What are the best New York City events to attend to meet VC’s and Angel investors?
This is a somewhat tricky question. Although there are many, many excellent events each week in New York that it would make sense for a startup entrepreneur to attend (see Gary’s Guide, Startup Digest, or This Week in NY Innovation), the truth is:
- VCs and serious investors don’t go to most of them, and
- the odds are slim that even if you and the investor were at the same event, you will have the opportunity or time to do more than say hello.
Somewhat to my surprise, I’ve found that most VCs and angels attend few, if any, events unless they are participating as a speaker. And at the events they do attend, their attention is primarily focused on the companies presenting or demonstrating on stage. For example, the most recent investment I’ve led, Social Bicycles, I saw when they demoed at NY Tech Meetup last summer.
That said, there are some investors who make it a point to actively mingle at events like this, including the indefatigable Alan Patricof of Greycroft (a regular at NYTMs) and Charlie O’Donnell of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, some of the younger principals and associates from firms like DFJ Gotham, First Round Capital and First Mark Capital, and some of the more community-minded angels, like Tom Wisniewski, Brian Cohen and Jeff Stewart.
But in general, aside from invitation-only events (like Gust’s Venture Forward Conference, which is *only* for investors, or the recent lunch with Prince Harry for NYC tech investors, or Mayor Bloomberg’s annual startup garden party), the public events with the most investors in attendance would likely be:
- Major pitch events like TC Disrupt
- Major industry conferences like Business Insider’s Startup
- Demo Days from the NYC-based accelerators
- University-affiliated demo events from NYU, Columbia, Pace, and others
- NY Tech Meetup (first Tuesday of each month)
- The New York Angels Education Meetup
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