Is TribeWire sort of like Linkedin.com or MySpace?

The short answer is no.

TOA members do not constantly check TribeWire for new “friends” and “friends of friends” and social events. It’s not that kind of service. TOA members use TribeWire to periodically update profile information (Startup, Investor, Job seeker, Executive), and post announcements or inquiries (Seeking an Advisor, Seeking a Business Partner, Seeking Information, etc.).

Because all of TribeWire’s features are integrated with email, members don’t need to check the site frequently, because they are updated when new postings are added.

TribeWire isn’t for you if:

- You want to actively monitor a personal page, add animations, music, photos, etc.
- You want lists of investors and businesspeople so you can spam them.

TribeWire is very different than LinkedIn, Xing, Viadeo, or MySpace.

TribeWire isn’t about building networks of friends of friends.

It’s about sharing information, opportunities, and questions with a private group of international business professionals.

*Not Designed for Social Networking: TribeWire is for serious businesspeople with an interest in Jewish culture. Although plenty of friendships have formed through TOA and TribeWire, the main purpose is not to build friendships.

Foremost, Tribe members use TribeWire to share business and investment opportunities, job opportunities, find advisors, and pose questions to each other
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A HISTORY OF TRIBEWIRE

When TOA started in 1999, we were possibly the first, business/angel group to heavily use the Web to facilitate communication between members. At the time everything was handled using Excel and email.

As TOA grew, we needed a better solution. In 2000 we started building our own business/angel networking service, called TribeWire. The inspiration for TribeWire was Craigslist.

As you may know, Craigslist hasn’t changed much since then. Neither has TribeWire. Craig Newmark (father of Craigslist) was, an still is, the antithesis of MySpace, or raising a ton of VC, throwing everything at a wall, and praying for the best. Craig’s approach is simple, disciplined, and above all, insanely effective.

In designing TribeWire, we tried to follow this model. Along the way came a bunch of social and professional networking services, including Friendster (Founder Jonathan Abrams is a Tribe member), Linkedin, Affinity Engines, Orkut, MySpace, and on and on and on.

As each new service appeared, we reconsidered the idea behind TribeWire — to connect investors, entrepreneurs, executives, job seekers, and service providers in a simple way — and each time we held our guns.
In the future we may offer additional features like some found in popular ’social networking’ services. But if we do, they’ll be added thoughtfully, and Tribe members will decide whether we add them or not.

Please send me your votes for ‘Venture of the Week’ — an interesting, innovative, Tribe-relevant seed/early stage venture that others may find of interest.

If we get enough suggestions, we’ll make this a weekly feature of this site.

Send to: paul (a t ) tribeofangels dot com

For Jewish citizens everywhere to do what they can to support Israel. For some of our members that means supporting promising Israeli entrepreneurs through investments and general assistance. For others it means giving to Jewish/Israeli causes or planning their vacations in Israel to support the Israeli economy.

If you believe peace with its neighbors is possible, support organizations that attempt diplomacy. If you don’t believe peace is possible, adopt a soldier, mentor a fledgling startup in Haifa, get involved in Jewish National Fund.

We can all do something.

Feel free to post ideas, ways to get involved, etc.

Also, please spread the word to our Israeli brothers and sisters to visit tribeofangels.com and post their firsthand experiences regarding the current situation.

Our prayers are with you for a speedy end to the attacks and abductions.

Local Israel/American Chambers, Angel Groups, Synagogue-related Business Groups. We’re compiling a list of these types of organizations that support Israeli/Jewish entrepreneurs in the U.S. and abroad.

Know about any of these types of groups? Please post contact information and links here.

Members, please send us an update on the types of opportunities you’re seeing, and the kinds you’d like to see more of.

In the coming weeks, in this blog, we’ll begin profiling Tribe member startups of the greatest interest to the most investor members.

TOA is in the midst of a major PR campaign to increase awareness of TribeWire among our target members: technology entrepreneurs, executives, researchers, and investors. As part of this campaign, we’re showcasing our most interesting and innovative Israeli members and their companies/technologies. 

Please forward this email to your own respective networks and encourage Israeli entrepreneurs to complete the TribeWire application:

http://www.tribeofangels.com/portal/application.php

Thank you,

– Paul Allen

Several years ago a small group of Jewish venture investors and entrepreneurs held a series of startup showcases at the San Francisco Park Hyatt. Since then, the group has grown to include over 4000 of the most influential angel investors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and industry executives, with members in virtually every country in the world. It’s called the Tribe of Angels, and this is our Web site.

Two years ago we realized we needed a better way to keep everyone informed and connected, so we started something called TribeWire — an online information exchange that lets members post and search each other’s profiles, and each other with questions, opportunities, and advice.

After several months of testing, we’re ready to open TribeWire to all of our members. It’s a work in progress, but we think you’ll find it useful. To get started, click the link to the right.

As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

In addition to TribeWire, we’ve launched this blog to spotlight Tribe Members and especially noteworthy ventures. The blog is open to everyone — members and non-members. Feel free to leave a comment — even if you don’t subscribe to TribeWire.

Very best,

 – Paul Allen