Connecting with modu

I’m about an hour away from boarding my flight towards Las Vegas. A 15 hour flight awaits me! So I won’t make this post too long, I’m looking forward to a landing already and even more looking forward to meeting all the great people at the New Media Expo!

Wish me a good flight, here’s the view I’m looking at in the meantime! My View From Here!

47 comments, that’s how many comments an article that recently featured Nataly Kremer, modu’s Director of Software generated on TheMarker’s website (a leading Israeli business newpaper with a strong online presence).

Below are some highlights of the article translated in English.

Nataly Kremer, Director of Software, marked as one of Israel’s greatest hopes of the Israeli High-Tech industry believes that Dov Moran’s(founder and CEO of M-Systems, inventor of the Disk on Key) vision of “modu” will revolutionize the mobile world. She also confesses that expectations for the device have caused her to lose a little sleep.

Back in 2005 Kramer was becoming one of Dov Moran’s Favorites. As a young software team manager Moran asked her professional opinion concerning a relevant matter and she answered with great confidence
That was the beginning of a great friendship.

After M-Systems was sold in 2006 to Sandisk, Moran was left to peruse his next project, needless to say that many of his ex-employees wanted to join him. His agreement allowed him to take 7 employees only. Nataly Kremer was eager to follow along.

Since February 2007 she has been working at modu and manages the heart of the activity that claims will change the face of the mobile industry. She admires Moran and believes his ideas are nothing less than genius. As for Moran, he believes that Kremer has the potential to reach very high business levels.

“We are making a real revolution,” she states without a hint of cynicism. The sales graph which will be published at the end of 2008 will prove if she’s correct, and if all the modu cynics will end up eating their words.

I work at modu because it’s Values

Kremer grew up in a home with 2 career oriented parents and learned early on that mom could do anything and everything. She never missed classes at school and always refused her parents offer to stay at home.

Wild nights out clubbing were never her thing, “I’m really not a wild person.” Her perfectionism and the need to excel were already evident as a toddler. “I was learning to write and had trouble with the letter D” she says, “It was as if my world was crashing in on me. My parents understood that they might have a problem.”

In High School she studied math and chemistry “I thought that computers were for geeks” she says. She was also a team leader in the marine scouts in Tel Aviv. “That’s where I learned values such as teamwork, cooperation and acceptance of others” she says. “That’s also why I am at modu, there are fantastic values here”

““Everyone wants to work here, which is what allows us to choose the absolute best” says Kremer, but despite the demand the search for the excelling employees is a complex task. Today she’s looking for 10-15 more employees for her team but refuses to loosen the rope.

Kremer was asked:

In job interviews, how do you know if the person is right for the job?

“I ask him what he disliked about his previous employment or what obstacles he was faced with. If they make a big story out of little things, they’re not the right person”

Have you ever fired someone for not being pleasant?

“I’ve fired someone due to lack of professionalism, it was difficult”

You also manage people older than you.

“Correct, I’ve never ran into a problem. As long as we’re all acting professional, there are no issues”

You’ve created high expectations in the mobile market for a product which you are responsible of the development. Is it stressful?

“I’m not the type of person that gets stressed easily, but I admit I’ve also experienced sleepless nights. People may say about me that I am very excited and give everything for my work but the less positive side is that I also take things very personally.

Original article posted here: http://themarkerit.com/tmit/article/4008

Here are a few highlights that stood out from the Globes Telecom and Marketing Event which I attended along with Hila, modu Marcom Manager. It was a packed event to say the least with big presenters during the day’s scheduled sessions.

9:00 – 11:00 Opening speeches – The revolution ahead.

Bob Garfield writer of “Ad Review” TV-commercial criticism feature in Advertising Age gave the event an opening presentation which focused on how traditional media is doomed.
He presented the 1^st video ever to be on MTV – Video killed the radio start, and today, online video is killing TV. Consumers now mostly trust each other when deciding on purchasing a product; they are much smarter and better equipped in making an educated decision through the big name review sites. He cautioned big brands, if you don’t like change; they’re going to like irrelevance a whole lot less…

13:00 – 14:00 Risk management in a creative environment.

Professor Christopher Loch of the Insead business school was the Guest speaker.
Professor Loch explained that Risk Management is part creativity. Multiple ideas should be available in order to have a fast iteration process. Try ideas, if they don’t work, do it quickly and move on to the next idea, however they should all be consistent with the main workflow.

Zack Weisfeld modu’s VP Marketing was in the panel. Zack talked about the consumer marketing team’s role in minimizing risk by understanding user segmentation down to a very detailed level. He also mentioned the extensive work with the world wide focus groups so that modu offers a product that fits the consumer specific demands.

Lots of fantastic advice given thought the presentations and panels. I was live twittering at the event, follow my twitter feed for regular updates for updates from shows we’ll be attending!

The TWS2008 Event took place yesterday at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds; I was on site meeting with the top 10 web startups to get familiar with their offers and services. It was a very impressive show to say the least!

Om Malik of www.gigaom.com took the stage during the morning keynote to share his overview of the web startup industry and what it takes to succeed today. His view is that there’s a genuine need to filter the online noise created today by the hundreds of sites offering reviews, information, articles etc… There’s a significant demand for services which can recap user “sentiments” and present the information in a clear and concise manner.

modu was in demand to be shown, of course I’m always happy to oblige…

There’s a new addition to the consumer marketing team, they’ve adopted a new pet mascot. Not just any pet mascot though, they’ve adopted a pet Pleo! Ron Levy, a senior product marketing manager recently received Pleo as a birthday gift and decided he would be a perfect source of inspiration for the team.

Yesterday Ron decided to hold a naming contest for his new pet Pleo, some of the suggestions included Rexy, Carino, Moduleo, Shlomo, Lizy, Moe, Zorg, Yoda and countless other dino inspired names but finally the name that stuck was Hiro, Full name: Hiro MD (modu dinosaur). Ron’s baby daughter is still trying to get used to her growling new family member who also coos for affection…

Pleo’s ughh I mean Hiro, is still fairly quiet so far as he’s been learning to interact with us and vice versa. Here’s a little video we put together to share our experience with the little guy.

I wanted to share with all of you a few of the articles that have recently been written about modu, while building up our good back link karma.

These come from both the news and blogosphere. If you’ve written an article on modu and want to get a little extra “shameless exposure”, post your links in the comments!

Mobile Start-up Goldrush!

“There’s also a pack of customizable, do-it-yourself style phones. Israeli start-up Modu made a splash in February when it exhibited modular handsets that dramatically alter in appearance and function when slipped into plastic cases. Operators in Russia, Italy and Israel will begin offering the phones by the end of the year. “

Read full story…
http://www.forbes.com/technology/personaltech/2008/06/15/mobile-startups-networks-tech-wireless08-cx_ew_0616startups.html

Modu - The Next Generation Cell Phone!

Nowadays with the over saturated cell phone market it is very hard for a new startup to compete. With all the Nokias, Blackberries, and iPhone it’s almost impossible to get noticed, however, there is a new company called Modu, based in Kfar-Saba, Israel that is trying something different. They have created a tiny mobile phone that can constantly take different forms, functions and designs. You can slip Modu in any of the following devices, Personal Music Players, Digital Cameras or DECT Phones, and share you images, videos, and music. They call them jackets. All Modu jackets are universally interchangeable, allowing you to swap Modu jackets with friends.

Read full story…

http://www.dezinehq.com/2008/06/19/modu-the-next-generation-cell-phone/

Modu: the phone with many coats!

You might remember a little while back that Dusan posted about us being teased by the Modu, and we were wondering what it is - well now we know….

At the heart of it is a tiny monoblock Mobile phone (get a picture of a Sony Ericsson W880i in your head, but smaller), which can be inserted in a number of jackets (see pic above), or, into ‘Modu mates’ (please note: I did NOT say inserted in to your mates - that would harsh, painful, and largely unnecessary) J

Read full story…
http://www.cellphonereviews.cn/2008/06/modu-the-phone-with-many-coats/