Hi, I’m David G. Cohen.

We’ve had such good luck with our “Boulder Startup Job Seekers” email list that I have started a new one for people seeking co-founders. If you’re in Boulder and you are interested in starting a company and are in need of co-founders, check out the new Boulder Co-Founder Hunt list. Like the job seekers list, only a few people can post to it (me and Brad Feld for now) so it’s really a one way read only email list for those wanting to see any opportunities.

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I’m occasionally asked how much a CEO recruited into an angel stage company should be compensated. Here’s some data showing how a few experienced folks (who shall remain unnamed) who have placed many CEOs in startups in Boulder responded to an informal survey. The context here is important. This is for an experienced CEO with a history of success in operating and/or fundraising for a pre-revenue, early product/prototype company having raised about $500K-$1M of angel/seed money, with 2-4 employee/founders in Boulder with no relocation package. Please don’t take this as science, and remember the context. I thought it was interesting enough to share.

What do you think a startup CEO should be paid in Boulder for this stage?

Thanks to John Ives for allowing me to publish this data without naming other names.

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I’m excited to announce that Open Angel Forum is back in Boulder on the night of December 9th at 7PM.

The Open Angel Forum (OAF) is dedicated to providing entrepreneurs with free and open access to the angel investors that they need. We are firmly committed to fighting against “pay-to-pitch” schemes.

The first open angel forum in Colorado was back in February of this year, and it was a big hit. We did it again in August. In both cases, multiple presenting companies attracted new funding.

Open Angel Forum is different and special. Only 20 or so angels are allowed, and each of them must have made at least 4 angel investments in the last 12 months in order to attend. Because of this, the event is very high quality and we don’t waste the entrepreneurs time. Also, the presenting companies are part of the entire social event – we basically just have dinner together and get to know each other. In the past, OAFCO has always attracted great out of state angel investors such as Dave McClure, Andy Sack, Jay Levy, Howard Lindzon, David Tisch, and Jason Calacanis.

To apply to attend Open Angel Forum as an angel investor (remember – you must have made at least 4 angel investments in the last year), go here. If you don’t apply, you will not receive an invitation. If you’ve attended a past OAFCO event, feel free to just email me if that’s easier.

The Open Angel Forum is sponsored nationally by SVB Accelerator and Symantec. If you’re a service provider or aspiring angel investor and would like to attend the event and have dinner with the companies and angel investors, you can purchase a sponsor ticket to join us for dinner (there are only 5 such seats available in order to keep the event small – that’s part of the magic). You will be supporting our ability to provide free and open access to angel investors for entrepreneurs by doing so.

And, most importantly, If you’d like to apply to have your company present for angel investment at Open Angel Forum Colorado #3 (#OAFCO3) on December 9th, please apply here. Earlier applications will receive more consideration. The deadline to apply is December 1, 2010 at 5:00PM mountain time.

I’ve included some FAQs below:

Q. What types of angels/companies should attend/present at OAFCO?
A. The angel makeup so far seems to be about 80% software/IT/web and 20% other stuff. So we’ll likely shoot for 4 companies doing software/IT/web stuff and 1 doing something else. So any type of company should apply, but particularly software/web/IT companies.

Q. I’d like to become an angel investor, but I don’t meet the requirement of having made 4 investments of note in the past 12 months. May I attend?
A. Please apply, and I’ll put you on the waiting list. This is not a networking event or a “learn how to angel invest” event. OAF exists to help entrepreneurs reach very active angels and as such we’ll opt for a smaller crowd of top notch / active angels. If we have a seat or two left, we’ll allow less experienced angels in based on how many deals they’ve done in the past.

Q. I’m just really interested in this, but I’m not an angel and my company isn’t pitching. May I attend?
A. Yes, but you’ll have to buy a sponsor ticket. There are only 5 of these tickets available at the moment.

Q. I’m a service provider locally and I’d like to support what you’re doing. May I attend?
A. Yes, this is exactly why we have sponsor tickets available. The event is free to the angels and free to the entrepreneurs. It’s supported by those who buy tickets and our sponsors.

Q. What’s the format?
A. The entrepreneurs and investors have dinner together, and each company makes a 5 minute presentation and 5-10 minutes of Q&A from the investors follow. Presenters must take at least one sip of beer (or their favorite beverage) during their presentation. It’s informal and fun, and there’s plenty of time for interaction between the companies and investors.

Q. Where will this be held, and when?
A. It will be downtown in Boulder at TechStars at 7pm on December 9th.

Q. I applied to present. When will I find out if we’re presenting?
A. Not until about December 6th.

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I’m trying a new plug in on my blog called Highlighter.

Highlighter is a WordPress plugin that allows authors to actively engage their audience. They can direct readers attention to any part of the post by ‘highlighting’ any word, sentence or image.

Readers can now highlight, comment and share any word, sentence, paragraph or image on a blog post as well, giving the audience unprecedented ability to interact with content.

This means that conversations are no longer limited to the just “comments” of the page – now visitor interaction can take place anywhere within the content. Visitors can also share any sentence or piece of text just by highlighting and clicking!

Highlighter Overview from Highlighter on Vimeo.

I’d love your feedback. What do you think of this?

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