Well, I am not going to say; “I told you so,” but I did. Michael Arrington’s Angelgate allegations are looking more real minute by minute as one source after another spits an unraveling story out. Since so called “Super Angel” Ron Conway weighed in with his comments, the sound of rats scurrying can be heard distinctly. Yes, I am laughing.
I was just reading a great rendition of the ongoing saga by Mathew Ingram on GigaOm, one replete with maybe the funnies contextual (geek, tech, angel wise) video compilations I ever saw (included below). Conway, for those who do not know, is probably the most respected of these super duper money people out there in Cali. He has my vote thus far if I ever need funding (which I do – hey) for a startup. Whether it is spin or not, at least the man knows what is “supposed” to be going on with startup investment.
As for Michael? Not a peep, not one peep. Dave McClure? He is pitching a Y Combinator clone of sorts in Twilio – a micro fund for Fund for 500 Startups (now there’s one startups are going to snap at – now especially). And the FBI? No hide nor hair of them yet, but it is early and they do not announce usually. The letter leaked to TC by Ron Conway can be found on this post, for those interested in the pure form.
As for the end of this tale, we all have to wait obviously. One thing seems certain though, these investors’ actions, illegal or not, do not lend themselves to good PR about Silicon Valley tech business – especially startups. Conway seems to have fulfilled at least my imaginings of how some of these people operate.
It looks like Mike Arrington maybe did everyone a favor – like it or not. The money people selling brilliance short, money never invented anything – what a shame.