Is There A Secret Silicon Valley Angel Investor Cabal?

Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch, is one of the best-known voices in the endless flow of Silicon Valley chatter. When he says that he stumbled into a secret meeting of high-profile, so-called “super angel” investors discussing how to stifle their competition and reduce deal valuations, Arrignton certainly caught our attention. Here’s why.

Arrington’s first-hand account is a must-read if you’re even slightly concerned about the topic. But the general gist is that by following up with some of the more uneasy participants after the fact — not being invited to the meeting himself, obviously — he found out that the group discusses such matters as how best to compete with Y Combinator, how to keep new investors and traditional VCs out, and how best to handle deals.

If he has his facts straight, this has potentially huge ramifications for Silicon Valley. What this “Godfather meeting,” as Arrington called it on his personal Twitter, sought to accomplish were alleged collusion amongst competitors and alleged price fixing. If true, the alleged practices could be illegal.

No one was named in Arrington’s report, which makes it difficult to confirm — and it’s hard to believe that major Silicon Valley players would be so brazen as to discuss it at a bar and grill in San Francisco rather than behind closed doors. All the same, Arrington hasn’t gotten this far by printing falsehoods, so The VAR Guy will be keeping a close eye on this developing story.

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