"Entrepreneurship is alive and well in New York, as it is up and down the East Coast," General Catalyst Partners managing director George Bell says in this episode of The Deal's Behind the Money online video show.

"Venture funding is available here, and there are great entrepreneurs and great venture firms to back them," says Bell, the former CEO of Excite@Home. "You don't have to go to Sand Hill Road," a reference to Silicon Alley's VC-filled street.

Bell encourages entrepreneurs to be bold, tackle big problems and go after established players.

We spoke with Bell at Silicon Alley Insider's Startup 2009 contest during Internet Week New York last week.

Based in Boston, General Catalyst recently increased its New York presence by bringing aboard Facebook Inc. co-founder Chris Hughes to work in Manhattan as entrepreneur-in-residence. Hughes, whose most recent gig was new media strategist for President Obama's campaign, spoke at the conference about his recent visits to various colleges and universities in his quest to identify young entrepreneurs.

The idea for the conference was Bell's, he says in the video. About six months ago, he called Silicon Alley Insider co-founder Henry Blodget to suggest the New York business blog co-host an event for entrepreneurs with the Boston VC firm. The result of the call was Startup 2009, a contest in which 10 finalists competed for a grand prize of $25,000 from General Catalyst, plus $75,000 in services.

Click here to see The Deal's conversation with grand prize winner Cheryl Milone, founder of Article One Partners, moments after winning. Check out our other Startup 2009 videos: with finalist Path101 co-founder Charlie O'Donnell on why he sometimes wishes he never heard of venture capital; with Tumblr Inc. founder David Karp on how new hires have made him "happier"; with Jason Calacanis on Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales being a "poser," not an entrepreneur and why entrepreneurs shouldn't give up; and with Blip.tv co-founder Dina Kaplan on the challenges New York's entrepreneurs face.

Still to come: videos with Venrock's David Pakman, AlleyCorp's Kevin Ryan and Original Signal Recordings' Daniel Klaus. Watch the video with Bell below or download it on iTunes.

For more on the changing venture capital business, see Honey, I shrunk the VCs, in this week's issue of The Deal magazine. - Mary Kathleen Flynn

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