Open Angel Forum now in Silicon Valley, Thinking Nationally

Don Dodge posted some interesting updates on the Open Angel Forum on his blog today. Don attended the first meeting of the Silicon Valley Chapter and reports that the founder has plans to take the organization both national and global.


Says Don: “Open Angel Forum came to Silicon Valley last Friday night. Dave McClure and Shervin Pishevar are the Silicon Valley chapter leaders for OAF. Jeff Clavier, Andrea Zurek (XG Ventures), Cyan Banister, Pejman Nozad, Chris Yeh, and others attended the first meeting. This is an invitation only group, and these Angels all write checks. Each Angel listed some of their most recent or notable investments to start out the meeting. Some of the biggest names in tech were mentioned, and many of the current hottest startups. It is an impressive group.”

There was a lively discussion about how to make the investment process flow more smoothly, and specifically around how to structure convertible notes that are simple, fair, fast, and inexpensive to put together. Neither Don nor I favor convertible notes, so I’ll refer you to his earlier post on this topic..

And while I applaud the attempt to make angel capital more accessible to entrepreneurs, I feel a need to point out that in not charging presenters the Forum is not innovating, but is just following the tradition of most existing angel groups, including those located here in the Northeast, as I wrote earlier this year.

Says Don: “See Open Angel Forum for news on future meetings and locations. Jason Calacanis never thinks small. He wants to take this nationwide...and global.”