Investor Connect - 429 - Ellen Weber of Robin Hood Ventures

In this episode, Hall welcomes Ellen Weber, Executive Director at Robin Hood Ventures.

Robin Hood Ventures is a group of angel investors, focused on early-stage, high-growth companies in the Greater Philadelphia region. They help entrepreneurs build great companies, providing capital, mentoring, expertise, and connections, to help companies reach their potential. Robin Hood generally invests $250k to $500k and collaborates with angels, institutions, and VCs in their network. Since 1999, they have invested in over 45 companies in industries including software, medical devices, biotech, internet, and financial technology.

Ellen is passionate about innovation and about helping build great companies in Philadelphia. She serves as the Executive Director of Temple University’s Fox School of Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute, and an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship. Ellen is very active in the Philadelphia startup community, supporting Philly Startup Leaders, Philly Tech Meetup, and the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs. 

Previously, Ellen was the COO and co-founder of VisionMine (www.visionmine.com), which provides a specialized Open Innovation portal to large corporations.

Ellen has more than 25 years of experience creating strong teams and building strong leaders for emerging companies as well as Fortune 500 clients. She has been a Managing Director and Founder of Antiphony Partners, LLC, a strategic consulting firm that specializes in helping companies create sustainable value through innovation. She was involved in the growth of Investor Force, a provider of technology-based solutions for institutional investment professionals, where she created the company’s initial human resources department, facilitated strategic planning, and managed the organizational aspects of the company’s mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, she spent twelve years at Shared Medical Systems where she was responsible for initiatives encompassing organizational development, customer support, and corporate communications.  She was also a senior consultant for Andersen Consulting.

Ellen graduated from The Wharton School with a B.S. in economics.

Ellen discusses with Hall the current state of angel investing, how she thinks the industry is evolving, what challenges the group is experiencing, and she goes into detail about their investment thesis. Ellen shares what excites her in the space and how COVID-19 has impacted the group. 

You can visit Robin Hood Ventures at www.robinhoodventures.com, on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RobinHoodVent, and on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/robin-hood-ventures.  

Ellen can be contacted via email at [e-mail].