VCs and Angel Investors Tackle the Big Question: How Is This Wall Street Fiasco Affecting Early-Stage Investing?

    NEW YORK, NY, October 01, 2008 /24-7PressRelease/ -- On September 16, 2008, FundingPost (www.FundingPost.com) hosted a panel discussion with leading early-stage investors at its "New York Venture Capital Event," sponsored by Morrison and Foerster. As FundingPost's most recent sold-out venture event fell on the day following news of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, AIG and sale of Merrill Lynch, seven VCs and Angel Investors were asked to address the impact of the crisis on their investment focus. This became our lead discussion point during the panel. For the packed house of entrepreneurs seeking capital, confidence was boosted as the panelists' reactions were realistic, but generally optimistic and encouraging.

Speakers for this event included:

- Sita Vasan, Senior Manager, Strategic Investments, Intel Capital
- Morgan Rodd, Jr., Co-Managing Partner, ArrowPath Venture Partners
- Ryan Ziegler, Investment Manager, Edison Venture Fund
- Habib Kairouz, Managing Partner, Rho Ventures
- Don Sussis, Angel Investor
- Robert A. Spira, Chariman, Chapman, Spira & Carson
- John Ason, Angel Investor

Some of the highlights from the discussion were comments from Ryan Ziegler, Investment Manger, Edison Venture Fund: "We don't market time, and actually, the best investments are made during these times that the market is consolidating," and Sita Vasan, Senior Manager, Strategic Investments, Intel Capital: "...there is going to be more competition out there, capital is going to be more scarce...that being said, now that I've had a little bit of gloom, we did invest in the last downturn, we're continuing to invest."

"We are asked several times a day if the Investors are going to continue to Invest in early-stage companies," said Joe Rubin, Director, FundingPost, "and we are happy to report that the VCs and Angels are still seeking new opportunities. The words we are hearing most often from Investors are 'capital efficiency'."

The panel discussion video can be viewed at: http://www.FundingPost.com/wallstreet.asp

Additionally, for more information about this event and the FundingPost Event Calendar visit: http://www.FundingPost.com/events.asp.

About Funding Post

FundingPost is an entrepreneur and investor network reaching more than 250,000 executives and 7,500 Venture Capital and Angel Investors across the nation each month.

For over seven years FundingPost has worked with thousands of Angel and Venture Capital Investors and Entrepreneurs. FundingPost has hosted over 8,000 CEOs and 500 Venture Funds at events in 17 cities nationwide, as well as provided a quarterly Dealflow magazine and a deal-exchange Website that has, on average, seen an introduction of an Investor to an Entrepreneur every business day since its inception. FundingPost's mission is to reach investors and entrepreneurs in every medium possible - both online and offline, and it is experiencing strong growth as the venture capital markets continue to improve worldwide. For more information: http://www.FundingPost.com

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