Söhnlein: Space Angels Network Making “Tremendous” Progress

Out of the Cradle has an interview with Guillermo Söhnlein, founder of the International Association of Space Entrepreneurs and Space Angels Network.

EVA: Guillermo, you said that in April 2006 you gave the Space Angels Network “experiment” 3 years. Here we are March 2009, almost 3 years later (where does the time go?), have you made sufficient traction to continue and accelerate your efforts?

Guillermo Söhnlein: It’s definitely been slow going and much more labor-intensive than we anticipated. We went into this knowing full well that what we were trying to do was extremely difficult, namely: (a) starting a new angel investor group (b) focused on a general sector (c) with entrepreneurs and investors spread out across the country. And it has been every bit as difficult as we expected … and then some. Of course, the economic slowdown hasn’t helped matters. 😉

Then again … considering that all of the work has been done by part-time volunteers, I feel like we’ve made TREMENDOUS progress. In late-December I sent out an email entitled “Looking Back; Looking Ahead” to our members, Advisors, and Sponsors. I recapped everything we’ve accomplished so far, and it was fairly impressive (if I do say so myself!). We’ve really created a strong platform for early-stage deal-making, so we’re expecting great things as we continue to build our momentum throughout 2009.

Read the full interview.