[ChuckMcM]

Actually angel investing was the response to that, individuals who weren't wealthy enough to join a fund and become an LP but had enough disposable assets that if they put $50,000 - $1M at risk it wouldn't ruin their retirement if they lost it all.

One of the things that I haven't read about is what is the 'YC' of movies? In many ways the money in Hollywood is there but there isn't nearly the organization like there is at startup incubators. There are so many corollaries between the two environments I would expect something between the studios and Kickstarter to have emerged by now.

[bellerocky]

Individuals have a lot of sway in Hollywood. It's all star power. Money and talent flock to the stars, and by stars I include producers, writers and directors in addition to actors and actresses. They make money and are prestigious to work with, especially if the movie is successful. In addition to individual behavior there are also the various unions like the Writers Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild of America and organizations like the MPAA and AMPAS and in television ATAS which all wield considerable influence and money. Though it is TV and not movies, Netflix succeeded because it played by their rules.

You can't just disrupt this because it's more than wealth, it's a culture that has been around many generations now and created film making what it is today. There's an incredible gravitational well that sucks all the incredible skill and talent found in the world right into Hollywood. It's not going anywhere.

[ChuckMcM]

You could argue its all 'star power' in the valley too, money and talent do seem to follow people who have a couple of big exits on their resume. One of the differences though is the artistic element. Engineering startups is an 'art' but it isn't the kind that brings out the 'artist temperament' as some refer to it.

I don't have enough real knowledge about how that gets done so I can't really say if such a thing could happen, but I do see a lot of similarities between Bay Area culture and So Cal culture which are both warped a bit by their respective economic engines.

[staunch]

YC probably most closely resembles the talent agency William Morris.

[ganeumann]

Nah. WMA is in the business of taking people who are already successful and making them richer. They are negotiators.

YC resembles a top-tier investment bank, like Goldman Sachs: they gussy you up for the road show, they introduce you to their very large network of investors, and they take 7%. And they get high prices for their clients because they (YC/Goldman Sachs) has a reputation for getting the best companies into the funnel, which is in turn based on getting high prices for their clients.

[staunch]

William Morris discovers and coaches talent. They take a management fee. They intro their talent to film makers who have money. They're really only looking for super stars, but they sign a lot of other people by mistake.

[chaostheory]

Angels may be better than VCs, but the thing about angel investing, besides say Ron Conway, is that they're not always guaranteed to be great either in terms of integrity.