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Question and answer services are the new hotness. Facebook recently rolled out the option, and ex-Facebookers founded the popular new service Quora that is dedicated to them. But one of the more fun implementations of this dynamic is Formspring.me, which lets individuals answer questions directed at them.
Many notable techies are on the service, making it a great place to get have a quick Q&A with important and informed luminaries. For the last few days, a batch of angel investors has been answering questions on the service, and today is the last chance for curious entrepreneurs to get in on the action.
First it was the heated angels vs. venture capitalists debate, and then the infamous "angelgate" Bin 38 meeting. These and other happenings are still the talk of the startup investment scene, and at the epicenter - a notorious gang of in-betweeners known as "super angels."
Whether you agree with this nomenclature or prefer to call them "micro VCs," as an entrepreneur or young startup, it's important to understand these key players in the investment market. ChubbyBrain, a group of "data geeks" focused on helping entrepreneurs, has put together a handy list breaking down everything you need to know about the super angels.
Now and then a polarizing topic will make its way through the venture capital industry and several prominent investor/bloggers will chime in with their collective opinions in quick succession. Tuesday night TechCrunch's Michael Arrington dropped a bomb on the industry, accusing Silicon Valley's top angel investors of a collusion and price-fixing conspiracy. It goes without saying that while some intentionally chose to avoid the issue, many important VC industry voices have made their opinions heard on the topic this morning.
Silicon Valley angel investor Mike Maples Jr., known for his early investments in Digg and Twitter, announced recently that his firm Maples Investments has rebranded as FLOODGATE in an effort to fulfill his experiment of becoming a "super angel" firm. The term "super angel" mostly speaks for itself: instead of carefully picking a few select companies to invest in each year, super angels broadly place more money in a larger number of early-stage startups.
In the wake of the financial meltdown, a new set of financial regulations proposed by Senator Christopher Dodd aimed at plugging the "too big to fail" loopholes could have some negative side effects for the angel investment community. According to a report from the Seattle-based site TechFlash, Dodd's bill would require that angel investments be approved by the SEC, a process that could take as many as 120 days to complete.
On Wednesday, BusinessWeek released their list of the top 25 angel investors in the tech industry, naming Hunch co-founder Chris Dixon ahead of veteran angels Ron Conway and Reid Hoffman. Conway and Hoffman are two of the most influential angels in tech, and have invested in some of the largest Internet companies known today, including Google, Facebook, Twitter and Digg. Dixon, a younger, less experienced investor than Conway and Hoffman, snagged the top spot due to both his diverse investment portfolio and the superior financial performance of his investments.
While so much of the startup scene is funded by investment capital, it's tough to know exactly where all of that money comes from. In chasing the power behind the investment throne it's easy to believe that everything conspires by the hand of the Illuminati and leave it at that. As of today, Volition Capital's Larry Cheng spells it out for us in perfect clarity. You may be indirectly pitching for your own money.
Foreign startups with their sights set on targeting a U.S. market will be happy to note that as of this morning, Senator John Kerry and Senator Richard Lugar introduced the Startup Visa Act in Washington. In late December we covered the details of the legislation as well as comments from some of the act proponents including YCombinator's Paul Graham and Foundry Group's Brad Feld.
As an entrepreneur raising funding, it's easy to get into the mentality of pitching to anyone who will listen, but an active discussion amongst the investment community has sparked considerable debate on whether or not entrepreneurs should be more respectful of the chain of command. Should startups be pitching associates directly or should they be waiting for general partners to take notice?
While it is relatively cheap to get a web startup off the ground these days, other industries aren't as lucky. Take green-tech or medical technology for instance; at TED this year Bill Gates said that the minimum investment the world needs to create sustainable eco-friendly renewable energy is "only" in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars - and that's just to get started. It's industries like these that require Angel and VC investments at the early-stage level to get significant innovations off the ground, and a government tax credit proposed for angels in Minnestoa could encourage them to dole out more cash for high-tech ventures.
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