As co-founder of NY Tech Meetup, a group of 15,000-plus techies, investors, and entrepreneurs who gather every month in Manhattan for technology demonstrations, Dawn Barber has plenty of A-list contacts. Yet she hasn't invested in any of the people who've made presentations over the past six years. "I'm poor," says Barber, who supports herself through consulting gigs and other freelance work. "My [husband and I] are just not those people. If we were, I'd try to invest … in companies led by women."
Barber may soon get her chance. She's applying to the Pipeline Fund Fellowship, a new program for women who want to learn the ins and outs of angel investing (giving cash to a fledgling company in exchange for an equity stake). The fellowship was conceived by Natalia Oberti Noguera (above), a 27-year-old Yale University graduate who this summer launched Pipeline Fund, a New York venture capital firm that aims to back so-called socially responsible companies. Her goal with the fellowship is to increase the ranks of female angels and steer more cash toward such businesses. "There's a lack of gender diversity in the VC investment world," says Oberti Noguera. "And there's a lack of funding for profit-seeking social ventures."
To read the full, original article click on this link: A Boot Camp for Women Angel Investors - BusinessWeek
Author: Nick Leiber
