Vator and Bullpen Capital Bring Popular SF Event, Venture Shift, to NYC Thursday November 17th

NEW YORK, Nov. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Angels and investors have poured a record amount of dollars into NYC-based seed- and early-stage investments this year, upending Boston to take the coveted No. 2 spot behind Silicon Valley as a leading startup and venture center.  With VC firms opening East Coast offices, rising valuations of private companies, the inevitable cash crunch, and the rise of secondary markets are all on the minds of investors and entrepreneurs. Vator and Bullpen Capital are taking their popular Venture Shift event to NYC, bringing a diverse roster of East Coast VCs and Angels to debate on what all of this means for the overall entrepreneur and venture environment.

Drawing a sold-out crowd of 450 attendees, Venture Shift in San Francisco probed the changing dynamics of the venture industry and is now headed to NYC on the evening of November 17, Thursday, at Le Poisson Rouge, in downtown Manhattan. Keynote speakers include startup to VC crossover, Mark Suster of GRP Partners, and market gamechanger, Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO of SecondMarket. Billy Chasen, CEO and co-founder of Turntable.fm and Michael Lazerow, CEO and founder of Buddy Media serve as Venture Shift Floating Point speakers, offering the startup point of view from two young and rapidly expanding companies.

To supplement the event Vator and Bullpen are also giving two lucky startups an opportunity to present their companies at a demo table at the event. Startups should submit their company's Vator profile to the competition page before voting ends on November 10th: http://vator.tv/competition/venture-shift-ny-startup-search.

The full Venture Shift NYC lineup is as follows:

Billy Chasen, CEO and Co-Founder, Turntable.fm
Michael Lazerow, CEO and Founder, Buddy Media
Howard Morgan, Managing Partner, First Round Capital
David Tisch, Director, TechStars
James Robinson, Partner, RRE Ventures
Tony Florence, Partner, NEA
Mark Suster, Partner GRP 

Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO of SecondMarket

Owen Davis, Partner, NYC Seed
David Cundey, Director, Credit Suisse Securities
Ward Breeze, Partner, Gunderson Dettmer
Gil Beyda, Founder & Managing Partner, Genacast Ventures
Roger Ehrenberg, Founder and Managing Partner, IA Ventures
Daniel B. Garrie, Partner, Pulse Advisory
Lewis Gersh, Managing Partner, Metamorphic Ventures
Rick Heitzmann, Founder and Managing Director, FirstMark Capital
Spencer Punter, Director, Capital Dynamics
Lee Hower, General Partner, NextView Ventures
Bobby Ocampo, Associate, Grotech Ventures
John Avirett, Principal, Greenspring
Ezra Roizen, Partner, Ackrell Capital
Micah Rosenbloom, Partner, Founder Collective
Bruce Taragin, Managing Director, Blumberg Capital
Ed Zimmerman, Lowenstein Sandler
Bambi Francisco, Founder, Vator
Paul Martino, Founder, Bullpen Capital
Duncan Davidson, Founder, Bullpen Capital
Rich Melmon, Founder, Bullpen Capital

More information on the event and tickets is available at http://vator.tv/events/ventureshift-ny-nov-2011.

About Vator: Vator (short for innovator) is one of the largest business networks dedicated to high-tech entrepreneurs.  Founded and run by veteran and award-winning journalist Bambi Francisco, Vator consists of Vator.tv, a leading business network with more than 80,000 members and high-tech companies, using the service to effectively get discovered by investors, partners, and the overall entrepreneur community. VatorNews is Vator's news site focused on innovation with 400-plus contributors.

About Bullpen Capital: Bullpen Capital is a second round investor that invests in companies previously seeded by the Super Angel funds. Bullpen's founders include Paul Martino, founder and former CEO of Aggregate Knowledge, Duncan Davidson, founder of Covad and former venture partner at VantagePoint, and Richard Melmon, co-founder of Electronic Arts.

SOURCE Vator, Inc.