Location: 855 Oak Grove Avenue, Suite 105, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States

Stage: 1.0 (formal launch)
Short URL: vator.co/MyThings-MyThings

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MyThings

Startup/business
California, United States United States

http://www.mythings.com

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MyThings was featured in a VatorNews article: "Advertising startup MyThings snaps up $15M"

The London-based ad personalization group received the first chunk of $400M Orage/Publicis/Iris fund – Read more

MyThings was featured in a VatorNews article: "How to Write an Executive Summary"

Executive Summary Basics – Read more

MyThings was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - Friday 11/26/10"

Kurani Interactive raised $275,000; Advent Venture Partners announced a $118 million VC fund – Read more

MyThings was featured in a VatorNews article: "Need some original gift ideas this year?"

Before you reach for the latest gadget everyone's talking about, check out some more original ideas – Read more

Company description

MyThings is for people with too much stuff. Or, conversely, people who don’t have that much, but really like what they own. We’re a free service that helps you organize your possessions online, whether that’s electronics, jewelry, antiques, or your vast collection of Smurfs action figures. We also provide services like valuation, accessories, manuals, repair info, recycling, donation, a one-click sell-on-eBay feature, and an easy way to report to Trace, a global database of lost or stolen goods.

MyThings actually grew out of Trace, which helps law enforcement ensure nobody is selling or buying stolen items. To help you avoid adding your prized possessions to Trace, MyThings has a rather intense privacy policy. We require no personal information aside from an email address (which we don’t reveal) to make sure you’re as anonymous as you want to be.

Of course, just because you’re anonymous doesn’t mean you can’t be friendly. Items you've added can be private and completely invisible or public and open to the community. The MyThings community is the heart of the site, and is full of lovely people who are passionate about the things they own and are there to share their stories. MyThings members connect with each other about the things they love most, comparing their experiences with digital cameras and appliances, or auction houses and antiques.

Team

Management Team

BENNY ARBEL, FOUNDER & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
	Benny Arbel, founder and Chief Executive Officer of MyThings, is responsible for the strategic direction of the company as well as day-to-day operations to build the business successfully. Prior to founding MyThings Benny was Associate Vice President for multi-billion dollar NASDAQ-100 company Comverse, where he established and ran the Content Management Unit for the company's entertainment and new media solutions. Benny is a seasoned executive and has held several professional titles including founder and CEO of fast growing international, Internet and telecommunications companies, founder and COO of EverAd Inc. and co-founder and Vice President Business Development of Netline Limited. Benny began his career as a senior IP and commercial solicitor in Israel. Benny’s favourite thing is his home entertainment centre.
ALEX ZELIKOVSKY, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
	Alex Zelikovsky is responsible for managing the overall operations of MyThings. His focus is to make sure all functional areas are executing against key business strategies. Alex brings a wealth of operational, marketing, and general management experience to MyThings. He's been a co-founder and COO of Baker Street Solutions, a marketing, customer insight and product innovation company; Executive Vice President and COO of Reflect.com, a Procter & Gamble online, mass-customisation beauty business; Director of Logistics and Administration at Amazon.com; CEO of ASCOP Corporation, a global export and distribution company; and a Business Manager at RJR Nabisco in Europe and the U.S. From 2000-2001, Alex served as an Adjunct Professor at the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, teaching a course in e-commerce operations and strategy. Alex holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a Bachelors degree in Economics from Brooklyn College. Alex's favourite things include his soccer gear and his beer coaster collection.
YUMIO SANEYOSHI, VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT MARKETING
	Yumio Saneyoshi is responsible for defining MyThings.com, and bringing it to the market. Yumio brings both product management and marketing experience from Yahoo! where he was chief product guy for Yahoo! Answers, a community Q&A service with millions of users in 14 countries. Before Yahoo!, Yumio was responsible for starting and running the Tokyo office for enterprise portal software company, Plumtree Software. Yumio holds a PhD in business economics from Harvard University. Yumio's favorite thing is the Kung Fu Hamster.
KEN BOUCHE, VICE PRESIDENT OF TRACE
	Ken Bouche joined the MyThings team to lead the development of the Trace database that will give consumers, businesses and law enforcement access to tremendously improved information regarding stolen property. Ken came to MyThings after 23 years with the Illinois State Police where, as their CIO, he focused on strategically improving information sharing to reduce crime, prevent terrorism, and improve the practice of justice. Ken served as the chairman of Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative, an advisory committee to the U.S. Attorney General where he was a national leader in improving America's information sharing capacity and implementing post 9/11 intelligence reforms. Ken received a Master's degree in public administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ken’s favourite things are his Harley Davidson WideGlide motorcycle and his scuba gear.
YOAV CHERNOBRODA, VICE PRESIDENT OF ENGINEERING
	Yoav Chernobroda is responsible for the development of the technology behind MyThings. Yoav oversees the R&D centre and spends his days (and sometimes nights) making sure the wheels behind the engine are rolling. Yoav has accumulated more than 20 years of experience managing engineering organisations and architecting software products in various publicly-traded companies such as NetManage Inc., Sun Microsystems, Emblaze Systems and Comverse, and also as VP R&D of EverAd. Yoav holds a BA in computer science. Yoav’s favourite things are his books about medieval history.
RONIT BROSH, VP TECHNOLOGIES
	Ronit Brosh is responsible for the technology, architecture and third party integrations at MyThings. Ronit held a spectrum of leading positions in R&D Management, having a wide experience in technical and architectural aspects in e-commerce and imaging over last 20 years. Prior to joining MyThings, Ronit was the VP R&D at SeaPass Solutions, and the VP Development and Architecture at DealTime.com (Shopping.com). Prior to that, she was a director at AutoMedia, object isolation in video streams technology company. Prior to that, Ronit worked for Apple Computers, as a part of the Graphics team. Prior to that, she worked for Scitex Corporation, managing a graphics application team. Ronit has graduated from the Israeli Army Computer Training School, and from Bar-Ilan University, and holds a B.A. in Computer Science and Psychology. Ronit’s favorite things is her Ayurvedic books collection.
DAVID KIASHEK, DIRECTOR OF SALES AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EUROPE
	David Kiashek is responsible for MyThings Business Development and Sales in Europe. His primary focus is customer acquisition through retail channels. David has been instrumental in creating many partnerships, including Tesco, ASDA (Wal-Mart), Casio, Currys, Goldsmiths, Halfords and Jessops to name a few. David brings strong business acumen to MyThings. He founded and led a successful global jewellery manufacturing and distribution business for over 20 years. David’s company was subsequently acquired by Swarovski, at which time David was retained by Swarovski to run their UK operation at Alpha Jewels in London. Subsequently David was appointed Managing Director (Gérant) of Swarovski in Casablanca Morocco, where he was responsible for building the company from start-up to a world class centre for Silver Jewellery products. David began his career at Kigu Ltd, rising to Production Director and then Sales Director positions. David holds Bachelors of Science degree in Engineering from Hertfordshire University David’s favourite things include his vintage MG as well as running a historical website for Vintage Powder compacts.

Board of Directors

HAREL BEIT-ON, CARMEL VENTURES

Harel Beit-On is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of management leadership in the software industry. After completing his MBA at MIT, Harel was a founder of Oshap and Tecnomatix in 1985. In 1994, Harel became President of Tecnomatix and from 1996 to 2004 served as President and CEO. During his eight year tenure, Tecnomatix grew to over $100 million in revenues and more than 650 employees. Harel is a recognised thought leader in the manufacturing software space. He has been an active member of Carmel's Investment Committee since Carmel's inception, and serves on the Board of Directors of Red Bend, Shunra, Optimal Test, MyThings, and Clarizen.

PROFESSOR TOM BYERS, STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Stanford University Professor Tom Byers is focused on high-technology entrepreneurship education, and is founder and faculty director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP). Tom is also a faculty director of the AEA/Stanford Executive Institute, a general management program for technology executives, and a published author. Previously, Tom lectured at the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley. Tom has a range of business experience including executive vice president of Symantec Corporation and founder/president of Slate Corporation. Tom started his professional career at Accenture. Tom holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and an MBA from UC Berkeley. He also earned a PhD in Business Administration (Management Science) at UC Berkeley.

KAJ-ERIK RELANDER, ACCEL PARTNERS

Before joining Accel Partners, Kaj-Erik Relander was President and CEO of Finnish telecommunications company Sonera Corporation and before that Director at SITRA, a Finnish Technology investment company. Kaj-Erik has served on the Board of Directors at a variety of international companies including Ledstiernan (based in Sweden), Helmet Capital Fund, F-Secure, A-Company, H&B Advisory Board, Printing Network of Europe, Kreatel (in Sweden) and Axiomlab (in the U.K.) as well as TietoEnator, SmartTrust, Turkcell (in Turkey), VoiceStream Wireless (in the U.S.) and Zed. Kaj-Erik has a Master's degree in Economics from the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration and an MBA from the Helsinki School of Economics and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

PROFESSOR ELI TALMOR, LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL

Eli Talmor, a professor at London Business School and Academic Director of its Private Equity Institute, specialises in new ventures and private equity. He has consulted extensively to corporations internationally, and has been a director of European and American publicly traded corporations. He has since co-founded two technology incubators with over 40 start ups. Professor Talmor serves on the advisory board of ETV, Europe's leading venture lender, and was on the Board of Governors of London Business School. Professor Talmor holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BSc (Cum Laude) from the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology.

EHUD (UDI) ZAIDMAN

Entrepreneur and co-founder of MyThings, Udi Zaidman is also the owner and CEO of the Wagonmark chain of jewellers and pawnshops in the London area.

Advisory Board

RICHARD ELLIS

Richard Ellis served with the Metropolitan Police for 30 years where he was a member of the International and Organised Crime branch at New Scotland Yard. In 1989 he set up the Art & Antiques Squad which he ran until he retired from police service in 1999, to become the General Manager of Christie’s Fine Art Security Services and then Managing Director of “Trace”, running a database for stolen art and antiques together with Trace Magazine. An independent art risk consultant since 2002, he lectures extensively on cultural property crime and is a member of UNESCO’s panel of experts on the protection of cultural property. He is a director of Art Resolve and The Art Management Group and is an executive member of the Council for the Prevention of Art Theft.

ROBIN REED

Robin Reed began her executive search career in 1984 and 20 years later has been part of recruiting technology leaders and executives for over 250 start-ups. Along the way, many of her placements helped to make history. Her clients are mostly start-up companies, funded by top tier VCs. Some of these start-up companies became Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Apple, Netscape, Amazon, Ebay, Intuit, Palm, Yahoo!, and Google. Robin helps young companies design their internal recruiting engines, and create differentiating strategies for talent acquisition. In 2000 Robin joined forces with Susan Shay to create Reed Shay & Company.

SHASHI SETH

Shashi Seth is an experienced product and strategy leader in the Search and e-Commerce industries. As Head of Monetization at YouTube, Shashi is developing the monetization strategy for YouTube. Before that, Shashi served as Product Lead for Search at Google, where he was responsible for personalisation and commmunity efforts. At eBay, Shashi was the driver of eBay's global product strategy and was Group Product Manager for the eBay Platform—initially evangelizing the product, then delivering the external interfaces that created eBay's far-reaching ecosystem. Shashi also brings considerable retail and entrepreneurial skills to MyThings based on his earlier experience with Gap, Conexo, and MediaMagic

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My Things
Posted: June 23, 2008
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