Yori Nelken, OurCrowd First General Partner and a seasoned tech entrepreneur and investor. Nelken got his start selling language processing software to big banks like Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) and Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC).

Now, Nelken invests in early-stage startups, and he describes seed investing as “an art, [rather than] financial engineering.”

Benzinga interviewed Yori Nelken via email to learn more about seed investing from a successful seed investor.

Benzinga: What is OurCrowd First?

Yori Nelken: OurCrowd First is Israel’s most active seed fund since our inception in early 2015. It’s a great privilege for me to work with my partners Avi [Reichental] and Eduardo [Shoval] — we are all former CEOs that built and scaled many successful companies and created billions of dollars in shareholder value.

Interestingly, we all independently found our way back to early stage investing, mentoring and coaching — a passion that brought us together as a team. As a result, we’re taking very active and supportive positions with our companies.

Over the last couple of years, we have positioned ourselves to see almost all seed stage companies in Israel and invested carefully. We’ve only invested in 18 companies, at a ratio of one investment per 200 companies we’ve seen.

Why is seed investing an attractive option for investors looking for returns outside of the capital markets?

Nelken: If you look at the wealth that’s been built in tech over the last decade, most of it was created in private markets before companies went public. In old days, you could build wealth by investing in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), for example — today that doesn’t work anymore. Unless you are friendly with the larger funds, you will be frozen out, unable to invest and benefit from the hockey-stick growth of these companies before they go public, and then see only marginal gains later.

Seed investing, when done right, buys you a ticket into potential global category makers, and allow you to ride up with the winners.

What kind of investor/investing style does seed investing reward?

Nelken: Early stage investing is more of a craft or art than financial engineering. Success depends a lot on proper mentoring and coaching rather than simply "betting on the right horse." Therefore, seed investing should be left to professional investors that can actively manage the investments within portfolios.

What's a good analogy for seed investing that can help explain it to others?

Nelken: Plant the seed of a tree. Be patient, understand the seasons, soil, weather and work for years before reaping the results. But then... these results can feed generations to come.

How does OurCrowd First change the seed investing model?

Nelken: As a fund we believe that exponential technologies — those that follow Moore’s law (like AI, IoT, big data, digital manufacturing) — and even more so, the convergence of multiple such exponential technologies is redefining complete industries not only with innovative products, but also with new business models. My partners Eduardo and Avi, and myself have almost a century of collective experience [in entrepreneurship and investing].

We understand what it takes to be on the bleeding edge of disruption. We understand the space of computing and actuating this connected world in our respective areas, and work with our companies—together as a team—to monetize the upside of this disruption.

This type of deep and active involvement by 3 partners with each of our companies is not typical for most seed funds, and our expectations are to be able to show significantly improved results.

What fascinates you most about Israel's startup scene?

Nelken: That it all started with one genius government move, which is atypical for governments. 20 years ago, the Israeli government seeded the venture capital industry with money and friendly policies [through the Yozma program]. By now the flywheel is going all by itself. It’s awesome to see.

What do you want everyone to know about investing in Israel?

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