Open Angel Forum – New York

Last week, the Open Angel Forum had its first event at Dog Patch Labs.  It was a great event.  Jason Calacanis, Brian Alvey and Charlie O'Donnell did a fantastic job of bringing together six high-quality start ups and twenty high-quality Angels.  The tone was fairly relaxed, but when it came time to present, the entrepreneurs were all business and used every second to concisely present their wares. 

I think the format was successful because:

• The Entrepreneurs each got into their respective demonstrations within the first 45 seconds.  The Angels were able to see what the Entrepreneurs had built, rather than hearing about their accolades.

• The event was fast-paced, but had built in networking time for Angels and Entrepreneurs to interact one-on-one.

• The Angels were forced to pay attention – they were given no information about the presenters in advance. 

• Most of the session was Questions and Answers, which allowed the Angels see how the Entrepreneurs think on their feet.The companies that presented were high-quality, and had been expertly screened from over 100 applicants.

While the format was impressive, what I find most impressive is that checks will be written as a result of this event. 

I will leave it to Jason and Charlie to announce who presented, and who eventually receives funding.  Because time is the precious resource for an Entrepreneur, the ultimate success metric of this event will be if the time invested resulted in funding. 

If you plan to seek investment in the coming months, I encourage you to apply for the next Open Angel Forum.