Daniel Cohen is a General Partner at Gemini, specializing in Consumer Internet, Digital Media and Software-as-a-Service investments. He sits on the Board of Gemini companies Adap.TV, Confidela, Outbrain, SupportSpace and Verix. Danny is also on the board of the Lightspeed Gemini Internet lab. Danny is based in the Silicon Valley, managing the fund’s operation in the US and providing portfolio companies with a direct link to the technology and VC activity in California.

Previously, Danny was a Principal at Gemini, responsible for the Fund’s deal flow and deal sourcing process. He has participated in the investment process of over a dozen Gemini companies, including eSnips, dbMotion, Business Events, Allot, TriSixty and Mirage Innovations. Danny is an active blogger, writing about Israeli technology, consumer internet, rock music, and sports (Check: Israel Venture Capital 2.0)

“In recent years, venture capital and entrepreneurship have expanded globally, and startups are emerging across the US, Europe and the Far East. For Israeli entrepreneurs, the competitive challenge is constantly growing, as more and more dollars are flowing in every sub-category. In such an environment, it’s important to work with VCs that have specific and relevant expertise. In the past few years I have been focusing on consumer internet and SaaS related businesses, leveraging my knowledge in advertising (Outbrain, Adap.tv), Software-as-a-service (Confidela, Supportspace, Eyeview, Verix), and digital media (eSnips).

Danny began his career as a software engineer at Scitex and was later hired by Sagitta as a software group leader. He moved from development to product management at Sagitta and assumed responsibility for the product management team. In 2000, Danny joined the strategic marketing department at Commtouch and was promoted to Sr. Director of Product Marketing after a short time at the company.

“Start-ups often forget that signing a contract with a partner, reseller or OEM is not a success in and of itself – it's just the beginning. This is a lesson I learned the hard way. When I was at Commtouch, we signed a huge-multi million dollar deal that I managed and championed to the management of the company. It was the biggest deal ever done at Commtouch. Unfortunately, it was never implemented. Our, inability to foresee major relationship and implementation problems led to the demise of the project. What happens after the contract is signed is when the real game starts. That was a tough lesson to learn, but it has become very useful to me.”

Danny earned an MBA from INSEAD and a BA in Computer Science & Psychology from Tel-Aviv University. He is a graduate of the Kauffman Fellows Program.