Want to know what music is on the minds of the thousands of people who are coming to be part of SXSW 2012?  

Serendip has the answer.  

With its Sound of Now technology engine, you can not only discover music in your social graph, but music that's being watched and listened to that's of your personal interest. 

11 Million Strong

Serendip counts on its 11 million DJ's who are connecting, playing and recommending which music to discover and share.  It aggregates content from YouTube, SoundCloud and BandCamp and through the magic and serendipity of the real time social web, you can discover.

Coming Soon at SXSW.. An Over The Top Music Experience 

Coming to SXSW, will be Serendip's latest iteration where you'll be able to enjoy a true lean back experience, focused on watching any music video on a web connected TV.  Think of it as real time MTV in the Sound of Now.

Serendip will be at the iMadeIsIsrael Booth during SXSW 2012.  To learn more about the companies from Israel coming to SXSW 2012 click here.

The 3 Day Startup movement continues to grow worldwide, with the Israel event coming up on March 14.

3 Day Startup is aimed at helping 40 students create their own startup in three days and enough momentum to keep the participants motivated to sustain their companies after the event.  In the case of the Israel event, students will convene at Academic College of Tel Aviv Yaffo, where they'll bring their ideas, have input and support from experienced entrepreneurs and release a minimal prototype to a panel of judges and an audience from the community.

If you're a student in Israel with a startup idea, apply here.

Thanks to all of you who came to my seminar last night at TechLoft in Tel Aviv. We had an amazing and engaging group, primarily consisting of startups. I recorded the session and will have it transcribed, with the idea of turning it into an ebook.   Chime in with comments and please share with other startups, VCs, Angels, accelerators, and any organizations around the world involved in the startup movement.

During DLD Tel Aviv and #140Conf Tel Aviv, I had a chance to catch up with Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle's  co-author,  Saul Singer, on his views of what makes Israel such a special place for start-up culture and innovation.

Assaf Kindler is the co-founder of a software development house, Yazam, that enables the collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian coders.  Born from the Peres Center for Peace, he turned what was an NGO into a for-profit enterprise that is focused on business and not politics, yet still achieve some nothing less than short of an amazing venture with social good.  

See releated story from Bloomberg.

Amazon Web Services had a big presence at DLD Tel Aviv.  Meet Miles Ward, Solutions Architect for Amazon, who refers to Israel as a hot bed of startup innovation, and a place where startups take advantage of Amazon's infrastructure and services.

Jeff Pulver is hosting a party for Israel's High Tech Industry on Thursday, 30 June at YaYa in Tel Aviv. If you're part of the High Tech ecosystem and would like an invite- email me:  alan at weinkrantz dot com.

For those of you who have joined us before, you know it is a great night of networking, eating, drinking and FUN. so I really hope you will join us. The event takes place at a brand new club, YaYa, located at 3 Ben Yehuda St. (Migdalor Tower) in Tel Aviv. Networking takes place from 19:30 to 22:00, followed by a party which will continue into the night.

While the party, open bar and canapes are all free, we believe that we should always try to help those less fortunate than us.  As such, we are asking you to donate 40 NIS to the charity we are supporting -- Lasova (www.lasova.org.il ), they feed the hungry and give shelter to the homeless when you register for your ticket

Looking forward to a great night in Tel Aviv. 

Event Sponsors:

Jeff Pulver -

Pulver's Micro Angel Fund - Pulver's Micro Angel Fund is a new and unique investment vehicle, created to provide funding to early stage Internet ventures. The fund, financed by private investors (and not by Jeff Pulver), will provide up to $500,000 seed funding from a single source, closing the gap between angels and traditional VCs. Investments will be made jointly with Jeff Pulver.

SoftLayer Technologies, Inc. ^{® -} Headquartered in Dallas, SoftLayer is the innovation leader in on-demand web hosting and data center services. As the largest hosting company in the world, SoftLayer lets customers create Cloud, Dedicated, or seamlessly integrated computing environments, leveraging world-class data centers in Dallas, Houston, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington D.C., and network Points of Presence nationwide. SoftLayer automates all elements of its platform, empowering enterprises of any size with complete control, security, scalability, and ease-of-management via a leading Customer Portal and Open API. The company’s proprietary offerings include the industry’s first Network-Within-a-Network topology for true out-of-band access, providing remote access to all management options.

Hashtag Art - For the past few years, there has been a growing trend to acquire fans & followers. The challenge now has become using the networks to generate buzz.  It's easy to have a conversation with 10 folks, 100 or even 1,000. With larger followings, the conversation is lost.  At that stage, it's difficult to avoid being just noise and almost impossible to get fans to spread a message. Hashtagart has proprietary technology and a suite of apps that make it fun for consumers to spread a brand's message.  Consumers are no longer advertised to, they BECOME the advertisement, and they have fun connecting with the brand.

Today in Tel Aviv, I shared the stage with other PR / Communications Pros, Josh Cline, Sharon Levy-Matzkin and Enon Landenberg.  We spoke at  Israel Startup Network Event. Details on the event, including who attended, is here on MeetUp.com. A special thank you to Arlene Marom and Ken Shostack who organized the event.

Israel Startup Network Presentation - 6 April 2011

In the process of meeting with various start-ups in Israel this week I'm really gaining some great insights into their needs for PR services.

Tomorrow, I will speaking at the Israel Startup Network event and sharing the stage with other PR / Communications Pros, Josh Cline, Sharon Levy-Matzkin and Enon Landenberg.  

What's clear to me is that either because of budget, or where they are in the life cycle of their company, be it in Israel or the U.S., they may not need a PR firm- yet.

1.  What media do you think should pay attention to your company?  Why?

Make a list of the print and online media (journals, news outlets, blogs, etc) and dream big.  Imagine you could get in any five outlets on the planet (be realistic.)  What would they be?   Try writing a draft of a press release yourself.  Need help?  Use my template, here.

2.  Start reading the media you want to be in.

If you follow the journalists that write about your space, you'll understand what they cover, their tone, and their voice.  

3.  Follow, wave, engage and comment on journalists work.

If there is a publication that you think you should be in, follow the journalist on twitter.  Here's a list of tech journalists that could help - thank you Robert Scoble.  Follow them.  Wave hello on twitter and even comment on their articles if you have something to say.  It's a great way to engage, seed the market and be found.

4.  Think about how you can be a great client.  

Come prepared.  Be reasonable.  Do your homework.  Don't be ashamed of not having a huge budget.  If you are reasonable, and pay for an allotment of time with your agency, offer to take on some of the execution yourself.  If you slip and fall a few times, it's ok.  As your budget grows, your agency can expand the range and depth of service.

This may seem like doing things in reverse, but as much as we are here to serve you, we are really here to help each other.  We want to see you be successful, exit, and hit it out of the ballpark :)

Translation:  Successful agencies / consultants are successful because they have successful clients.  

5.  Don't haggle on price or ask for discounts with the promise of greater fees later.

This is what I call the shuk mentality. 

You're not buying commodities.  

You're investing in deep expertise that can help your company beyond just getting press.  If you are being led to believe that you are getting a special deal, run away.  Unless you let your agency make a fair profit, they won't pay attention to you.  

You may be a hot company with promises of great potential, but the reality is that by virtue of the fact that there are now volumes of new start-ups, you are not only competing in a marketplace for business, you are competing for a marketplace of expert service providers.

There's always going to be another hot company next week :).

6.  Buy local in Israel when you can. 

Connect with service providers like Donna Abraham, Arlene Maron, and Belinda Gerber.  They can help you on writing, messaging, positioning. Need social media, WordPress and SEO expertise?  Reach out to Miriam Schwab.  Need help on figuring out how to master WordPress so you can do this yourself?  Nadine Wildmann is a rock star.  They are all in Israel.  They are nice people and can service you well here- and locally. You can also check out the Divas at Digital Eve Israel - a great resource for locally based talent in PR and emerging media.  

7.  Consider blended services as a way to save money.

See Item 6 and invest your budget in strategy and agency outreach.  Ask your agency if they would be willing to team with your local writers and other service providers.  It's worth a try.  Remember, you are not asking for discount.  You are asking to pay your agency for specific areas of expertise.

8.  Want to know what journalists are writing?  Check out HARO.  It's free.

PR Whiz, Peter Shankman created a very useful and free service - HARO - Help A Reporter .  Journalists list requests for sources and if you check it daily, your company might have the story the journalist is working on.  I've used it with great success.  Thank you Peter.

9.  Want to know what journalists are writing?  Research editorial calendars.  Check out Cision.  It's free.

Go back to step 1 and pick the top five media you think you belong in.  Go their site and check out their editorial calendar. Maybe there are getting ready to write on something that is specific to your space and your expertise.  Go here to Cision and do your own research.  It's free.

10.  Need to figure out a media strategy?  

Easy.  See who writes about your competitors or companies peripheral to your space.  Go to the company's press section on their site or just do a news.google.com search and start tracking who covers your competition or the key words in your space.  

11.  Thinking about briefing Industry Analysts?  

Depending on where you are in your life cycle, reaching out to Industry Analysts merit consideration.  Your mileage may vary, depending on where you are on this.  At the very least, and much like my recommendation in following and engaging with journalists you can do likewise with Industry Analysts.  Many have blogs and write free commentary.  I have an article here on my blog from the perspective of an industry analyst.

12.  Need a Director of Industry Analysts?   Check out Barbara French's Blog.  It's free.

Check out SWAY - Barbara French's approach to Industry Analyst Relations, Influencer Marketing and the Business of Influence.

Big Time Take-Away:

Prepare yourself now for coverage.  

Rather than thinking you can shove your press releases down the throats of your favorite journalists, think about how you can become a trusted source of quality content.  This is where I go back to my point about why I believe every company should think of themselves as a media company,  a content curator, and story teller.

One of the issues that I am seeing on this trip is that many Israeli start-ups face the challenge of going through the process of selecting a PR Agency or Consultant.  This can be especially daunting when you are trying to do this from Israel, and you want to work with a team in the U.S.  

Here's some suggestions to consider. 

No two agencies or consultants are alike.  The right mix can precisely deliver, your cup of tea.   

 Shot on location at Portabello Road Market - London  (c) 2011.  Please share:)

1. Reach out to journalists specific to your space and ask them who they respect and who they like working with. 

That’s often a good clue.  Make sure and ask who the good PR people (not agencies) are, who work inside agencies

2.  Research your competition’s agencies. 

Clients change agencies for good and bad reasons.  Often times, you can source the agency who had the client as a startup but not necessarily when then they had an exit or were acquired.  Just go to your competitor’s news section and scroll through the history of press releases

3.  Don’t hire “an Agency,” hire the right team. 

Your team could be a mash up of your internal resources, outsourced talent from Israel, an individual consultant, a boutique agency or one or two key people inside a large agency.  And when you are meeting with the Agency, make sure you know who is selling and who your account team will be.

4.  If you are VC funded, ask the internal Marcom person at your VC firm who they recommend. 

Work from a list and find the firm / person / group that best suits your needs, depending on your needs and budget.

5.  Try, if you can, to avoid the unnecessary dance of RPF’s and blind proposals.

In general, most RFPs suck and are a waste of time.  You can read my take on the RFP process here.  Be up front with your agency about what you need, your timeline and most of all, your budget. 

6.  Don’t accept a prescription until you are diagnosed.  

Once you have decided on 2 or 3 firms you might want to work with, consider having them come and meet you in the U.S. (yes, you pay for this, but it’s worth it) for a ½ day or full day workshop to help you determine what you need, what you can afford to do, how much you can do yourself and plan a prototype roadmap. 

The cost of doing this might run you the equivalent of one month of services, but you’ll gain a professional’s insights into how they work, how they think and how they interact with your team.  If you are paying them for this, it changes the game. 

Sure, we’re all in sales mode, but even for the day, it sends a clear message that you respect their work, and most of all, you value their time.

7.  Issue a call for PR firms on Twitter. 

Yes, this sounds a bit off the wall, but give it shot.  Something like -  “Innovative startup in the X space, based in Israel, looking for U.S. based #TechPR firm.”  (make sure you use the hash tag as noted)

8.  Attend your industry’s conference and trade shows where exhibitors -- and their agencies are there to support them. 

Go to the booth and ask someone in the booth who their PR firm is.  You’d be surprised how much information and insight you can gain this way.

9.  Don’t assume that you are going to need an Agency that has a specific expertise in your space.  

Does experience count? 

Of course. 

But often times, if you are breaking new ground or disrupting a market segment or creating a new segment of its own, remember that you’re hiring the Agency for their deep thinking and methods rather than their industry experience.  This is particularly true in emerging spaces like Clean and Greentech.  This field is rather new and the skills sets from one area of technology are easily transferable to another.  You're not hiring an Agency / Consultant because they are experts in wind power.  You are hiring them because they are great story tellers and know how to sell, evangelize and curate content.

10.  If you are going to integrate social communications / social media into your mix, look into your agency's presence on the social web.

In other words, does your Agency and its principals eat their own dog food?  

Are they on Twitter and Facebook?  Do they check in on sites like Foursquare and Gowalla?  Does the agency have a YouTube channel?Do they have their own SEO strategy?  

This is often a good way to cut the hype and dig into the substance of who you might be working with.

How about you?  Comments from afar?