James Geshwiler
As Managing Director of CommonAngels Ventures, James runs one of the first formal venture capital investing networks and the largest in the Northeast. He joined CommonAngels in 1999 when it was an informal group of private investors, and since that time has grown it into a structured network that has invested $44 million from individual investors and two $10 million co-investment funds in 39 companies and worked with them through over 100 rounds of financing totaling over $270 million.
James also was the founding chairman of the Angel Capital Association, the professional alliance of angel groups that has grown from 46 groups as charter members to now over 125, representing over 5,000 investors. He also was the founding chairman of ACA's sister organization, the Angel Capital Education Foundation, in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation. AECF works with angel investors, venture capitalists, academic leaders and entrepreneurs around the country to provide research and educational programs on angel investing. He is a contributing author to Cutting-Edge Practices in American Angel Investing, published in October 2003 by Darden Business Publishing of the University of Virginia, has written papers and various articles on angel investment processes, and regularly speaks on entrepreneurship and private investing.
He holds a bachelor's degree with highest honors from the Liberal Arts Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin, a master's degree in political science from UCLA, and an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management. James also is an avid rower and a member of Cambridge Boat Club.
[Editor's note: CommonAngels is the lead investor in Xconomy.]
Recent posts
Over the past two years, there has been an explosion of the use of convertible notes for seed rounds. It used to be these debt instruments that convert to equity later... Read more »
I have an angel investor friend—let’s call this friend “Alex.” Alex has great deal flow and works hard to pick the best opportunities for investment. Alex has been frustrated over the... Read more »
CEOs, investors, and board members frequently complain about ineffective board meetings. Steve Blank, Jeff Bussgang, Brad Feld, and Fred Wilson each have suggested board meetings could be improved... Read more »
Technology companies’ boards of directors need better leadership. I made a case last month about reinventing the board of directors by treating the board as a team and doing annual assessments... Read more »
Imagine a world where technology companies are more successful and grow faster because of the strategic help and guidance from their boards of directors. Or, at least imagine a world where... Read more »
Far too much has been written about Boston versus New York City. Sports rivalries and cultural differences have a way of coloring our world view to include startup companies and venture... Read more »
Like an entrepreneur listening to market feedback while designing a product, Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) has made some improvements to features of his pending legislation that we described last month.... Read more »
Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) recently introduced sweeping legislation that aims to rein in the excesses that led large financial institutions to become “too big to fail.” Somewhat ironically, it also has... Read more »
While Scott Kirsner and my fellow Xconomist Tim Rowe both recently have commented on the benefits of mixing and mingling in Kendall Square, we have a more basic problem that won’t... Read more »
Two weeks ago, I was in Atlanta for the annual Angel Capital Association (ACA) conference and, this past week, here in Boston for the annual National Venture Capital Association conference. Depending... Read more »
Nobody likes to fail. No entrepreneur or venture capitalist thinks a particular venture is going to be the one to fail. As veteran venture capitalist Bob Crowley at the Massachusetts Technology... Read more »
Over the past several years, and especially since this summer when CommonAngels (where I serve as managing director) became the first angel group to join the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA),... Read more »
