Comments on: Angel Venture Fair frustrations

By: Blake Jennelle

Blake Jennelle — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 05:01:56 +0000

How about that, seems like a step in the right direction! The link in your post wasn't working for me but I did find this:

http://angelventurefair.ticket.../

By: Marshall Yang

Marshall Yang — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 19:40:15 +0000

http://www.robinhoodventures.c...

By: Blake Jennelle

Blake Jennelle — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:56:36 +0000

The Philly Business Journal just published a story on this discussion of Angel Venture Fair pricing. See the full article here on the lovely Vuzit document viewer:

http://vuzit.com/view/7cu8/?oid=3&key=Vuzit

By: Technically Philly » VC Roundup: GoodCompany goes to NYC, ETF changes name | Covering the Community of People Who Use Technology in Philadelphia.

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:34:00 +0000

[...] Startup Leaders founder and former Ticketleap employee Blake Jannel thinks it’s kind of messed up that the Angel Venture Fair didn’t use locally-based Ticketleap, instead opting for the [...]

By: kenschwenke

kenschwenke — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:49:19 +0000

Blake - thanks for your note. I agree it needs to be made better, and a lot of that may be breaking some of the "old guys" away from the AVF being a social vs. an investment forum. I do think it can be changed - but maybe I am just an optimist!

Anyway - good dialog. Thanks.

Ken
Ken Schwenke
ken@schwenke.cc
(610) 977-2079 (office)
(610) 246-9831 (cell)

By: alexknowshtml

alexknowshtml — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:44:04 +0000

"I too would like to see our regional investors take more risk. But that comes with successful exits."

"Capital comes from successful companies. Successful companies come from well capitalized companies."

I think that both of these statements are telling, and I believe to be true, of the state of not only the investor pool, but the pool of companies to invest in.

I think that in Philadelphia, we're still building from all angles (that's angles, not angels), a more mature hi-tech startup ecosystem. Not all of these angles will support one another's approach, nor do they have to. I've spoken out against the ones I disagree with, but also actively support and participate in the ones that I do agree with. There are still plenty of holes in that ecosystem to patch up, and all that means is that there's ripe opportunities to create.

Carpe diem.

By: Blake Jennelle

Blake Jennelle — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:21:48 +0000

You repeated that you're not looking for “PSL stage” companies about five times during our most recent call, which I believe was the fourth call I took with you on this issue. None of my feedback resulted in so much as a token change in price or attitude from the AVF.

By: Jameson Detweiler

Jameson Detweiler — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:00:20 +0000

Valerie, I'm not sure about all of the details, but I'd be more than happy to speak. Honestly, I know Blake is not the only person who feels this way, and a lot of us aren't particularly interested in going through the AVF process. Reason #1 for me is that the early stage investors who I most respect have made it abundantly clear that entrepreneurs should not pay to pitch. I do hear your side though about needing to charge money, but I do wonder why it costs the entrepreneurs significantly more than the angels. It kind of feels like the entrepreneurs are funding a nice networking event. We don't care that it is at a nice, expensive venue. Maybe the angels do.

I don't want to make a big fuss of things online. Honestly, I'd like to see some resolution, and I'd be more than happy to listen to why I should apply to AVF. I will say that if AVF doesn't address these issues in some manner, I would bet that another event will arise one way or another. There has been some serious discussion about getting Jason Calacanis to bring the Open Angel Forum here.

Anyway, I'd like to grab lunch sometime and discuss. Fragmentation doesn't help anyone. If you're interested, you can reach me directly at jaymstr [at] gmail [dot] com.

By: Valerie Gaydos

Valerie Gaydos — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:24:27 +0000

Jameson – thanks for posting. I am not sure why Blake would fabricate such ablatently false statement regarding comments from me personally. It puzzles me why this would be fabricated when the facts and people speaks for itself…even you

As you say “That's not what I've heard from countless people involved with AVF” Facts show that AVF does look at early stage companies and AVF companies have raised close to $16M since 2004.

If anyone has any questions, I encourage you to contact the companies that have gone through the process, not the companies that did not.

By: Blake Jennelle

Blake Jennelle — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:32:16 +0000

Hey Ken, thanks so much for your note. Sounds like you're exactly the kind of angel we need more of in Philly – angels who are entrepreneurs themselves, especially with a recent exit and recent operating experience.

Let me be clear – Having an angel fair in Philly is critical. I just think we can do better than the current AVF. We can have one that's affordable (and more respectful) to entrepreneurs. One that qualifies its “angels” to make sure they are actively investing so that pretenders aren't wasting entrepreneurs' time (Brad Feld defines an angel as someone who invests at least $25k each year in a startup). One that emphasizes companies at a stage where angels belong (angels in California and Boston and NY are still playing early with all the same macro trends you mention, and Philly angels still aren't, just like they weren't before these trends).

I'd much rather see the AVF become this kind of angel fair but I don't think any of us expect that to happen.