By Ben Popper 7/11/11 1:40pm

NYC VC

Aaron Sylvan

“NY Angels Should Grow a Set and Stop Playing it Safe”

This post is taken from a lengthy comment by local techie Aaron Sylvan on a recent Betabeat story on NY Angels. We felt the comment was in depth and deserved its own forum.

Boy am I gonna get chewed out for this one… I hope my comments are useful to someone, because I expect to be flamed for this commentary. Hopefully I don’t burn any bridges by presenting a somewhat unpopular view.

The NY Angels is a great group, but I agree that the business model around “Angel” investing has changed considerably. Read More

By Ben Popper 7/05/11 11:00am

NYC VC

Too many angels bubble the cloud

What’s Really Going on With NY Angels?

A little over two months ago Betabeat weighed in on the state of NY Angels, a group that gained a lot of visibility and respect for backing tech projects during the dark years following the dot-com bust. Every so often a media outlet will cover a NY Angels event or interview one of their executives. The latest is from Xconomy, which is ramping up its coverage of the local tech scene.

Xconomy’s Arlene Weintraub sat down NY Angels vice chairman Brian Cohen. When we last spoke with Cohen, we asked why the group’s portfolio, which has its own page on the website, didn’t show any investments after 2009. “We are building a new website, so check back in 60 days,” Mr. Cohen told us.

Well, it’s been 100 days, and the site looks exactly the same. Read More

By Ben Popper 3/27/11 5:51am

Heaven Sent

angel investor

Can New York Angels Change With the Times?

Last week Adam Neary, founder of the startup Profitably, laid out the saga of finding funding for his company over the past year. In the post, he threw some digs at the venerable investing group, the New York Angels.

After 13 weeks and a commitment from one member to lead the round, Mr. Neary ended up with nothing when the investor missed his closing deadline. “No doubt, there are a handful of credibly amazing investors who attend their meetings, but from my perspective, clearly the New York Angels process is broken.” Read More