Israel, and he likes to invest in consumer-facing apps and try not to touch hardware or industrial software, because he thinks investors must be familiar with their investments.

But when Sina technology to give entrepreneurs what advice, he returned to Yossi Vardi said only one: "Ethically do It." "He still believes that regardless of success or not to do first, to trial and error to know that they are suitable for entrepreneurship."

"I still think the talent and character of the entrepreneur are the most important."

Sina Technology: Some people call you the father of high technology in Israel, is that so?

Yossi Vardi: This may be a bit overrated, but I am indeed one of the first investors in the world's internet community.

Sina technology: So if you want to make an evaluation of yourself, how do you evaluate yourself?

Yossi Vardi: If I can be remembered, then I hope I am remembered for making a little contribution to society. One contribution is to encourage young people to start and innovate. But I think, in fact, these are not enough, people come to this world, as if on the stage, after a few decades, the natural step down, and then there will be new young people debut.

Sina technology: How do you keep abreast of the ideas of young entrepreneurs?

Yossi Vardi: First of all, to maintain a youthful mentality, and then you can ignore the problem of age. I just want to get along with young people, they are vibrant, although most people's age is only my one-third, but its intelligence is probably my three times times. I enjoy working with these excellent young people. Young people have great ideas, I have a little experience and investment, and then began to start a business together, some enterprises developed very well, some quickly disappeared.

Sina technology: Do you have some investment preferences, such as what kind of industry you like to invest?

Yossi Vardi: First of all, the basic situation. I've invested in 85 companies, sold 24 of them, and that's a big part of it, and it's a big part of the 27 bad-performing companies that still hold 35 companies. I usually invest in Israel because I think investors have to be familiar with their investments. In addition, I like to invest in consumer-oriented applications, and I try not to touch hardware or industrial software, because I like the viral spread of the scene. I do not know if you know, in 1990, I and the other two people invented ICQ, and then immediately came viral transmission, as if in a very short period of time the software is popular all over the world, it is too fascinating. Since then, I've been focusing on these areas because it's really fascinating.

Sina Technology: Your investment philosophy is to "focus on the individual rather than the project", you now you still think so?

Yossi Vardi: Yes, I still believe in it, and I don't think the idea is too important at times. This is like cooking, for example, two people think of cooking, but one made a delicious meal, another cooked meal is difficult to swallow, so can think of what is not important, important is the implementation. So when I evaluate investment opportunities, I first look at the entrepreneurial talent, and then look at the personality of these people. Third, I will look at the entrepreneurial beliefs, will and motivations of these entrepreneurs and their desire to succeed in entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship failure may be frustrating, but once decided, ethically do it!

Sina technology: What are your suggestions for young entrepreneurs in China?

Yossi Vardi: I can only give a suggestion. This suggestion is Nike's advertising word: ethically do It. If you want to know if you are the right person to start a business, then put your heart and soul into it, take risks, deal with the unknown, do it anyway, and then you will either succeed or fail. But one thing is for sure, if you sit at home all day, and dream of their own to create many large enterprises, but can not actually do, then nothing can be achieved.

Sina technology: Some companies have not listed valuations have set a sky-high price, such as millet and Uber, you think this is a good phenomenon for enterprises?

Yossi Vardi: This is a very interesting question. For enterprises, as long as the operation is sustainable, but whether it is sustainable but only God knows, some people may say that the current market value is too high, but some people think the price is appropriate. Only time will reveal everything.

Sina Technology: Do you think there will be a legendary software like ICQ now?

Yossi Vardi: In fact, in any field it is possible to replicate this success, but the probability is very small. One might think that software such as ICQ, micro-mail and what's app is simple, not simple, with thousands of developers trying to get ahead in these areas, but most will fall. I think the next five years, there are two areas that are extremely important, first is network security, and another area is the internet of things. Because this will greatly expand the use of the Internet, I think these two areas will have many opportunities for innovation. But we have to keep in mind that only a few of the thousands of or even tens of thousands of are likely to succeed, and that there may be millions of of them in these areas. So if you want to start a business in these areas, have a clear understanding of the probability of a successful venture, there is a lot of risk, you have to be prepared, strength and confidence to face possible failure, entrepreneurial failure may be very frustrating, to all employees are dismissed, all entrepreneurs are very disappointed, but these are part of the entrepreneurial.

Culture is the core of excellent entrepreneurial environment

Sina technology: What kind of environment do you think is a good environment for entrepreneurship?

Yossi Vardi: First, people must understand policy is important, the government system is important, the education system is important, the science and technology system is important, but the core of a good entrepreneurial environment or culture, that is, a country's innovative spirit. Entrepreneurship embodies a spiritual phenomenon, not a financial phenomenon.

Some entrepreneurs are not because of the existence of risk investors, on the contrary, it is because of the existence of entrepreneurial culture, venture capitalists will come in. This is a country or a society of genes and characteristics.

In Israel, I don't know whether this is good or bad, and all mothers are urging their children to succeed. You know, in Israel, a typical six-year-old might have heard his mother say, if you grow up, can you get a Nobel prize back. So every Israeli child knows that he has to go and succeed. These cultures are passed down from generation to generation, but this is just the wave of the Internet.

Sina Technology: Tel Aviv is hailed as "Middle East Silicon Valley", so what makes the city so successful in innovation?

Yossi Vardi: There is a very interesting phenomenon. 30 years ago, if you want to start a business, you need drawings, you need a plant, you need manufacturing equipment, and so on, but in the internet age, if you want to start a business, as long as a network of mobile phones, Amazon shopping site has an account, plus a laptop can be opened.

As a result, entrepreneurs are free to walk around because they don't need to move machines or transfer production equipment, because there is no production equipment, so all innovators are slowly gathering in areas where they can attract entrepreneurs, and in some places they are totally different to attract entrepreneurs.

In the United States, entrepreneurs are concentrated in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, and there are some in Texas and Boston, and if you look closely, you will find that the conditions to attract entrepreneurs are interesting.

First, entrepreneurs like high quality city life, they want to start a business in the city's main town, hoping to get to work at home, and they like to take dogs to their offices, which must be open enough to allow people of all races and backgrounds to blend in, in short, multiple.

Tel Aviv is a very liberal city. Of course many other features, but the freedom of pluralism is certainly an item. You can see graffiti everywhere in Tel Aviv, see people skateboarding, there are French music and opera, which attracts creative talent.

China's cooperation with Israel in the field of science and technology is only the beginning

Sina technology: Now China and Israel cooperation more and more, then the cooperation between the two countries have any particular advantage?

Yossi Vardi: Now it looks like the situation is really good, with thousands of Chinese attending meetings in Israel last week, and the flow of investment is widening, and it looks like the cooperation between China and Israel is getting better.

I don't know if China has discovered Israel or Israel, but it does have a special sense of closeness between the two countries. This is certainly not the first time in history that China and the Jewish people have such a sense of closeness.

Sina technology: Do you see any investment opportunities in China, especially in the field of science and technology?

Yossi Vardi: There are opportunities, but they may also need to be tested and validated. At present, mainly Chinese companies to Israel, Chinese companies are very confident, I feel that Israeli companies should strengthen the study of Chinese enterprises, may be the days of Israeli investment in China will come. I myself have some projects in China through some venture capital companies, but not direct investments are through venture capital companies.

Sina technology: Now Baidu and Alibaba and other Chinese internet companies began to invest in Israel, do you think there are speculative elements?

Yossi Vardi: No. In my view, it is a trend that the world's 350 largest companies are investing in Israel, creating research and development centers or research centers in Israel, where all of Apple's research facilities are located in Silicon Valley, but have set up three research centers in Israel. So now almost all the tech giants are rushing to Israel, so it's natural for Baidu and Alibaba to invest in Israel. I think what we're seeing now is just the beginning, and it's going to be more and more.