And on the Lighter Side of Things…

I need a little break from writing about such heavy topics such as billions for bailouts, bumbling bureaucrats and balance-sheet blow-ups. So here a few topics on the lighter side of life.

Congratulations to the Soren, Howard and the StockTwits team on closing its angel round. I am very excited to be working with these guys, along with my Betaworks friends Andrew Weissman and John Borthwick and my MyTrade (now thinkorswim) pals Andy and Landon Swan. Simple. Elegant. Lightweight. Yet powerful. I’ve never been quite so close to a consumer-facing Web 2.0 application, so I am super excited to be learning from such successful entrepreneurs and investors and hopefully adding some value along the way.

Congratulations to Alan Levy, founder of BlogTalkRadio, on his massive lead in the Silicon Alley 100 voting. I am both an investor in and Board Member of BTR, and have seen Alan’s passion and brains first-hand. In short, he is a force of nature. Alan’s rock-star status pales in comparison to my lowly 72 ranking. He’s the real deal. I guess our relative rankings prove that those who can’t do - invest (I know that doesn’t apply to many but it certainly does to me).

Congratulations to the entire Silicon Alley ecosystem. Even in the face of an absolutely horrendous financial environment, I continue to see plenty of interesting and worthwhile business plans sponsored by bright, passionate, hard-driving entrepreneurs. Regardless of what is happening on Wall Street, I can’t help but feel that Silicon Alley’s momentum simply can’t be stopped. There are too many industries to disrupt and fix, too many ads to serve, too many trends to be spotted. And it’s all happening right here. In NYC, baby. Even if Yankee Stadium is dead and gone Silicon Alley is just getting started.

That’s all for now. I feel much better.