Disqus - Friends of evbart

Re: Why do we charge $250?

Jschwa — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:15:39 -0000

Angel Investors typically look for deals that have around $100,000 already invested from the entrepreneur's own money, friends, and family. They want the entrepreneur to have skin in the game. That isn't a definitive number, as "skin in the game" for a student is different than someone who is an executive. However, they want to see that you were willing to convince the people closest to you that you are a good bet.

If you don't have $250, there is a good chance that you aren't ready for Angel funding. It is one of the reasons that the $250 filter works on a number of levels.

Our primary goal is to ensure that OPENdeals remains a source of quality deal flow. To that end, we are actively working on alternative filters such as business plan competitions and crowd sourcing. We would be happy to hear any scalable suggestions you have.

Re: NYC needs another early stage VC, or two, or three

Jschwa — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:00:02 -0000

There is a lot of early stage money in NY other than Venture Capital firms. This is the space that Angel Investors play in, and it's on the rise. Not only do these investors have money, they have the community and network that you are talking about. I just checked Angel and VC firms in the New York on Angelsoft.net's Group Finder and there are 20 that you didn't mention. That doesn't include the NJ, CT, and Philly.

Re: Why do we charge $250?

Jschwa — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:06:09 -0000

Of course having that much skin in the game makes you're deal more attractive to investors.

Re: NYC needs another early stage VC, or two, or three

Jschwa — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:46:39 -0000

Yes, many of these groups are very active in doing deals. The point is, an Angel Group IS a community. It is 40-100 people with very diffrent experience and personal networks that meet regularly and do deals. The community is in house. VCs have to reach outside their office to create that community, which may make it more transparent, but that doesn't mean a strong community doesn't exist.

Re: Why do we charge $250?

Jschwa — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:14:10 -0000

Julia,

This problem with that model is two fold.

First: If it was free to apply, our Investor Community would be crushed with submissions. The Investor Community is a community for Investors inside Angelsoft. They rely on it as a part of the funding process to finish out a round of financing if they need to look outside their group. We cannot destroy that resource for them by providing an avalanche of deals, which is what your suggestion would effectively do.

Second: If you do not have $250 to apply to the Investor Community, there is a very good chance that your company is not ready for investor financing. I know that seems harsh, but it is a reality which I have tried to explain above. Charging you after the fact would not help filter out submissions that are not ready for investors to look at them.

Re: A Fundraising Survival Guide

Jschwa — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:16:11 -0000

Are you referring to this: http://www.paulgraham.com/f...

Re: Why do we charge $250?

Jschwa — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:25:03 -0000

Gene,

We are a software company that the worlds early-stage investment groups use to mange deal flow. We do not weed through submissions, or present companies to groups. To be clear, we have nothing to do with funding entrepreneurs other than providing them the tools to reach investors. You can apply to groups directly through our free Group Finder. Or you can access investors in the community they are already collaborating in by posting for $250.

Re: Open Systems, Open Data, Transparency

Jschwa — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:45:36 -0000

T.R.,

From the perspective of an entrepreneur I can see how it feels that way. From the perspective of investors the reality is very different. When you are an investor, your goal is to put money to work. Everyone in the early-stage industry would love to fund more deals. To them that 1.3% doesn't represent how selective they are, it represents the number of fundable deals that come through the system. They would like nothing more than for that % to rise. The unfortunate truth is that most deals that are presented to investors aren't fundable. What raises an investor’s credibility is not how much they invest, but how much they return.

Angel Groups, or coalitions are you call them, do not make a profit. Almost all of them just break even. Submission fees help offset costs, and act as a decent filter against frivolous submission, which helps to raise that 1.3%.

Jason Schwartz
Entrepreneur Community Manager, Angelsoft.net

Re: Building Web Apps For Normal People

Jschwa — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:28:00 -0000

I did forget search as the most used app for normal people. As you pointed out, amassing a large number of normal people onto one service has been the only profitable business strategy so far. Even then, only a few companies have managed to monetize that network effect.

Re: Building Web Apps For Normal People

Jschwa — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:50:11 -0000

Kevin,

I searched around and I cannot find a source that confirms that wall posts are the most popular form of communication in Facebook. Could you reply with a link?

Wall posts are public, and I do think that normal people like a little of that. However, wall posts also exist in obscurity beneath the social connections of Facebook. Even if you forget about profiles restricted to friends, when I make a post on someones wall, I am not publicly broadcasting to the world. I am talking to a very tiny community of people that have some connection to the persons wall I'm posting on. They have to come to that profile to see my post. It's similar to making a speech at that same persons birthday at a public bar. Sure anyone could potential hear what I have to say, but unless they somehow know the person I'm talking about, they won't.

At this point most accounts are only viewable by friends. Many probably allow their entire college or small geographic area to see their profile. When someone makes a wall post, there is a reasonable expectation that it won't be

Re: Twitter Isn’t for Normal People

Jschwa — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:55:58 -0000

It is interesting that Twitter has a completely unstructured format, and the users set about structuring it with @, #, and now $. I think the more context that Twitter takes on, like in your election example, the more people will be able to wrap their heads around what Twitter is.

Re: Twitter Isn’t for Normal People

Jschwa — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:22:49 -0000

Michael, I really enjoyed reading your post. I agree that normal people are interested in contributing to a collective pool of data if the results of that data are useful to them. The example you gave of Joe Internet participating in a sports poll on ESPN is perfect.

I was thinking of Twitter purely from the public communication/self promotion tool. That is an excellent insight you made, and one that I completely missed in regards to the potential for Twitter.

Re: Applying directly VS Posting to the Investor Community

Jschwa — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:02:01 -0000

Chad,

Investors rate deals in the Investor Community to moderate the best opportunities to the top, similar to the site Digg.com. In your case the investor did not choose to share that rating with you. At the end of the month we are releasing a few new features to further publicize these ratings to the entrepreneur to provide more feedback.

Re: Why do we charge $250?

Jschwa — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:10:36 -0000

Dave,

It costs $250 for 30 days in the investor community. This is a non-recurring fee, so if you are interested in another 30 days, you would resubmit. We can not guarantee that you will find an investor by posting to the Investor Community. We are a software company that built the standard tool that Investors use to manage their own private deal flow. We have given entrepreneurs the tools to access those investors. The rest is up to you.

Re: 12 people to meet in '08, revisited

Jschwa — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:45:18 -0000

Esther came to the opening of the incubator that you hosted. How did you not meet her?

Re: The First President of a Generation

Jschwa — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:19:40 -0000

I appreciate your comment to let me know about Generation Jones, as it appears you have done vigilantly on 20 other blogs. I have never heard of it until now, so thank you for the input. However, in your quest to get the word out about Generation Jones, you may have missed what I was saying. I didn't say he was the first president from my generation, and I conceded that he is part of another. He is the first president OF my generation. He is the first president that represents us, and this is the first time that we have become politically active to elect a leader. He is my generations first president, not the first president from my generation.

Re: Delicious.com is for normal people

Jschwa — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 16:18:59 -0000

I think Digg, Reddit, and GetGlue.com all do a better job than Delicious on bubbling up interesting content. Delicious is getting in its own way by trying to compete in this space. If they simplified their message to "free your bookmarks from your browser" I think they would dramatically increase adoption.

Re: What happens when colleges live in walled gardens? Social network plagues get loose outside the castle walls among the villagers, alumni, and students.

Jschwa — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:47:52 -0000

Does anyone really use Facebook groups? I know plenty of people join them, but since there are no notifications on Facebook when something happens in a group, I feel they are largely ignored after they are joined.

Re: Applying directly VS Posting to the Investor Community

Jschwa — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:16:37 -0000

You can read a post about ratings in the Investor Community here: http://angelsoft.net/blog/2...

Re: Why do we charge $250?

Jschwa — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:25:25 -0000

Sabrina,

Many companies have found that 30 days is sufficient to attract attention and get into further talks with investors. Other have extended their application for a number of months. Views and ratings on a deal are cumulative, so this tends to push their deal further up the page when Investors sort by Most Viewed or Highest Rated.

Re: Why do we charge $250?

Jschwa — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:27:22 -0000

CristalS,

That is a great product request and one we will look into. For now, the Investor Community is less than a year old. We don't know exactly when those down times will be. In the future we will have a much better sense of things and will be able to provide more feedback. Thank you for your support, I'm glad you found the tools useful!

Re: Startups lose 24 percent of their value in Q4 2008–ouch!

Jschwa — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:29:47 -0000

The graph you posted is the Average Valuation of all companies that applied for funding. The 24% drop refers to the Average Valuation of deals that actually received funding.

Jason Schwartz
Angelsoft.net
Community Manager

Re: Tumblr bling nerds created with Aviary.com A... - the michael galpert tumblelog

Jschwa — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:03:50 -0000

Ture, I would definitely pay for bling, especially if I can keep the J

Re: http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/2009/01/music-sales-down-gee-i-wonder-why.html

Jschwa — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:02:05 -0000

There is no industry that should be more embarrassed to exist than the music industry. Music is probably the 4th most sought after thing on the planet besides food water and shelter. They had the ENTIRE tech community ready to innovate for them. 3 companies form the oligopoly that is the 'music industry' and can literally do whatever they want without consensus building. Still they can't make money? That's an overwhelmingly difficult business situation to find yourself in? To steal a Lindzon term, asshats, total asshats.

Re: The greatest trick Web 2.0 ever pulled was convincing the world it ever existed

Jschwa — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:55:00 -0000

I started to comment on this and it turned into a full blog post: The Baroque Period in classical, the Modern Movement in Architecture, and the Web 2.0 Era in Interactive Theory: http://bit.ly/OqaZQ