Hacker News Reader

Comment by jasonmcalacanis | Hacker News Reader

We get over 100 folks applying to each event in the Open Angel Forum.

As an angel investor I sort through this AS PART OF MY JOB. I don't need $150 to filter out the bad ones--I can tell in two minutes if something is really bad.

TechCrunch50 doesn't charge either and we get 1,000 folks to apply for that. Again, IT IS OUR JOB to sort through these. We don't need to charge the startups.

This is a really lame excuse in my mind. If you're not willing to sort through applications--which take minutes to process--why be an angel investor or run an angel group?

Open Angel Forum is now in four cities and we are coming to New York City in April. We should be in 15-20 cities two years from now and I think we can do enough by having the lawyers, accountants and headhunters pay to attended/sponsor to cover any costs.

David is a nice guy, but he's lazy I think.

View on HN

Can we at least agree that the $150 is very reasonable relative to what the worst offenders of this practice charge?

If you get 100 applications and can only take 5 in an OAF event, there are still 95 other candidates of which some might find $150 to be a nominal cost to avoid this sort of scrum. Its admirable that folks are protecting startups from obvious scams but its dangerous to get overprotective when the end result is that you remove a reasonable option from the table. For $150 you get a sit-down with smart people and will at the very least get practice pitching under pressure and good feedback.

And at $150, we're talking picking up the tab for a nice steak dinner, which is something you've advised numerous times.

If these dudes have invested in companies they met through this type of forum, all the better. And there's a certain amount of due diligence an entrepreneur should be expected to do -- no need for the rest of us to protect people from their own stupidity.

YCombinator pays entrepreneurs up to $600 in travel charges to have the chance for YC to interview them. What does that tell you about the value of lowering the barrier to pitch?

That, is an excellent point.

I think there are many young folks who would not come if they didn't do that, just like there are folks who won't apply to NY Angels for $150.

Frankly, there are better models coming into the space like TechStars, TheFunded/Founders Institute, YCombinator and ycombinator.

It's never been a better time to be an entrepreneur.... except for 1979 in software, 1994 in the internet, 2003 in the internet and, well, now. :-)

Because it is so low there really is no reason to charge it.

I wonder how many they get a year and what this equals in terms of revenue. I'm guessing they get 1,000+ a year. So, it's $150,000 out of the gate I'm guessing.

Feels icky and I'm sure $25 would have the same effect. It's clear this is for making money from my perspective.

That being said, I don't think they are bad people and they certainly are not the Keiretsu Forum charging $1,500-$6,000 to pitch... or that Mike Segal guy asking for 5% of your business and $10k+!!!

The fact that they have to explain themselves shows how much the tide has turned.

I'm an entrepreneur first and an angel investor second... so, I've built the Open Angel Forum from a startups perspective. These folks are angel investors and they don't always see the other side of the coin.

Dude, it's really great to have heavyweights like you out there advocating for this stuff. When I wrote my original post, I got slammed by a lot of people and didn't get a lot of vocal support.

http://www.metamorphblog.com/2010/02/is-ny-angels-a-paytopla...

Honestly, I think entrepreneurs are scared to speak up and offend rich people with power and money. If you're the only one who sticks his head out, it gets cut off. And so nothing changes.

Now, I'm a bit more like you in that I've got something of a chip on my shoulder and I don't give a fuck, but regardless, thank you for having my and all our backs on this.

-Matt Mireles

Thanks to you for calling bullshit on these guys in the first place. This predatory stuff turns my stomach. And it is good to see Calacanis et al cosign. This is just bad for the industry in general.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com