In Michael Arrington's TechCrunch post titled "So a Blogger Walks into a Bar...," the term "Super Angels" refers to a new breed of early-stage investors who are typically affluent individuals or small groups investing significant amounts of their own capital into startups. These investors often operate outside the traditional venture capital framework, allowing them to make quicker decisions and take more risks on emerging companies.
Super Angels are known for their hands-on approach, often providing mentorship and guidance to the startups they invest in, in addition to capital. They typically
In Michael Arrington's TechCrunch post titled "So a Blogger Walks into a Bar...," the term "Super Angels" refers to a new breed of early-stage investors who are typically affluent individuals or small groups investing significant amounts of their own capital into startups. These investors often operate outside the traditional venture capital framework, allowing them to make quicker decisions and take more risks on emerging companies.
Super Angels are known for their hands-on approach, often providing mentorship and guidance to the startups they invest in, in addition to capital. They typically focus on seed funding and early-stage investments, often in tech-related ventures. This shift in the investment landscape has allowed for more diverse funding opportunities for entrepreneurs, especially those who may not fit the traditional mold sought by larger venture capital firms.
Arrington's post highlights the growing influence of these Super Angels in the startup ecosystem and their role in shaping the future of entrepreneurship.
One of the guys needs to have the balls to talk frankly, admit to being present, and bravely defend. Speak up 'fellas.
New development - 8:43pm PST -
Chris Dixon apparently NOT involved - Arrington and him joking tweets back and forth. @cdixon @
Newer development - 9pm, Sept 23
David McClure (who I now have earnest respect for) -
Says that David Lee (of Ron Conway's SV Angel) was present at the meeting.
My silicon valley opinion is that this story is healthy on both sides, so long as the FBI and ALL lawyers stay out of it. Oddly, I believe this is best fought out "inside family" amongst gen
One of the guys needs to have the balls to talk frankly, admit to being present, and bravely defend. Speak up 'fellas.
New development - 8:43pm PST -
Chris Dixon apparently NOT involved - Arrington and him joking tweets back and forth. @cdixon @
Newer development - 9pm, Sept 23
David McClure (who I now have earnest respect for) -
Says that David Lee (of Ron Conway's SV Angel) was present at the meeting.
My silicon valley opinion is that this story is healthy on both sides, so long as the FBI and ALL lawyers stay out of it. Oddly, I believe this is best fought out "inside family" amongst genUine silicon valley geeks. Let the court of geek opinion settle this. Reputation must solve this.
I will personally be devastated if Dave McClure, Arrington, or Ron Conway are in any way sullied by this - as I am certain they all give more than they take. Those three trees may all grow to the sky.
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Wow. Seriously? Arrington knows as well as anyone that this is silly talk. Mike, did they have cigars and raspy voices? Bodyguards? Did you see anybody that looked like mafia? Or maybe terrorists? Really?
These guys are friends and partners on all sorts of deals. The whole angel investing industry works together by the very nature of its work - syndicates, angel lists, keiretsu, and a host of other groups. Because they're each investing relatively small amounts of money, by definition, they are doing so together. So when people are investing money together frequently, are they likel
Wow. Seriously? Arrington knows as well as anyone that this is silly talk. Mike, did they have cigars and raspy voices? Bodyguards? Did you see anybody that looked like mafia? Or maybe terrorists? Really?
These guys are friends and partners on all sorts of deals. The whole angel investing industry works together by the very nature of its work - syndicates, angel lists, keiretsu, and a host of other groups. Because they're each investing relatively small amounts of money, by definition, they are doing so together. So when people are investing money together frequently, are they likely to compare notes on deal terms, competition, etc? I know entrepreneurs do. I know VCs do. Not surprised if angels do, too.
Now, if there were some sort of evidence (other than Arrington not being wanted there), then that's something. I'm no lawyer, but to me, price fixing is a pretty hefty accusation sans evidence.
If the hot story here is that Angel Investors are taking note of YC and trying to figure out how to gain influence, then sign me up on the list of people who did not have their hair blown back by this linkbait.
I was there.
But, apparently, I was at a very different investor dinner than the one Mike wrote about. The dinner I was at didn't have agreement on anything, let alone agreements and pacts as outlined in his article. The dinner I was at had investors who preferred bridge notes and those who preferred priced rounds. Investors who've backed YC companies and those who haven't. Investors who like working with big VCs and those who prefer quick flips without getting traditional VCs involved. Investors who are worried prices are getting overheated and slowing thier investment pace down and those tha
I was there.
But, apparently, I was at a very different investor dinner than the one Mike wrote about. The dinner I was at didn't have agreement on anything, let alone agreements and pacts as outlined in his article. The dinner I was at had investors who preferred bridge notes and those who preferred priced rounds. Investors who've backed YC companies and those who haven't. Investors who like working with big VCs and those who prefer quick flips without getting traditional VCs involved. Investors who are worried prices are getting overheated and slowing thier investment pace down and those that are investing at an aggressive clip. The dinner I was at reflected a bunch of different styles, not consensus.
I've met and pitched both Mike Maples and Aydin Senkut. I'd like to add my 2 cents just based on my first impression of their personalities after an hour long conversation, how they respond and carry themselves, the state of their funds. There are different justifications for why both of them would likely have attended the meeting.
Mike Maples - Mike actually seems genuinely honest and despite his investments, he still has a relatively new fund and is still relatively new to the network. So I can see him attending the meeting, but he might be one not enjoying where the conversation was going
I've met and pitched both Mike Maples and Aydin Senkut. I'd like to add my 2 cents just based on my first impression of their personalities after an hour long conversation, how they respond and carry themselves, the state of their funds. There are different justifications for why both of them would likely have attended the meeting.
Mike Maples - Mike actually seems genuinely honest and despite his investments, he still has a relatively new fund and is still relatively new to the network. So I can see him attending the meeting, but he might be one not enjoying where the conversation was going.
Aydin Senkut - On the other hand, seems a lot more sassy and hungry. Although the words that come out of his mouth are "I support the entrepreneur," he seems a lot more interested in his own ideas than yours. Not that there's anything wrong with that, nor does that make him more or less able to pick investments. But he just seems like a guy that would do whatever it takes to get the best deal, and wouldn't mind entering the grey area.
I know both Aydin and Mike know each other, as they share investments and talk to each other. My mistake was telling one guy that I talked to the other, I also wish these guys weren't friends, LOL. But now considering how much they talk about deals behind the scenes, it wouldn't have really have mattered.
At this point I feel like, whoever attended the meeting should come clean. If it really wasn't a big deal then there's nothing to hide.
Besides superstar businesses aren't built on top of consent. So to me, it seems the more you collude the less likely you're going to be able to form your own confident judgments and make a bets on superstar businesses. We need investors that think differently, not investors that all think the same.
I can see the irony of this comment. For me, staying anonymous is a big deal as someone who could potentially be raising money from this group. One angel can have a profound influence on others, and for no good reason, which is what happened since they all assume the others' opinions are credible even if they are poorly put together.
I wasn't at the dinner either. I was at a different meeting at Bin 38 earlier that evening and tweeted about it after getting home. I deleted it due to the volume of responses I got about the dinner I wasn’t in. Doing that seems to have quadrupled the inquiries!
Answer: http://angelgate.co - Angellist is funded by the same group of angels that were accused and ARE being investigated by the FBI. Where are the India, CN and other Angels? Have you tied to get on this CLOSED list... you can't.
Answer: http://angelgate.co - Angellist is funded by the same group of angels that were accused and ARE being investigated by the FBI. Where are the India, CN and other Angels? Have you tied to get on this CLOSED list... you can't.
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Ron Conway explictily told me this morning that he wasn't at the meeting.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/investing/angelgate-arrington-top-tech-investors-collusion-conspiracy-techcrunch/19644454/
Public Denials so far from:
Keith Rabois (Quora), Sundeep Peechu (Quora), Joshua Schachter (Twitter), Jason Calcanis (Twitter), Thomas Korte (via Scoble), Ron Conway (Quora)
Chris Sacca seem to have been in Georgetown giving a speech?
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I'm sorry, but I don't have access to specific articles or posts, including Michael Arrington's "So a Blogger Walks into a Bar..." on TechCrunch. If you provide more details or context, I might be able to help with related information or answer general questions on the topic.
I know for a fact Ron Conway was not at the dinner. I've been avoiding commenting on the entire issue but it should be 100% clear to everyone that Ron Conway is the most founder friendly investor (and person) I know - it's why we enjoy working with him/SV Angel so much at YC. We are all lucky that someone in such a powerful position (he is beyond doubt the single most powerful person in Silicon Valley) is such a genuinely benevolent person.
I realize this sounds like an over the top endorsement but it quite simply is a statement of fact - nothing else.
Apparently David Lee according to an accidentally DM from Dave McClure
http://www.businessinsider.com/dave-mcclure-says-ron-conway-is-throwing-super-angels-under-the-bus-2010-9
Peechu appears to have deleted his tweet, which was: "Bin 38 is like heaven right now, chock-full of angels." Deleting it pulls it off his profile, but it remains in other places for a few hours to days, like at Google. It's still there, plus plenty are retweeting it: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=bin+38
Sundeep Peechu was there.
http://twitter.com/speechu/status/25083299594
Pretty obvious Dave McClure was there since he is the source for Michael Arrington. The proof is in this tweet:
http://twitter.com/arrington/status/25071982726
Cut and pasting the tweet (in case it is deleted):
"somebody call security @davemcclure is roaming our office, uninvited as usual."
Timestamp: 5:24 PM Sep 20th via web
(Disclaimer: I am making an educated guess based on who I know was in the area last night, knowing the networks, who talks to who frequently etc.)
- Ron Conway
- Dave McClure (likely one of those who was 'uneasy')
- Jeff Clavier
- Mike Maples
- Aydin Senkut
- Steve Anderson + Brian Pokorny
- Sundeep Peechu
- Manu Kumar (?)
- Reid Hoffman (?)
(Edit: well not sure how we are supposed to answer the question! It isn't exactly a revelation when you comment 'you are guessing' considering I opened up my answer saying exactly that.
I am very confident with most of my guesses, question mark on Reid and Kumar)
(Edit2: There is evi
(Disclaimer: I am making an educated guess based on who I know was in the area last night, knowing the networks, who talks to who frequently etc.)
- Ron Conway
- Dave McClure (likely one of those who was 'uneasy')
- Jeff Clavier
- Mike Maples
- Aydin Senkut
- Steve Anderson + Brian Pokorny
- Sundeep Peechu
- Manu Kumar (?)
- Reid Hoffman (?)
(Edit: well not sure how we are supposed to answer the question! It isn't exactly a revelation when you comment 'you are guessing' considering I opened up my answer saying exactly that.
I am very confident with most of my guesses, question mark on Reid and Kumar)
(Edit2: There is evidence on the web (Twitter etc.) on who Arrington's source was. I don't want to point it out for obvious reasons, but it is there. Considering emailing the person to remove it)
I don't care for a few reasons:
- I know many of these guys and think that the ones with any staying power are good and trustworthy folks. If they get together from time to time to talk about the industry, compare notes, kvetch about valuations, well, we all do that in our own industries, and there is nothing illegal or unethical about it.
- The pool of money and funders is so huge that no group of super angels would ever be able to move the needle no matter how well coordinated and unified they were (which I don't believe they are, anyway).
- I already raised my round!
What I do care about, though, i
I don't care for a few reasons:
- I know many of these guys and think that the ones with any staying power are good and trustworthy folks. If they get together from time to time to talk about the industry, compare notes, kvetch about valuations, well, we all do that in our own industries, and there is nothing illegal or unethical about it.
- The pool of money and funders is so huge that no group of super angels would ever be able to move the needle no matter how well coordinated and unified they were (which I don't believe they are, anyway).
- I already raised my round!
What I do care about, though, is that I think the distrust and distance between companies and investors is larger than it needs to be, and I can see this widening the gap, even if the charges are unjustified.
"Thanks Mike for techcrunching me for no reason. Note to self: hold next secret meeting in underground bunker to get the feds off my trail."
http://twitter.com/speechu/status/25174604517
Someone is pissy.
With respect to your second question ("what merit is there in [Arrington's] accusations?"), at this point we don't know. Indeed, it will depend on the actual facts of the case. But make no mistake: these are very serious accusations. Price fixing could result in criminal liability, substantial fines and treble damages from any litigation brought by an injured party.
Specifically, Section 1 of the Sherman Act makes illegal any contract, combination or conspiracy that unreasonably restrains trade or competition. Proof of concerted action under such Section does not, however, require the exist
With respect to your second question ("what merit is there in [Arrington's] accusations?"), at this point we don't know. Indeed, it will depend on the actual facts of the case. But make no mistake: these are very serious accusations. Price fixing could result in criminal liability, substantial fines and treble damages from any litigation brought by an injured party.
Specifically, Section 1 of the Sherman Act makes illegal any contract, combination or conspiracy that unreasonably restrains trade or competition. Proof of concerted action under such Section does not, however, require the existence of an express agreement (e.g., a handshake or agreements inferred from conduct are enough). Moreover, certain restraints -- such as price-fixing -- are per se illegal (i.e., the reasonableness of the conduct is not a defense).
Accordingly, agreements among angels not to compete with each other in connection with investments could constitute a per se violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Again, factual analysis is necessary.
That's a good question. The term "Angel" has its roots in Theatrical productions, where wealthy individuals would support the often high costs of setting up and "putting on" the various shows.
In today's nomenclature (with perhaps the exception of those mentioned in your question), "Angel" investors are often not "current" venture capitalists, but are wealthy individuals (who may have been VC once) who usually provide the investment in the "sweet spot" between seed funding and true VC rounds.
I am sure there is some complication in the way that Angel Groups (such as those that infamously met in
That's a good question. The term "Angel" has its roots in Theatrical productions, where wealthy individuals would support the often high costs of setting up and "putting on" the various shows.
In today's nomenclature (with perhaps the exception of those mentioned in your question), "Angel" investors are often not "current" venture capitalists, but are wealthy individuals (who may have been VC once) who usually provide the investment in the "sweet spot" between seed funding and true VC rounds.
I am sure there is some complication in the way that Angel Groups (such as those that infamously met in the Bay Area recently) form to share their resources...this would somewhat reflect the more traditional "pooled" resource approach of true VC, but there are of course major differences in "limits" of funding and in turn, equities and ownership levels.
Absolutely. All of this industry stuff is just all of us talking to each other. It does help with recruiting and fundraising, And yes, some of it can bring in some early users, but that is not scalable beyond those early adopters.
What really matters is talking to customers, not each other.
The industry is full of companies that are doing great that you have never heard of. My last company (Vontu) is a good example since we were in enterprise security (although we did get a Red Herring top 100 at one point).
Another great example is Survey Monkey...that thing is an ATM, but it was not initial
Absolutely. All of this industry stuff is just all of us talking to each other. It does help with recruiting and fundraising, And yes, some of it can bring in some early users, but that is not scalable beyond those early adopters.
What really matters is talking to customers, not each other.
The industry is full of companies that are doing great that you have never heard of. My last company (Vontu) is a good example since we were in enterprise security (although we did get a Red Herring top 100 at one point).
Another great example is Survey Monkey...that thing is an ATM, but it was not initially a CA company, never raised top tier VC, and generally stayed under the radar counting their money.
This applies to most chip companies, many enterprise software companies, and often applies to non-California companies.
I would even argue that many of the current crop of all stars (Groupon, Facebook, Google) really got significant coverage after they clearly had momentum...I do not believe that coverage *caused* their momentum!
We've taken money from Valley "super angels" and I'm not in the least interested in this meeting or its implications. I have to many things to worry about (like running a business) to get distracted by this event. I speak for myself only, but its a non-issue.
Seesmic, DanceJam, Omnidrive, and Dogster, according to CrunchBase (http://www.crunchbase.com/person/michael-arrington).
This is not verified, but I believe he has implied that accusations of conflict of interest (since TechCrunch covers these startups) are such a hassle that it's not worth doing additional angel investments.
He has also invested in Zaarly.
http://www.siliconprairienews.com/2011/06/zaarly-adds-arrington-to-investor-list-sets-sights-on-seven-core-cities
According to Arrington's article:
- Complaints about Y Combinator’s growing power, and how to counteract competitiveness in Y Combinator deals
- Complaints about rising deal valuations and they can act as a group to reduce those valuations
- How the group can act together to keep traditional venture capitalists out of deals entirely
- How the group can act together to keep out new angel investors invading the market and driving up valuations.
- More mundane things, like agreeing as a group not to accept convertible notes in deals (an entrepreneur-friendly type of deal).
- One source has also said that there is
According to Arrington's article:
- Complaints about Y Combinator’s growing power, and how to counteract competitiveness in Y Combinator deals
- Complaints about rising deal valuations and they can act as a group to reduce those valuations
- How the group can act together to keep traditional venture capitalists out of deals entirely
- How the group can act together to keep out new angel investors invading the market and driving up valuations.
- More mundane things, like agreeing as a group not to accept convertible notes in deals (an entrepreneur-friendly type of deal).
- One source has also said that there is a wiki of some sort that the group has that explicitly talks about how the group should act as one to keep deal valuations down.
Dave McClure acknowledges being there and has written a response: http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/2010/09/fire-in-the-valley.html He says topics included:
- how can we increase access to startup capital (new geographies, newinvestors, Second Market, etc)
- how can we increase M&A for startups & increase awareness of startups for non-tech acquirers
- how can we increase startup innovation (more smart entrepreneurs, coolnew platforms, better techniques for mentoring / entrepreneurship)
Main issues boiled down:
- How the f*ck do we not get crammed down (if we haven't become VC-sized funds ourselves) in the 95% of seed funded companies we're in that A. haven't proven enough to inspire a bidding war between KP, Accel, Benchmark, Khosla, Andreesen, Sequoia; B. Need funding after the 2 year run on talent acquisitions shortly ends.
- How do you maximize LP's returns when you have no f$cking clue that there is actually significant expertise in this area. Overheard at the table: "Don't we just distribute shares in Google when my talent-acquisition investment gets acquired by them for
Main issues boiled down:
- How the f*ck do we not get crammed down (if we haven't become VC-sized funds ourselves) in the 95% of seed funded companies we're in that A. haven't proven enough to inspire a bidding war between KP, Accel, Benchmark, Khosla, Andreesen, Sequoia; B. Need funding after the 2 year run on talent acquisitions shortly ends.
- How do you maximize LP's returns when you have no f$cking clue that there is actually significant expertise in this area. Overheard at the table: "Don't we just distribute shares in Google when my talent-acquisition investment gets acquired by them for $15M?"
Don't forget Milk Inc's angel round, which is headed by Kevin Rose (business person).
http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/26/milk-completes-1-5-million-angel-round-packed-with-valley-names/
Arrington also invested in LikeALittle (startup) Series A round.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/30/andreessen-horowitz-adds-jeff-jordan-as-partner-leads-5m-likealittle-series-a/
For those curious, here is his Investment policy:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/27/an-update-to-my-investment-policy/
The base case is obviously yes. 99.9% of companies that exist today have neither super angel funding or tech crunch mentions, dry cleaners, restaurants etc.
Even if you only restrict yourself to technology startups, plenty of them are doing solid, unglamorous work in "unsexy" fields and get none of the attention and nevertheless, have real revenues from real users and more profit than 90% of all startups mentioned on techcrunch.
I think the availability bias of techcrunch biases a lot of smart young people into going into already saturated fields rather than focusing on where people have money &
The base case is obviously yes. 99.9% of companies that exist today have neither super angel funding or tech crunch mentions, dry cleaners, restaurants etc.
Even if you only restrict yourself to technology startups, plenty of them are doing solid, unglamorous work in "unsexy" fields and get none of the attention and nevertheless, have real revenues from real users and more profit than 90% of all startups mentioned on techcrunch.
I think the availability bias of techcrunch biases a lot of smart young people into going into already saturated fields rather than focusing on where people have money & needs that technology could fix rather easily.
Imagine if all the angels moved to sandhill road and started colluding to seize control of company, overthrow their management and depress startup valuations. That would be something to tweet about.
There is nothing the angels did that makes them worth than traditional venture capitalists. The super angels are still amateurs if they are forming cartels this late in the game.
Absolutely. The influence of TC coverage and super angels on the destiny of a startup is modest, at most. I might even doubt any causal influence, although there may be a moderate correlation (i.e. TC and angels are attracted towards companies that are likely to succeed.)
As a 15 year veteran of the Boston startup scene I'd say it's as strong as ever. Lots of good examples and references have been mentioned.
Some other categories I'd highlight:
1) The growth of accelerator and mentoring programs in the area like:
TechStars - http://www.techstars.org/boston
MassChallenge - http://www.masschallenge.org
Founder Institute - http://founderinstitute.com/apply/boston
Founder Mentors - http://foundermentors.com
As well as several strong programs associated with local universities like MIT's Venture Mentoring Service (http://web.mit.edu/vms/).
2) Several growing local com
As a 15 year veteran of the Boston startup scene I'd say it's as strong as ever. Lots of good examples and references have been mentioned.
Some other categories I'd highlight:
1) The growth of accelerator and mentoring programs in the area like:
TechStars - http://www.techstars.org/boston
MassChallenge - http://www.masschallenge.org
Founder Institute - http://founderinstitute.com/apply/boston
Founder Mentors - http://foundermentors.com
As well as several strong programs associated with local universities like MIT's Venture Mentoring Service (http://web.mit.edu/vms/).
2) Several growing local community brands helping bring people together or share information like:
WebInno - http://webinnovatorsgroup.com/
DART Boston - http://dartboston.com/
Greenhorn Connect - http://greenhornconnect.com/
PopSignal - http://popsignal.com/
Boston World Partnership - http://www.bostonworldpartnerships.com/
Open Coffee - http://www.meetup.com/OpenCoffee-Cambridge-Meetup/
(I'm sure others can provide a laundry list of additional candidates here)
3) There's also value in the emergence of co-working and office sharing in the area. Dan Katcher dubs these "minicubators" - http://www.rocketfarmstudios.com/rise-of-the-mincubator and Galen Moore elaborates here - http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2011/02/28/weekly9-Startups-seek-perfect-fit-in-office-space-size-location.html. There's also a good list of independent co-working spaces - http://wiki.coworking.info/w/page/16583432/CoworkingBoston.
The TechCrunch sale was rumored to be for about $40 million, and since TechCrunch is happy reporting rumored prices for other acquisitions, we can feel comfortable doing the same for them.
To my knowledge, TechCrunch never accepted outside investment. If it did, it kept it under wraps. Given that, it's probably safe to assume that Arrington owned at least 80%-90% of the company, with the rest going to their CEO Heather and the other employees.
So if over $30 million qualifies as fabulously wealthy to you, then yes, Arrington is now in that camp.
Xconomy Boston (http://www.xconomy.com/boston) has extensive resources in all of these areas. We've been covering the Boston entrepreneurial startup scene since June 2007 and we have thousands of news articles and in-depth profiles documenting every corner of the tech ecosystem across infotech, energy, life sciences, and investing. We are reachable at editors@xconomy.com.
Also, the "X Lists" section of Xconomy Boston (http://www.xconomy.com/boston/resources/) is a great central resource for entrepreneurs. A few specific sub-lists from the Boston X Lists:
Venture capital firms - http://www.xconom
Xconomy Boston (http://www.xconomy.com/boston) has extensive resources in all of these areas. We've been covering the Boston entrepreneurial startup scene since June 2007 and we have thousands of news articles and in-depth profiles documenting every corner of the tech ecosystem across infotech, energy, life sciences, and investing. We are reachable at editors@xconomy.com.
Also, the "X Lists" section of Xconomy Boston (http://www.xconomy.com/boston/resources/) is a great central resource for entrepreneurs. A few specific sub-lists from the Boston X Lists:
Venture capital firms - http://www.xconomy.com/boston/resources/venture-capital-firms/
Angel investing groups - http://www.xconomy.com/boston/resources/angel-investing-groups/
Incubators and seed funds - http://www.xconomy.com/boston/resources/venture-incubators-seed-funds/
Biz plan competitions - http://www.xconomy.com/boston/resources/business-plan-competitions-prizes/
Tech co-working spaces - http://www.xconomy.com/boston/resources/technology-co-working-spaces/
As Arrington pointed our rather forcefully in a recent piece,
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/07/tech-press-screw-them-all/
it is not as if other reporters don't have potential conflicts of interest. And at least he disclosed his interests. Techcrunch isn't a newspaper, it's a trade paper, and most of its readers are reasonably sophisticated. So as long as he continues to disclose his interests I don't have a problem with it. Full disclosure is the key.
I think that it gives him a better perspective on the markets that he is covering. Clearly, it will also change his reporting, no matter how professional he is (and he is truly professional in my view) but this is a good thing and probably part of the reason Tech Crunch's posts are so good and so well read.
TechCrunch bloggers' salaries can vary widely based on factors like experience, role, and whether they are full-time or freelance. Full-time writers may earn anywhere from $50,000 to over $100,000 annually, while freelance contributors typically receive payment per article, which can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on the piece's complexity and prominence.
Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, sold the site to AOL in 2010. As of now, he is not involved in the ownership or management of TechCrunch, so he wouldn’t be selling it. Any updates regarding ownership would typically come from TechCrunch itself or related news sources.
Personally, I think it's a great idea.
It would probably be a bad idea at this point. It's going to go very legal very quickly.
Mike already is an angel investor. Currently listed on Crunchbase (although I believe this list is out of date) are Seesmic, Omnidrive, Dogster and DanceJam. I'm not sure he'll be ramping up his portfolio size, although it is a possibility.
I moved Backupify from Louisville, KY to Boston in mid 2010. I've been happy with my choice. We looked at NYC and the Valley too, and I think the quality of life in Boston is much better than both of those places. Plus, you have an incredible tech scene, a large talent pool, and tons of funding options.
Jerry Neumann