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Regardless of your technical skill, there is no reason why you should not have your own personal subscription to the world’s most prominent independent news source in the field. Angel Investing News is now available as a subscription on your Kindle, by email, as a Smartphone or Tablet App, as a blog, or through Facebook, Twitter, Google Connect, or your RSS feed.

How to Subscribe:

To subscribe via email, Google Friend Connect, or RSS, click through here to our blog, scroll to the bottom, and sign up.

To subscribe via your Kindle, sign on to Amazon and go to the tab “manage your kindle.”  Once there, search for the “Angel Investing News.”  You can get a 14-day free trial.  Afterwards, the charge will be $0.99 a month (the minimum charge allowed by Amazon, sorry about that.) The blog is available on these devices: Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle DX, Kindle (2nd Generation), and Kindle (1st Generation). Amazon may add support for other devices in the future.

For most portable devices, Angel Investing News is also available as a web app named “Angel Investing News,” which runs on iPhones, Androids, iPads, most tablets, and Apple and Windows PCs.  To view the app, click here on the device you wish to run it or copy this url into a browser:  http://MobileOnlineApps.com/demo_28094    You will be given the option of running the app directly or using the pop-up message to download our icon to your home screen. We suggest the latter. For the socially minded, we post a link to each new issue on Facebook and Twitter. On either Facebook or Twitter, search for Angel Investing News; on Facebook, click “Like,” on Twitter, click “Follow.”  To use Twitter effectively, we find ourselves reading a great number of tweets from prominent journalists such as Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe, Chris O’Brien of the LA Times, Peter Delevett of the San Jose Mercury, and Kyle Alspach of the Boston Business Journal; also from leading Angels such a Jean Hammond, Christopher Mirabile, Bill Payne, Dharmesh Shah, David Cohen, Joe Caruso, Chris Sheehan, John Landry, Ham Lord, Katie Rae, and many others. As a service to you, we retweet the very best of these every day.

Angel Investing News App Now Available

We are delighted to announce that this blog is now available as a web app, also named  “Angel Investing News,” which runs on iPhones, Androids, iPads, most tablets, and Apple and Windows PCs.  We would appreciate your giving it a try. 

To view the app, click here on the device you wish to run it or copy this url into a browser.:  http://MobileOnlineApps.com/demo_28094  

Should you not have the url handy at the time,  a Google search for "Angel Investing News App" should locate this post.

You will be given the option of running the app directly or using the pop-up message to download an icon to your home screen. We suggest the latter.

Contents:

In “George’s Blog” you can read the latest posts from the Angel Investing News blog, comprising original news and opinions written by angels, for angels.

“ AngelTweet”  consists of  our Editor’s daily selection of current tweets by angels, journalists, and opinion leaders in our nationwide innovation ecosystem.  Look for top national journalists including Scott Kirsner, Kyle Alspach, and Chris O’Brien. Also angels you might know: Joe Caruso, Christopher Mirabile, David Cohen, Jean Hammond, Chris Sheehan, John Landry, Ham Lord, and many others.

Background and Purpose:

A couple of years ago we started a blog, Smart Phones: Technology and Business Apps, building a pretty good readership among local angels.  The limit to growth soon became obvious: many of our non-technology oriented angels had difficulty regularly accessing the blogs. We believe the same problem also exists today with Twitter. 

Our web app is designed to make it astonishingly simple to access both this blog and a daily dose of the nation’s best angel-related Tweets. Just download the icon and you are set forever.  Any problems navigating the material simply restart the app using the icon.

Introducing the Angel Investing Gazette:

This brand new app is both a publication and an information hub, a “hublication” ™. The target user is an angel investor who is not necessarily comfortable searching and reading blogs, tweets, and YouTube.  It incorporates the Angel Investing News and adds a superset of significant other material.  You can download this hublication at http://MobileOnlineApps.com/demo_30292

Here is an overview of the tabs.

• “About us” is a brief introduction.
• In “George’s Blog” you can read the latest posts from the Angel Investing News blog, comprising original news and opinions written by angels, for angels.
• “ AngelTweet” consists of our Editor’s selection of current tweets by angels, journalists, and opinion leaders in our nationwide innovation ecosystem.
• “More News Feeds” contains the latest articles by Kyle Alppach of the Boston Business Journal, George Lipper, and Christopher Mirabile.
• “Angel Resources” includes links to other angel groups in New England and nationwide, the ACA, the Angel Resource Institute, and video interviews with experienced angels including Joe Caruso, Jean Hammond, and Christopher Mirabile.
• “Locations” provides you with maps and directions to many of the sites where angels often meet, from the NERD Center in Cambridge to River Valley Investors in Holyoke.

This is a beta version of this App. As the old congressman said to the voters, If you don’t like it, I’ll change it. Your feedback is greatly encouraged.

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Two new Startup Books For You

David Cohen, founder and CEO of TechStars, first presented his new program to us five years ago at our Regional Summit held here in Portsmouth, NH, hosted by the eCoast Angels.  Since then, TechStars has spread into several cities with a thriving program run nearby in Cambridge by Katie Rae.  Here he serves as a guest blogger; thanks, David. 

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One thing that makes TechStars really work, and a reason people come from all over the country to participate, is that here in Boulder we’re part of a vibrant entrepreneurial community. Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists know they can come here to seek out investment opportunities, business development partners, funding, mentorship and support.

 

Brad Feld’s new book Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City, which made the Amazon Top 10 Business Books of 2012, explains how it’s possible to create a startup community in any city. Brad really goes deep with this stuff, and in the past few years has written a lot about startup communities. One example is a blog post about inclusion in which he explains why the startup community needs to include anyone who wants to participate.

When I spoke at the Silicon Prairie startup awards I touched on many of the concepts in the Startup Communities book. You can watch the video of my talk, which includes a simple exercise to help you figure out if you’re a leader of your startup community or not, along with tips for those leaders. Building a sustainable entrepreneurial community takes time, and the leaders need support from the entire community. Brad points out that you have to take a 20-year view to building a community that will thrive, and that begins with identifying the leaders who will continue to be a part of the community for years to come.

The idea of startup communities really seems to be catching on. Earlier this year, I was invited by Xconomy to come to San Diego and talk about entrepreneurial communities to a group of about 25 entrepreneurs and investors who were very interested and motivated to learn more. One thing we talked about was Brad’s notion of entrepreneurial density. If the best efforts of a city occur in one dense area, you’ll have more serendipity and excitement about startups. In Boulder, the entrepreneurial density is palpable. Larger cities will need a different strategy than smaller towns. In New York, for example, most of the startup activity happens in Union Square. For a large metropolitan area like San Diego, it makes sense for the entrepreneurial community to be consolidated into a compact area or a well-defined neighborhood. That density is important because events can be centered in that part of town, investors know where to look for opportunity, and out-of-town entrepreneurs know they can go there and meet a bunch of interesting people.

Brad also has another upcoming book, Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur. He and his wife, Amy, co-wrote this book about their experiences in 20 years of entrepreneurial life together. They share some great insights, along with examples of other couples who have managed to find ways to achieve both personal and professional success. It won’t be released until January, but you should probably go ahead and pre-order it now.

I had the opportunity to contribute to both of these incredible books, and I’ve been very lucky to learn a lot from Brad, who is the master of work-life balance. Personally, I’ve always placed a heavy emphasis on work-life balance, and as crazy as TechStars is, my family somehow makes it work. Finding that sweet spot is definitely one of the most challenging parts of being an entrepreneur. When you’re throwing yourself into your business–as you pretty much have to with a startup–it’s easy to neglect other parts of your life. Startup Life is a great book for both new and seasoned entrepreneurs who want to enjoy their relationships and live life to the fullest in the midst of a crazy busy lifestyle.

You can read more about both of these books, along with three others that Brad has in the pipeline, at Startup Revolution.

TechStars Demo Day is certainly the talk of the town today, particularly among start-up investors and entrepreneurs.  Thirteen companies presented to an audience of 500 investors, half Angel, half VC, yesterday. Premier tech journalist Scott Kirsner estimates that the speakers had lined up commitments of $5.5 million before the meeting even started.   I doubt our venerable City on a Hill has ever seen the likes of this event before; there will be another one coming up at the end of the year.

 If you would like to know more, click here to read Kirsner’s scorecard of the companies: what they do, who's involved, and how much money they've raised or are seeking.  He also presented his own innovation economy awards.   His Most Compelling Presentation award went to Chris Howard of Libboo.  Click here to see the others.

TechStars is what a called an accelerator in that it provides workspace, advice, and that most scarce of resources, cold hard cash, to fledgling entrepreneurs.   Companies accepted into the program receive $18,000 in seed funding in return for six percent of their stock. They are also offered an additional $100,000 in convertible debt. Participants get free office space for the duration of the three-month program, mentoring, and the opportunity to present to a group of investors at its conclusion.

TechStars is a relatively new concept. It was founded in Boulder by David Cohen, Brad Feld, David Brown, and Jared Polis in 2006. In 2007, I invited CEO David Cohen to speak at our regional angels’ syndication meeting here in Portsmouth, NH.  In 2009, Bill Warner, impressed with the program’s success in Boulder, pushed Cohen and Feld to clone the program here in Boston.  About six months ago Katie Rae became the Managing Director here. The results are both obvious and gratifying. Congratulations to all involved.

Some brief thoughts.  If you are an entrepreneur, work even harder. This program is exceedingly competitive, only one per cent of the applicants for this session were accepted. And buy a Charlie Card, you'll be going to lots of seminars and meetings.

If you are an angel investor, keep searching. Without good connections, you’ll most likely be shut out of these particular financings.  But since these companies represent only one per cent of those applying, search for pearls among  the other ninety-nine per cent. Look particularly at local companies that might not fit the TechStars profile.