Dinner & Panel: Venture Capitalist & Startup Do's & Dont's with ffVC, Pereg Ventures & more

Over the past three decades, Itzhak has been an angel investor in 85 startups worldwide with an impressive IRR. In parallel, he deployed over $3B of investments and built new ventures during his tenure as EVP, M&A and Global BD at Nielsen Holdings. He was Chief Executive Officer at RLS Communications and Chairman and Co-Founder at Buzzmetrics. He is a seasoned, worldwide executive with a passion for technological innovation and startups, which began when he first fell in love with computer science. His reputation in the entrepreneurial and investment world spans across the U.S. and Israel.

Itzhak is a consultant to KKR and Goldman Sachs. He is a member of the NYU Courant Institute advisory board, chair of the Rwanda Development Board, and a trustee at NYIT. Itzhak was born and raised in Israel, but has lived in NYC for the past 23 years.

John Frankel is a technology investor. He is passionate about working with founders that are building the big businesses of tomorrow.

He founded ff Venture Capital in 2008 to work with founders who share this vision, which has since funded over 150 seed and early-stage companies that have in turn created thousands of jobs and impacted the lives of millions. While ff Venture Capital’s investments span a number of industries, John is currently fascinated by applied artificial intelligence, encompassing drones, robotics, and financial services technology.

Over the years, John has served on the boards of over sixty companies as well as the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, to help in further fostering the New York City ecosystem.

Prior to founding ffVC, John had a long career at Goldman Sachs in a variety of roles that involved technology development, business reengineering, and capital markets. He has had the unique opportunity to work closely with some of the world’s leading investors, and as a result has developed a keen understanding of emerging technologies and portfolio risk/return management.

After graduating from New College Oxford in 1982 with a Masters in Mathematics and Philosophy, John worked at Arthur Anderson and qualified as a Fellow Chartered Accountant. Today, John enjoys traveling and is blessed with a large and growing family.