Robert Samuel ("Bob") Rosenschein () is an American-Israeli internet entrepreneur and longtime contributor to the Israeli startup ecosystem.
He is known for helping Microsoft create Hebrew and Arabic Windows, and as the founder of Answers.com NASDAQ:ANSW, which was bought by Summit Partners’ AFCV Holdings for $127 million.
As a tech founder, he has built and exited several ventures, including one of the earliest web-based answer engines. Rosenschein is currently the founder of Equator, a tech startup which aims to foster respectful online discussion through short-form video.
Early life and education
Rosenschein was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Jewish parents Martin Rosenschein
and Yolanda Bleier,
who had survived the
Holocaust in Europe. He attended elementary school at Silver Academy and public Susquehanna Township High School, spending summers at
Camp Ramah.
He graduated with a BSc in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976.
Career
Early career
In his early career, Rosenschein worked for
Data General, American Management Systems, the World Bank Group, and
Ashton-Tate. He moved to
Israel in 1983, where he worked as a software consultant.
Kivun / Dagesh / Hebrew Windows / Accent
In 1988, Rosenschein co-founded with his brother, Professor Jeffrey Rosenschein
[ Professor Jeffrey S. Rosenschein] the software firm Kivun, later Accent Software. It was the earliest developer of Microsoft Windows software in Israel. The idea was sparked by a chance meeting with
Bill Gates. The company created “Dagesh”, the first Hebrew/English Windows word processor, and other multilingual tools under the “Accent” brand. The company consulted to
Microsoft in the early 1990s on the creation of Hebrew and Arabic Windows editions. In 1997, Rosenschein was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Software Achievement.
Answers.com
In 1999, Rosenschein co-founded GuruNet, which evolved into Answers.com, with
Morton Meyerson and
Mark Tebbe, based on a product idea originally suggested by
Yossi Vardi.
The original GuruNet product pioneered a one-click pop-up encyclopedia.[Wall Street Journal (January 27, 2005). Mossberg, Walt: "Unlike Search Engines, Answers.Com Responds With Data, Not Links". The Wall Street Journal.] It then expanded to include WikiAnswers, a user-generated Q&A service described as “Wikipedia for questions and answers.” At its peak, Answers.com was the 20th most visited website in the United States, according to Comscore.[Comscore (November 22, 2010) "Comscore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties"]
Under Rosenschein's leadership, Answers.com was listed on NASDAQ and grew rapidly, helped in part by a significant traffic boost from a collaboration with Google. Marissa Mayer, then chief product manager at Google, approved Answers.com to appear as a reference link on Google's English-language search result pages. This relationship was active for five years and helped cement the platform's visibility.
Curiyo
After Answers.com was sold in 2011, Rosenschein founded Curiyo in 2012, a one-click contextual information tool designed to deliver definitions and background data inline without disrupting browsing. Curiyo partnered with
USA Today and garnered media attention in several publications including TechCrunch, PCMag, and the Wall Street Journal.
[AllThingsD (September 10, 2013). Mossberg, Walt: "A Valuable Tool for Web Browsing". The Wall Street Journal.]
Equator
Since 2024, Rosenschein has been building Equator, a short-form video platform aimed at fostering civil and thoughtful online dialog. The platform will counteract polarization and the toxicity in social media by presenting curated multi-perspective video discussions.
Equator is built on the radical idea that respectful conversation isn't dead; we’ve just forgotten how to conduct it. The platform is in pre-launch, with Rosenschein laying the groundwork for a community of people who believe real change starts with improving dialog.
Awards and recognition
-
Prime Minister's Award for Software Achievement (1997, Israel) – for Kivun's Accent software.
-
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist (2009) New York metropolitan region, for his leadership at Answers.com.
Personal life
Rosenschein resides in Jerusalem with his wife, Diane. He is the father of four sons and also a grandfather. He took a sabbatical from entrepreneurship following a heart attack in 2013, which he discusses in a blog
[ Bob Rosenschein's Blog: Surviving a Heart Attack] on his Substack and Medium publications. He returned to startup life with a renewed focus on meaningful civic engagement.
Rosenschein posts regularly under the title Bob-servations, sharing personal reflections, cultural commentary, and insights on civil discourse. His writing emphasizes curiosity, humor, self-awareness, and bridging generational divides.
External links
Footnotes
