excerpted from thefunded.com ------- PUBLIC: I've held my breath on this one for a while, but we wasted an incredible amount of time with NYC Seed.... In fact,

excerpted from thefunded.com ------- PUBLIC: I've held my breath on this one for a while, but we wasted an incredible amount of time with NYC Seed.... In fact, we very nearly lost our opportunity to raise good money because of NYC Seed. If you value your time, do not spend it here. They are a firing squad. PRIVATE: A few additional points: - Owen says he wants to back startups, but in reality, he is absolutely risk adverse. Here's why: - The NYC Seed investment committee is a firing squad. They know nothing about startups, seed funding, or the rest. They want to co-invest with Fred Wilson, and put out press releases, but they are mortified at the idea of losing money and will screw you over at the last minute if they fear that this might happen. This is the city, politics and tax-payer money we're talking about, folks. Bad mix. - It was the longest "no" I've ever had. Ever. As I mentioned, we almost lost our chance at good money due to their process. They pulled out at the last second. - Now they've re-positioned as an incubator / quick-start program. $20K for 5% of your company is a total screw job. Do not take those terms!