Tal Slobodkin is a Managing Partner at StageOne Ventures, focusing on seed and early stage investments in innovative Israeli information and communication technology start-ups. Previously, Tal led Cisco's Corporate Development activities in Israel and Russia. In this role, he was responsible for setting and executing Cisco’s acquisition and venture capital investment strategy in these regions. Tal managed Cisco’s venture capital portfolio in Israel and was an active participant on the board of directors for a number of portfolio companies. In addition, Tal led all Israeli-related portions of Cisco’s acquisitions in Israel, including the $5bn acquisition of NDS (2012) and $475mm acquisition of Intucell Systems (2013).Previously at Cisco, Tal managed Cisco’s world wide Smart Grid corporate development activities. He was a driving force in defining Cisco’s Smart Grid strategy, and led the acquisition of Arch Rock as well as Cisco’s investment in Grid Net and Control4.Prior to joining Cisco in 2008, Tal was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs where he was a member of the Technology, Media and Telecom team in New York City. Before, Tal had served as a Captain in the Elite Technology Unit of the Israeli Intelligence Corp.Tal holds an MBA with honors from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of the Talpiot Military Academy (B.Sc. in Math, Physics and Computer Science).