Brian S. Cohen, Chairman of New York Angels, on Investing in Entrepreneurial Ventures
Brian S. Cohen is the Chairman of New York Angels, one of the longest running active angel groups in New York City and has invested over $150 million in 200+ entrepreneurial ventures. The group is an independent consortium of 130 angel investors. In the aggregate, New York Angels members typically invest $100,000-$1,000,000 in seed/early stage companies across industries, and syndicate deals with angel group partners and VCs up to $2 million.
Brian discussed his investment philosophy and offered advice for entrepreneurs seeking investors. He shared his perspective on the angel investing landscape and how to make smart investments.
Speaker Biography:
As an angel investor and mentor to entrepreneurs, Brian S. Cohen has served as Chairman of the New York Angels for nearly a decade and is Founding Partner at New York Venture Partners. The NY Angels is among the most active and successful angel groups in the country, with more than $150 million invested into more than 200 early stage companies. Brian was the first investor in Pinterest, and numerous other industry leading startups.
As an author, Brian‘s book entitled “What Every Angel Investor Wants You To Know: An Insider Reveals How To Get Smart Funding For Your Billion Dollar Idea” was published and released by McGraw Hill in April 2013.
As a technology media strategist, Brian is considered one of the fathers of science & technology strategic communications, and co-founded Technology Solutions, Inc. with his wife, Carol, in 1983. Notably, TSI received the Gold CIPRA Award in 1998 for the IBM Deep Blue/Gary Kasparov Chess Match Concept and Communications Program. TSI was recognized as the #1 fastest growing agency in the United States. Brian sold the company to The McCann Erickson World Group.
Brian is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award and holds a Masters Degree in Science Communications from Boston University.
Moderator Biography:
Joanna Stone Herman is a Partner at Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips and serves as the TMT Industry Group Co-Head for Oaklins International, our global investment bank with offices in 60 cities across 40 countries.
Prior to joining Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips in 2011, Joanna worked in several senior executive roles including as SVP Global Strategy for LexisNexis, EVP of Corporate Development for Thomson Financial Corporate Group, VP of Strategy for Thomson Learning and Director of Strategy for Dow Jones. Joanna also served as CEO and Co-Founder of Librify, a technology start-up that was the exclusive e-book platform for Target, sold to Scribd in 2015.
Joanna has a BS and Masters Degrees from MIT and an MBA from HBS.
About the Dealmakers Breakfast Series:
The Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips Dealmakers Series events are for the top dealmakers and operators in the Media, Advertising & Marketing, Information, Education, Technology and Healthcare Communications industries. They feature industry experts discussing the future of investing in the media and technology industries, specifically focusing on recent and imminent notable transactions, as well as emerging trends and opportunities in our space. The HBSCNY Monthly Dealmakers Breakfast Series is intended to be a smaller more intimate event to bring together HBS Alumni and influential industry leaders for stimulating discussions, valuable networking opportunities and engaging Q&A. The program is a round table question-and-answer session at Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips’ offices where the moderator asks 30 minutes of questions, and the audience the other 30 minutes.
Date: Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Venue: The offices of Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips, 475 Park Ave South, FL 22 (between 32nd and 31st Streets), NYC 10016
Organizers: Joanna Stone Herman, HBS ’97