When I hear the word hacker, all I can think of is a lonely college student, sitting in a dark room, spending every waking minute on a computer. That image is about to change. According to peHUB, a new angel investment group is evolving on the streets of Boston. Calling themselves Hacker Angels, an homage to their MIT programming roots, these guys are looking for the next hot IT startups.
The group was formed by Gabriel Weinberg, who has recruited fellow hacker entrepreneurs and angels to the group. Weinberg opined on the project in a recent blog post:
“I believe that there are many good hacker entrepreneurs who are not getting the funding or advice they need to get traction for their startups. I also believe hackers relate well with other hackers, which is why I think the concept of hacker angels is so compelling,” he wrote. “We’re currently just an informal group that I’m sure will evolve as we get interaction and new members.”
Hacker Angels currently consists of 5 seasoned entrepreneurs:
Joshua Schachter – @joshu – Delicious
Jeff Miller – @jmillerinc – Punchfork
Gabriel Weinberg – @yegg – Duck Duck Go
Roy Rodenstein – @royrod – Going.com
Jim Young – @jimydotorg – Hot or Not
The Hacker Angels website could use some spice, but we know they are just getting off the ground, so we’ll cut them some slack. It’s exciting to see these informal angel groups popping up! Could the days of paying to pitch angel groups finally be over?
Roy Rodenstein of Going.com made it clear in the interview with peHUB that the group is early stage and informal, but evolving and recruiting fellow hackers fast. When asked if they were pooling money, Rodenstein responded, “We’re not pooling right now. We all have pretty good dealflow individually, but now can share our views and possibly do certain deals together. There’s one, maybe two like that that we’ve already been working on. We’ve also gotten around 30 semi-interesting opportunities in the first hour since announcing our existence.”
We’re really looking forward to watching the team at Hacker Angels grow, and can’t wait to profile their latest investments. Keep an eye out for them.
Make sure to follow them all on twitter.
Are you a hacker or an angel? Email ha[at]hackerangels.com to get involved with this new collective.
