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Brian is a nice guy but think HBAN awarded him the wrong gong.

Angel investors write cheques that fuels start-up capital requirements. They may also sit on full or advisory board. They are a scarce commodity in Ireland.
Alongside that we have consultants, usually experienced guns 4 hire and in Ireland often remunerated by EI to run programs. We are over-run with them and unfortunately most are not of the quality that Brian delivers.

Therefore for the purposes of this gong, should we not have focused on the number of angels who have written big cheques over last 18 months. Most if not all don’t tweet and don’t want HBAN recognition but that said, HBAN would have been well advised to select one of these, as one of their primary purposes should be to attract HNW individuals to this asset class.

So with the greatest of respect to Brian, I would question the basis on which the “Irish entrepreneurial community” voted – for the nice guy or on the basis of cqs written

I have met Brian a few times but Ron Conway he aint I’m afraid
He seems like a great guy and I have nothing but admiration for him but three companies two of which rumour has it are closed/parked doesn’t make Ireland’s greatest angel investor.
I would suggest that Brian is possibly Ireland’s most public angel investor but in my circle alone I have many Irish friends who have backed over 5 Irish companies.

Just for the record, in total, I have personally written cheques to invest in 27 companies. Many of these were alongside Trinity Venture Capital. Since I left Trinity Venture Capital, I have invested personally in eight companies: Cicero Networks, Cibenix, PutPlace, VigiTrust, Clavis Technologies, GridStore, Sentry Wireless and Teamer. I also sit on several boards and advisory boards where I am not an investor at present including ezetop and Trezur.

The size of the cheques is my business but I consider them substantial. The track record is also my business…

I’ll let others make the judgement on whether I “deserve” the award or not but I certainly didn’t ask for it.

Finally, I am glad you all think I am a “nice guy”…

[...] Brian Caulfield Top angel investor in Ireland [...]

Just for the record, my comment was directed towards Irish Entrepreneurs (and HBAN) and not towards recipient. My issue is how/why they voted as believe competition was flawed from inception and said so at the time http://twitter.com/liamlowe/status/13985769801
We (Irish Entrepreneurs) complain often about indigenous angels/vcs but fail to appreciate that the angels/vcs are only as good as underlying entrepreneurs. How we voted here leads me to believe we don’t or cannot distinguish between iGAP/L4G mentors and angel investors. This IMHO is a poor reflection on us, not them.

I have had a few emails from friends over the weekend who have advised me that they thought my comment was derogatory to Brian.
Nothing could have been further from my mind.
My comment was directed at the lack of Angel funding in Ireland for (small) start-ups and I thought I had made that clear.
If I caused any offence I apologize.

The reason Brian gets my vote as Ireland’s top Angel is down to his engagement. None of the other Angels on any list I have seen are as generous with their time or as patient as Brian is with early stage startups.

He puts his money where his mouth is and if he is involved in your company you will get 100% commitment from him.

Best of all, he is an entrepreneur himself so he knows what he is talking about.

A deserving winner.

Pat and Liam,

I always assumed no offence intended and certainly none taken.

I did, though, want to set the record straight. I am proud of what we did with iGAP and believe programmes like it and L4G are very important. But I was making angel investments long before I was involved in iGAP and I am pretty sure that I have made more such investments than most.

I hope that was what the award reflected rather than my work on iGAP. Whatever about the personal issue, I think it’s important that we celebrate and promote angel investing and investors and encourage more people to enter the angel market. Thats the result that, I think, everyone wants…

Regards,

Brian

[...] leading entrepreneurs and Angel investors. He recently came out on top of two separate polls as Irelands top Angel investor! Brian will share his experiences as an investor giving you an unequaled insight in how an investor [...]