Our speaker, Brian S. Cohen, offered insights into the world of angel investing, venture capital and entrepreneurship. Brian discussed his investment philosophy and offered advice for entrepreneurs seeking investors. In particular, Brian touched on some key considerations he believes entrepreneurs must consider, most importantly – the need for start-ups to be thinking about their exit strategy from the beginning. Brian has served as Chairman of the New York Angels for almost a decade and is Founding Partner at New York Venture Partners. During Brian's time at New York Angels, the group grew to be one of the most active and successful angel groups in the country, with more than $150 million invested into more than 200 early stage companies.
Over 50 CEOs, Entrepreneurs, thought leaders, PE, VC, and Corporate Development Executives gathered to join the conversation. During the round-table discussion, Brian discussed his process for considering a new investment, and how important intuition is when making a decision. You can view a snippet of Brian's discussion HERE.
About Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips Dealmakers Series
The Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips Dealmakers Series events are for the top dealmakers and operators in the Media, Advertising & Marketing, Information, Education, Technology and Healthcare Communications industries. They feature industry experts discussing the future of investing in the media and technology industries, specifically focusing on recent and imminent notable transactions, as well as emerging trends and opportunities in our space. The HBSCNY Monthly Dealmakers Breakfast Series is intended to be a smaller more intimate event to bring together HBS Alumni and influential industry leaders for stimulating discussions, valuable networking opportunities and engaging Q&A. The program is a round table question-and-answer session at Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips' offices where the moderator asks 30 minutes of questions, and the audience the other 30 minutes.
Moderated by Joanna Stone Herman (HBS ’97). Joanna is a Partner at Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips and serves as the TMT Industry Group Co-Head for Oaklins, our affiliated global investment bank with offices in 60 cities across 40 countries. Prior to joining Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips in 2011, Joanna worked in several senior executive roles including as SVP Global Strategy for LexisNexis, EVP of Corporate Development for Thomson Financial Corporate Group, VP of Strategy for Thomson Learning and Director of Strategy for Dow Jones. Joanna also served as CEO and co-Founder of Librify, a technology start-up that was the exclusive e-book platform for Target, sold to Scribd in 2015. Joanna has a BS and Masters Degrees from MIT and an MBA from HBS.
