Brian Cohen

As an angel investor and mentor to entrepreneurs, BRIAN S. COHEN serves as Chairman of the New York Angels, the #1 most active angel group in the country, with more than $100M invested into more than 100 early stage companies. Mr. Cohen was the first investor in Pinterest and numerous other industry leading startups. As a new author, Mr. Cohen’s book entitled “What Every Angel Investor Wants You to Know: An Insider Reveals How to Get Smart Funding for Your Billion Dollar Idea” was published and released by McGraw Hill in April 2013. As a social entrepreneur, Mr. Cohen was the founding Board member of Center4, NYC’s first technology accelerator devoted to serving the non-profit community. As a disruptive media entrepreneur, Mr. Cohen believes that all new products, services and ideas should be easy to discover, find, share and buy. As a result, Mr. Cohen co-founded Launch.it with his son Trace in May 2012, the first direct-to-customer event news and social engagement platform currently being used by the world’s largest events to create a central location for all exhibitor and partner news. As a social media specialist, Mr. Cohen created iFluence PR in 2009, a strategic behavioral-based communications consultancy for the new earned influence / social media community. As a technology media communications strategist, Mr. Cohen is considered one of the fathers of science and technology strategic communications, and 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, Mr. Cohen maintained a broad strategic communications partnership with Sony & IBM Corporation providing counsel to dozens of their 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 U.S. Mr. Cohen sold the company to the McCann Erickson World Group in 1997 and became the Vice Chairman. As a researcher, Mr. Cohen 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, Mr. Cohen was a pioneer in helping start a number of the first computing publications, to include Computer Systems News and InformationWeek Magazine. As an educator, Mr. Cohen created the AIMS (Advanced Internet Media Studies) Program, a college semester program where students will be trained to use the Internet smartly and professionally. He also advises entrepreneur students at NYU and Columbia University. As a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award, Mr. Cohen holds a Masters Degree in Science Communications from Boston University’s School of Public Communications.