Brian Cohen

As an angel investor and entrepreneur mentor he now serves as the Chairman of the New York Angels who has invested over $100 million into more than 100 early stage technology companies. Brian was the first investor in Pinterest and numerous other industry leading startups.

As a new author, Brian's new book (McGraw Hill) entitled "What Every Angel Investor Wants You To Know To Raise Smart Money For Billion Dollar Idea" will be published in April.

As a disruptive media entrepreneur, Brian believes that all new products, services and ideas should be easy to discover, find, share and buy. As a result, Brian co-launched with his son Trace the first direct to customer - self-publishing PR news platform called Launch.it in May 2012.

As a social entrepreneur, Brian is a founding Board member of Center4, NYC's first technology accelerator devoted to serving the non-profit community. Center4 is scheduled to open this Spring in Hudson Square, New York.

As a technology media strategist, Brian is considered one of the fathers of science & technology strategic communications, having co-founded Technology Solutions, Inc. with his wife Carol in 1983.  TSI's client list read like an entrepreneurial Who's Who of startup technology companies in computing, communication, software, education, and entertainment. For more than a decade, Brian maintained a broad strategic communications partnership with Sony & IBM Corporation providing counsel to dozens of their intrapreneurial new technology divisions. Notably, TSI received the Gold CIPRA award in 1998 for the IBM Deep Blue/Gary Kasparov Chess Match concept and communications program. In 1996, TSI was recognized as the #1 fastest growing agency in the United States.  He later sold the company to The McCann Erickson World Group in 1997 and became the Vice Chairman of their technology group.

As a researcher, Brian created Focus Technology, an organization that provided qualitative research and instituted the RPM model of integrated strategic communications providing ultra-competitive technology clients the ability to quickly discover and leverage their key strengths, as well as mitigate their destructive weaknesses.

As a publisher, Brian was a pioneer in helping start of a number of the first computing publications, to include Computer Systems News and InformationWeek Magazine.

As an educator, Brian created the AIMS (Advanced Internet Media Studies) Program, a college semester program where students will be trained to use the internet professionally. He also advises entrepreneur students at NYU and Columbia University.

As a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award, Brian holds a Masters Degree in Science Communications from Boston University's Sch