Yoav Leitersdorf

Current

Board Member at FasterWeb
Board Member at ClickTale
Managing Partner at YL Ventures

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Past

Founder, Managing Director and CEO at Movota
Principal at Leitersdorf Ventures (Sole Proprietorship)
Associate at Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures

Principal at The Nob Hill Project (Sole Proprietorship)
Founder and CTO at ExchangePath
Project Manager at NCC (Elron Software, Zix Corp)
Founder and CEO at PcEntertainer Magazine

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4 more...

Education

Columbia University - Columbia Business School
IMD

Recommended

16 people have recommended Yoav

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Venture Capital & Private Equity

Websites

YL Ventures

Yoav Leitersdorf’s Summary

Successful entrepreneur, investor and advisor in technology and new media for seventeen years. Currently Founder and General Partner of YL Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in Europe and Israel and focused entirely on medium-size M&A exits within approximately 24 months of initial investment. Recently Founder and CEO of Movota (London), a mobile-based TV audience participation technology company acquired by Bertelsmann AG. Founded and held the position of CTO at ExchangePath (New York), an online payment company acquired by CMGI for over $25 million. Prior to that, launched, operated and profitably sold the world’s first online multimedia magazine (PcEntertainer). Was responsible for wireless sector coverage at venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures, and advised firms in many sectors within the Internet, telecommunication and media software industries. Received his MBA with honors from Columbia Business School, and studied international business at the International Institute of Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Yoav Leitersdorf’s Specialties:

Understanding, architecting and innovating upon proprietary technology, business models, and the disruptive products and services that thrive between them. Specialization in identifying merger and acquisition opportunities involving outstanding technology startups and established tech and media corporations.

Yoav Leitersdorf’s Experience

Board Member

FasterWeb

(Internet industry)

July 2009 — Present (6 months)

FasterWeb, the pioneer and leader in browsing experience optimization enables websites to accelerate page load times by factors of 2x to 10x, without requiring server-side code changes or client-side plug-ins. FasterWeb's proprietary technology can work with or without content delivery networks to provide near-instantaneous Internet browsing, thereby improving user experience and increasing revenues.
Board Member

ClickTale

(Privately Held; Internet industry)

November 2007 — Present (2 years 2 months)

ClickTale (www.clicktale.com) is an innovative Internet startup that, for the first time, enables websites to record and watch movies of their visitors' individual browsing sessions. Unlike traditional web analytics that show partial statistics, ClickTale also shows visitor behavior inside the webpage, recording every mouse movement, every click and every scroll for convenient playback.

Also, ClickTale aggregates thousands of visitor sessions into meaningful reports of behavior inside-the-webpage, giving websites valuable insights about what visitors actually see, how long they look and what parts of the page they skip. Thus, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of their online visitor behavior, which leads to improved website usability, enhanced navigation, and increased overall website effectiveness.
Managing Partner

YL Ventures

(Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

January 2007 — Present (3 years )

A mid-market venture capital fund that invests in European Internet, telecommunications and media software companies, accelerates their development via active business development, and arranges their medium-size (not home run) acquisitions within approximately 24 months, mainly to US-based corporations. Leitersdorf has been Founder and CEO of multiple start-ups for which he arranged successful medium-size exits (up to 90% IRR and up to 6x multiples to such established companies as Bertelsmann and CMGI). He has the technology and business expertise, and the globe-spanning business network, to continue this model within a unique venture capital fund framework (www.YLVentures.com).
Founder, Managing Director and CEO

Movota

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Wireless industry)

December 2003 — May 2006 (2 years 6 months)

Movota is the world’s most innovative mobile service provider for TV and radio broadcasters. Leitersdorf led Movota's foundation, strategy and development, and negotiated its multi-million dollar trade sale to Bertelsmann AG (Sep ‘05), Europe's largest media conglomerate ($23 billion in sales) – from identifying the market opportunity and inventing the products through to devising the marketing strategy, recruiting employees and successfully serving customers. Leitersdorf also led Movota’s financing – recruiting, negotiating and closing high-profile investors across 3 investment rounds. Leitersdorf sourced, negotiated and closed customers in over 12 countries, including Europe’s top-3 broadcasters (BBC, RTL Group and SBS Broadcasting) and top-2 TV producers (Endemol and FremantleMedia).
Principal
Leitersdorf Ventures (Sole Proprietorship)

(Sole Proprietorship; Myself Only; Telecommunications industry)

May 2003 — March 2004 (11 months)

Venture consultant to the following industries: wireless telecom, consumer electronics, electronic payment systems, online media and entertainment, electronic commerce, interactive advertising, workflow applications and medical devices.
Associate

Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures

(Partnership; 1-10 employees; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

December 2001 — April 2003 (1 year 5 months)

Sourced, performed business due-diligence and monitored portfolio companies, which included the evaluation of over 1,000 startups.
Principal
The Nob Hill Project (Sole Proprietorship)

(Sole Proprietorship; Myself Only; Information Technology and Services industry)

October 1999 — December 2000 (1 year 3 months)

Venture consultant, investor and advisor to the wireless telecom industry. Leitersdorf helped launch several Silicon Valley based mobile data ventures.
Founder and CTO

ExchangePath

(Computer Software industry)

October 1996 — September 1999 (3 years )

Founded and held the position of CTO at ExchangePath, a New York based online payment company acquired by CMGI for over $25 million. Invented, patented and productized micro and peer-to-peer payment systems, and conducted partnerships with several content providers and financial institutions including Hoovers, Inc. and MasterCard International.
Project Manager

NCC (Elron Software, Zix Corp)

(Public Company; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)

August 1993 — September 1996 (3 years 2 months)

Developed networking software for NetManage and PaperClip as well as virtual reality based simulators for the Israeli Defense Forces. Designed and implemented a dynamic counter allocation and display system for Tel Aviv’s International Airport.
Founder and CEO

PcEntertainer Magazine

(Online Media industry)

September 1991 — July 1993 (1 year 11 months)

Launched, operated, and then profitably sold the world’s first online multimedia magazine, providing information, tools, and advice that help consumers of PC software and hardware decide what to buy and how to get the most out of technology.

Yoav Leitersdorf’s Education

Columbia University - Columbia Business School

MBA , Finance, Marketing , 2001 — 2003

Graduated with honors

Activities and Societies:

President, Columbia Business School Private Equity Club
IMD

International Business January 2001 — August 2001

Activities and Societies:

Founded IMPACT - business education in developing countries