December 4, 2009

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About the Open Angel Forum

No fees, zero, zip, nada.

It starts with an open call for the best new startups to pitch their ideas.  From there the five most promising are selected to present before a room of angel investors.  However these aren’t just any ordinary angel investors, these are THE angel investors that any startup would love to have backing their vision.

Just like the startups, the angels themselves go through a selection process.  Much care is taken to select only the best 20 angels for each event.  Each angel that is accepted is expected to have  at least three or four notable angel investments in the last year.  Any angel who happens to be a lawyer, recruiter, accountant, is not able to participate as an angel, as we’re only interested in angels who are looking to invest, not pick up clients.

Lastly, in addition to the five presenters and 20 angels, we reserve five seats for service providers at $1500 per seat.  The service providers are seated with the angels and just like the angels, stand up to introduce themselves and their company.  Without exception to date, everyone in the room recognizes the sponsors with applause for their support and sponsorship of the event.  The idea is to keep the forum tight, intimate, high profile, and ideally suited for everyone involved.  No press or visitors are invited or allowed.

Since the inaugural event this past January in Los Angeles, additional chapters continue to launch at an incredible pace.  The plan is to limit to 20 cities worldwide, each having three events per year on average.  The response from everyone involved in all directions has been truly humbling and exciting to be part of, and  the excitement around each event continues to grow at a surprising rate.

If you or your company would like to be involved, please contact to discuss how we could work together.

  • http://N/A Richard Kinsman

    Dear Jason – can you tell me (I am an entrepreneur) what sorts of companies you are seeking (purely IT?) and also whether you are vetting prospective start ups for the upcoming LA dinner or have already selected them?

    Thank you.

  • http://www.theprintedblog.com Joshua Karp

    Jason… absolutely, 100% fantastic. Thank you from all of the aspiring entrepreneurs out there. Josh

  • http://www.tots2tweens.com Dani

    Jason – you are amazing. It’s so nice to see someone trying to help out businesses looking for funding. I am so skeptical these days trying to weed out the scam artists, etc. It’s all very unnerving.

    I would love to apply to pitch your investors…I am based on the East Coast (MD)…do you suggest waiting until another date is announced, or do you think your investors are okay investing in a business on the other side of the US?

    Thanks again.
    Dani

  • Ric Fleisher

    Will you look to do this on the east coast as well?

  • http://blog.jparkhill.com Jay Parkhill

    As a lawyer who works hard to get out and meet promising entrepreneurs, and has also hosted networking events for startups I completely understand the attendance/pricing point. One of the biggest complaints about my prior firm’s Angel Law Forum was the ratio of service providers to bona fide angels.

    A clarifying point: read up on legal news if you think law firms are sitting on piles of cash. 2009 has been a bloodbath for the legal profession. Most lawyers are under-utilized and struggling to drum up business- the same as many of their startup clients.

    And in the Law of Unintended Consequences Department: be aware that when you charge lawyers $1500 to attend an event, they need to recapture the expense, and the only way to do that is through fees to clients.

    I hope your event goes superbly and I look forward to hearing great things about it. In the meantime, I will be attending cheapie networking events so that I can keep my rates low.

    Best,
    Jay Parkhill
    Virtual Law Partners

  • http://www.uniquevisitor.net Jeff Pester

    Viva la revolucion! Looking forward to an upcoming session in SF.

    Congrats.

  • http://ryanspoon.com/blog/2009/12/06/jason-calacanis-announces-launch-of-open-angel-forum/ Jason Calacanis Announces Launch of Open Angel Forum // RyanSpoon.com

    [...] can learn more at OpenAngelForum.com. Tied to this announcement, Jason stated his intent to invest as an angel in 5-10 startups a [...]

  • aaron wall

    Nice strategy. I don’t always agree with your public relations tactics, but (outside of being hypocritical) they are effective, and this launch is a good way to really start stamping a big footprint into the start up market. :)

    If you own (or have interest in) the surrounding media ecosystem you can pump your own interests after investing in them. A sure way to ensure they get the right types of exposure & adequate public relations + PageRank.

  • http://www.twitter.com/sharelomer Sharel

    Dear Jason, i can say that your personal statement is working, at list for me :) i read a lot and learn from you, i love this concept and hope to be part of it.

    @Jason personal mission statement in life: “To inspire, educate and support entrepreneurs.”

  • http://www.sowmo.com/internet/internet-entrepreneur-calacanis-launches-open-angel-forum-a-free-access-to-investors-program/2173 Internet entrepreneur Calacanis launches Open Angel Forum, a free-access-to-investors program | qface & sowmo sky

    [...] website for Open Angel Forum describes the forum’s methodology and includes an application form for interested entrepreneurs. Web 2.0 visionaries beware: One [...]

  • http://victorcaballero.com Victor Caballero

    Jason,

    This is awesome. Thanks for the continued work to bring LA to the forefront of the tech/venture world.

    -Victor

  • http://economistcapital.com Chirag Pancholi

    Jason,

    As a Founders Funded Institute portfolio company seeking funded, this model you have created is fantastic! Thank you for helping struggling entrepreneurs!
    Thanks!

    Quick suggestion: Entrepreneurs should get a list of angels attending to get a picture on their investments to prevent a conflict of interest based on their investments already…

    Sincerely,
    Chirag Pancholi
    FFI graduate Summer 2009 – Inaugural class

  • http://www.jawden.com/?p=714 Jawden.com » Internet entrepreneur Calacanis launches Open Angel Forum, a free-access-to-investors program

    [...] website for Open Angel Forum describes the forum’s methodology and includes an application form for interested entrepreneurs. Web 2.0 visionaries beware: One [...]

  • markus

    Any chance you’ll be hosting events in NYC?

  • http://alexcapecelatro.com Alex Capecelatro

    Let me know if you’d like some help with this event.

  • http://www.kikabink.com/news/jason-calacanis-launches-inaugural-open-angel-forum-in-los-angeles/ Jason Calacanis Launches Inaugural Open Angel Forum in Los Angeles | Kikabink News – Internet Marketing News

    [...] For more information about the Open Angel Forum go here: Open Angel Forum. [...]

  • http://engineactive.com/abstract/ Michael Troy

    For anyone interested. I have just published a post about my experience creating the Open Angel Forum logo design.

    http://engineactive.com/abstract/2009/12/open-angel-forum-logo-how-to-identify-opportunity-and-run-with-it-in-3-easy-steps/

  • http://www.redanyway.com Kuldeep Kapade

    Can a start-up from outside of U.S. apply? And of course I mean start-ups who are ready to incorporate in U.S.

  • http://revoltboats.com Ryan Ellis

    You have a great business model.

  • http://evertb.wordpress.com Evert Bopp

    Jason,

    Congrats on getting it this far.
    Just for clarity what is the purpose of the $1500 fee for the service providers aside from filtering who & how many service providers attend?

    Evert.

  • Andrew

    Can entrepreneurs stop by and check out the event?

  • http://London David Turner

    This would be supercool to do in London! Please bring it over asap!

    Love the podcast btw!

  • http://www.buzztouch.com David Book

    Quick note… your comment the other day on TWIST about Google buying the rights to the top-films that didn’t get distribution deals at the Sundance festival was brilliant!

    Love the show, keep up the good work. Keep inspiring.

  • steepdecline

    Thanks for sharing your concern Ann. We’re very aware of the issue you raise and happy to report that don’t see that being a problem given that we carefully screen the angels we allow to participate.

  • steepdecline

    Thomas, when you have great companies pitching and other great angels at the event, the angels are happy to fly across the country to attend as many have at the first 2 events. In fact it looks like the majority of angels at the upcoming SF event will be fly-ins.

  • http://mykonosislandh.livejournal.com/ Peter Howitz

    Hello! I will post a link to this page on my furthcoming blog if its ok for you. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful.

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