The dot com biggest event of 2008! Who will be the ten chosen startups to make it?

Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures

Guy Kawasaki is the co-founder of Truemors, Alltop and a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures. He is also a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Om Malik, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Giga Omni Media

Om Malik is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Giga Omni Media, Inc., a new media company which delivers technology news, analysis, and opinions to a monthly global audience of 1.75 million consumers and professionals interested in the world of high-tech. Malik has over 15 years of experience as a journalist covering technology and business news. Most notably, he was a Writer at Red Herring during its glory days. He then went on to be part of the founding team of Forbes.com as a Senior Editor. Before launching his own publishing venture, Malik was a senior writer for Business 2.0 magazine covering telecom and broadband stories. He has covered technology and telecom for over a decade for publications like Forbes and Red Herring, and has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and MIT Technology Review. His daily rants on tech/telecom and broadband can be found at GigaOM

Meir Brand, Country Manager, Google Israel

In Sep 2005, Meir Brand was appointed to set up and lead Google's operations in Israel as Country Manager for Google Israel. Brand has a 12 year successful track record as a business and marketing executive with leading global companies such as: Microsoft, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and P&G. He is an experienced internet veteran and joined his first Internet company in 1999 as Business Development Manager at Excite@Home and later as VP Sales and Marketing for ICQ (AOL Timewarner). Meir holds a Master's in Business Administration from Harvard University Graduate School of Business (Honors) and B.A in Economics from Tel Aviv University (Magna Cum Laude). Brand has lived and worked in Europe, Israel and the U.S and speaks English, Hebrew, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Baruch Gindin , Managing Director Gartner Israel

Baruch Gindin is the President and Chairman of Gartner's operations in the Mediterranean Region, Gartner is the world leader in Hi-Tech. research. 20 years ago he started Gartner presence in Israel , expanded it to the entire region and grew it to the most influential in the Hi Tech Industry and Investments community, by guiding Gartner's clients "from cradle to IPO" and "from IPO to become a global company". He has the World's highest number of "Winners Circle" Awards and ranked among the ten most influential in ICT for the last 20 years. Baruch was a member of Gartner European Management team for ten years.
With his hi level staff, he makes the Israeli startups visible to Gartner's 1200 Analysts and Consultants, just recently awarded six Israeli startups as "Cool Vendors".

Joey Simhon, Co-CEO & CTO, Netcraft

Joey is a web technologist, architect, evangelist and enthusiast. Joey co-founded Netcraft, a professional services firm that specializes in high-end web oriented solutions, alongside Uzi Shmilovici and has been in charge of its technology group ever since.
He had the privilege of taking part in numerous project during the past few years and enjoys all things web, whether it’s a complex architecture, rich user interface implementation or new emerging technologies. Joey suffers from a serious basketball fever so feel free to invite him to shoot some hoops.

Ofer Adler, Co-Founder/CEO Incredimail

One of the founders, and CEO of IncrediMail, and one of the first investors of Metacafe.Com and Etoro.Com. Interested in everything to do with Internet; GUI, UI, information gathering methods, email, communication, and interesting ideas in general. Likes to (and wants to do more of some day...) Windsurf, Skydive, Snowboard, RC helicopters, and many more. Before IncrediMail, spent around 8 years in the local capital market, out of which 3 years as a broker in the Tel Aviv stock exchange market.

Itzik Ben Bassat, co-founder of MediaArcade

MediaArcade is a partnership that specializes in initiating and developing Israeli based internet startups. Prior to that Itzik served as VP of Global Business Development and Intl Operations at Blizzard Entertainment and spearheaded the company’s global presence by creating and implementing business plans that lay the foundation for the operations of Blizzard’s blockbuster online game service World Of WarCraft. Itzik also served in executive roles at Vivendi Universal and Exent Technologies and was among the founders of the Israeli e-commerce site Mitos.

Deborah Schultz, social web strategist, start-up advisor

Deborah is an Internet strategist, blogger and Social Web rabble rouser. She lives passionately at the intersection of technology, society and innovation. She currently serves as P&G's strategic advisor on social media and advises both start-ups and the Fortune 50 on the impact of social software on business strategy & customer relationships. more about deborah.

Brian Solis, Future Works and PR 2.0

Brian Solis is Principal of FutureWorks (www.future-works.com), an award-winning PR agency in Silicon Valley. Solis blogs at PR2.0 (www.briansolis.com), bub.blicio.us, and regularly contributes PR and tech comments and articles to industry sites and publications. Solis is co-founder of the Social Media Club (www.socialmediaclub.com), is an original member of the Media 2.0 Workgroup, and also is a contributor to the Social Media Collective and ConversationalMedia.org.

Pete Cashmore, Founder/CEO Mashable

Working as a web technology consultant in mid 2005, Pete Cashmore founded Mashable from an unlikely location: a small town in the north of Scotland. Focusing on up-to-the-minute news on social networks and new websites, it rapidly grew to be one of the top 10 blogs in the world according to the blog ranking service Technorati. The site’s writers have been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post and hundreds of technology publications. Pete was selected as a Top 25 Forbes Web Celeb in 2007, while Mashable was chosen as a must-read site by both Fast Company and PC Magazine. In mid 2007, BusinessWeek featured Mashable as one of the world’s most profitable blogs.

Jeff Clavier SoftTech VC

Jeff is the Founder and Managing Partner of SoftTech VC, one of the most active seed stage investors in Web 2.0 startups, with over 40 deals executed in the last 4 years. After investing as a business angel for over 3 years, Jeff launched his $12M seed fund at the TechCrunch40 conference in Sept 2007. He has since invested in 18 startups in social media, communities, search and discovering, gaming and advertising. In 2007, Jeff was recognized as one of the 13 ‘Web 2.0 King Makers’ by Business 2.0, and is often noted for his investments in categories such as ‘passion-centric communities,’ or for having already sold five of his companies in the past two years through successful M&As. In fact, some geeks might say he's *the* Web 2.0 VC...

Yair Goldfinger, co-founder and CTO of Dotomi

Being a co-founder and CTO of Dotomi, an online direct marketing leader, Mr. Goldfinger is a passionate supporter and investor in the Israeli hi-tech Industry. Prior to Dotomi, he has co-founded ICQ, the world first Internet-wide Instant Messaging (acquired by AOL in 1998), and served as its CTO, credited with the development of Instant Messaging. He holds a B.A. in Math and Computer Science from Tel-Aviv University. He was awarded with the Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award in 2005.

Barak Shein – Director, Business Development, Microsoft Israel R&D

Barak leads business development activities with Israeli startups and VCs. He leads Microsoft Israel R&D’s Industry Outreach and is the Israeli member of Microsoft’s Strategic & Emerging Business Team. Before joining Microsoft, Barak held various product management roles at startup companies such as Quigo, Textology, and VocalTec. Barak holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from Tel Aviv University, and an MBA from Tel Aviv University.

Yaron Galai, Co-Founder, Quigo, Founder & CEO, Outbrain

Is the co-founder and SVP of Quigo, Inc. (www.quigo.com), a provider of performance-based marketing solutions for advertisers and premium publishers, which was later acquired by AOL. He previously served as the CEO of the company for three years. Mr. Galai is also co-founder and CEO of Outbrain, Inc. (www.outbrain.com), a startup developing a blog and RSS rating platform. Outbrain caters to RSS aggregators, online publishers, and bloggers. Prior to founding Quigo, Mr. Galai was co-founder & VP Business Development at Ad4ever, a developer of rich-media advertising technologies for the web which was later acquired by Atlas (a division of aQuantive – www.aquantive.com). Earlier, he was the founder of NetWorks Web Design - an SEO and web design firm. At NetWorks he oversaw the production and search engine optimization of over 30 websites.

Emily Chang, co-founder and principal of Ideacodes

Emily Chang is an award-winning strategic designer and co-founder and principal of Ideacodes, a web design consultancy in San Francisco focused on creating next generation web products for companies, organizations, schools, businesses and individuals. She writes about web and user experience design, technology, and next generation web at EmilyChang.com, and is the creator of the popular web 2.0 resource, eHub and eHub Interviews. She's also the co-creator of Twitterverse.com, a word and tag mashup based on Twitter's public messages. Most recently, Emily launched PicoCool, "a new site that's dedicated to bringing you tiny and obscure content from the world of peer media, social networks and subcultures. For the past eleven years, Emily has designed and produced hundreds of websites and web products for technology start-ups, businesses, leading universities and colleges, blog companies, non-profits, art and media and organizations. Her expertise ranges from strategy to design to user experience and programming for social web applications, web communities, hybrid media sites, personalized portals and content management systems, to social software and blogs.

Ofer Sela - Partner, KPMG Somekh Chaikin

Ofer has extensive experience servicing emerging, middle market and public companies, as well as leading IPO’s that are traded both in Israel and NASDAQ. Ofer is focused on servicing companies within the technology and media markets.
Ofer joined KPMG Somekh Chaikin at 2004 after returning from Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent more than 3 years servicing variety of technology and media companies including major US national and multinational enterprises within the communication industry, as well as privately held VC backed companies

Kfir Pravda, Pravda Media

Kfir Pravda is a marketer, content creator and blogger. His company, Pravda Media, provides services to companies and organizations in the field of media, content and marketing strategies. His blog, Pravda on Media and Technology, is read and quoted by VCs, content creators, and media executives across the globe. He is a known speaker and editor of international conferences in the fields of innovation, media, and technology. He is also an avid fan of crime films and whisky.

Ziv Koren, Head of Open Innovation, Amdocs

Ziv Koren is the founder and head of Amdocs Open Innovation, leading Amdocs startup collaboration and investment programs. Prior to this role Ziv headed Amdocs Ireland development center; was the General Manger of Menta Software, pioneering the delivery of Windows application to remote devices and served as Vice President of Products and Services in Top Image Systems a leading innovator of intelligent document recognition technology.

Martin Duval, Director 'Orange Start-Up Program' and CEO Bluenove

Since 2001 at Orange, Martin has been developing and managing innovative projects and services most of them partnering with startups worldwide, ranging from mobile applications, location based services, contact-less, convergence, digital entertainment & media. In 2006, he built a 'Corporate Open Innovation' programme at Orange, the 'Orange Start Up Programme' focusing on innovative mobile/web 2.0 services. Martin holds a Master in Physics, a Master in Telecommunications and an MBA (Chicago). He started his career in the aerospace industry, followed by management roles in Change Management consulting and Venture Capital. He recently started his own consulting firm, bluenove, specialized in the implementation of Open Innovation strategies for major corporations and brands. The 'Orange Start Up Programme' is now supported by bluenove.

Chris Brogan, Vice President, Strategy & Technology, CrossTechMedia

Chris Brogan uses social media and technology to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. He has merged his experience in technology (enterprise IT and wireless telephony) with his passion for social media, such that he’s showing organizations how to use these tools inside the firewall, as well as to build authentic conversations between coworkers, customers, and even competitors. Chris speaks at several conferences and for private organizations, bridging business-minded people with technology concepts and helping tech-centric types understand the business implications of their efforts. Chris blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at [chrisbrogan.com]. Skilled in new media creation (blogging, podcasting, videoblogging) as well as social media community building (through sites like Facebook, Ning, Twitter, and others), his strength is in connecting passionate people together for business, collaboration, and networking.

Allen Stern, CenterNetworks

Allen Stern is the Editor of CenterNetworks, a social media industry resource. Prior to CenterNetworks, Allen was responsible for the Internet marketing team at Georgia-Pacific. Allen has been in the Web space since 1995. Allen holds a Bachelors in Accounting and a MBA in Marketing and eCommerce.

Izhar Shay, Canaan Partners ,Venture Partner

Izhar Shay has been the head of Canaan’s Israel operations since 2005. With more than 20 years of operational experience, Izhar was previously Chairman and CEO of V-Secure Technologies, which was acquired by Radware (RDWR) in December 2005. Previously, Izhar was CEO and co-founder of Business Layers, a Canaan portfolio company. Izhar led Business Layers from startup to a dominant player position in the identity management market, until it was acquired by Netegrity (NETE) in December 2003. Izhar was previously VP of Business Development with The BRM Group. He holds a B.Sc. in Electronics Engineering from the Technion Institute in Haifa, Israel, and was a paratrooper in the Israeli army. Izhar serves on the board of directors of Snunit, a nonprofit organization, which focuses on integrating technology and the Internet into Israel’s elementary schools. Izhar is also a member of the Friends of Israel Sci-Tech Schools organization. He writes a weekly column at Globes. Izhar serves on the board of directors of LiveU, Efficient Finance, N-trig and Prime Sense.

Michael Eisenberg, General Partner Benchmark Capital

Michael Eisenberg joined Benchmark Capital as a general partner in July 2005 from Israel Seed Partners where he was a general partner since July 1997. Eisenberg began his career at Jerusalem Global where he started and led the firm’s successful investment banking group and partnership with Montgomery Securities. Michael has focused on Internet investments since 1995 and has invested in and sat on the board of Israel’s leading companies and start ups, such as Shopping.com (Nasdaq SHOP, acquired by EBAY), Answers.com (Nasdaq ANSW), Finjan, Tradeum (acquired: VERT), and Picturevison (acquired: EK). Michael writes a blog on Internet trends, Israeli politics and children’s issues at www.sixkidsandafulltimejob.blogspot.com. Michael also serves on the board Yeshivat Har Etzion, Israel’s largest yeshiva combining traditional Talmudic study with military service. In January 2005, Eisenberg co-founded www.scoop.co.il, Israel’s first and only citizen journalism project.

Michael lectures frequently on the topics of Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He holds a BA in Political Science from Yeshiva University in New York. Michael lives in Jerusalem, Israel with his wife and seven children.