Essential Web 07: Interview with G.ho.st founder Zvi Schreiber

Zvi Schreiber, Ph.D., is a UK-born serial entrepreneur based in Israel who has already launched and successfully sold two of his startups. Tradeum, a business to business ecommerce exchange company, was sold in 2000 and Unicorn, an enterprise software business, was bought by IBM last year. Zvi Shreiber is now on his third startup – G.ho.st which stands for global hosted operating system, is a web-based OS that provides users with a familiar Windows-like desktop. The only difference between your Windows or Unix desktop is that G.ho.st lives in your browser! This means that you can log into G.ho.st on one computer and then seamlessly pick up where you left off on a different computer. Since applications and data no longer reside on users’ PCs, G.ho.st is proving to be popular with users who are on the move. Another great thing about G.ho.st is the cost – zero. During the interview, Zvi explains that the business model is based on selling premium accounts to users who need more storage or features. In addition to premium accounts, G.ho.st also plans on making money using affiliate schemes, e.g. if you use google or amazon in G.ho.st, the company will receive an affiliate payment. So far, G.ho.st’s team of 20 is funded by Zvi who is looking to raise VC funding to help him grow the business. Finally, G.ho.st has pledged 10% of its founding equity to a G.ho.st Peace Foundation to be created upon an ‘exit’. The foundation will seek to contribute to building bridges among Israelis and Palestinian individuals through grass-roots social and commercial collaboration between both sides – a model which G.ho.st is already successfully proving. Zvi Schreiber’s parting words were “think big, think global and do not forget about partnerships” !

Channel: intruders.tv Video Length: 0s Date Found: Fri, Dec 04 2009 3:13 AM Category: Technology Date Produced: View Count: 12