April 19, 2010

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OAF from an Entrepreneur’s Perspective

Note: The following is a guest post by Arik Waldman who presented TekTrak at OAF Silicon Valley recently.

As you struggle to raise money for your venture, you encounter a lot of investor attitudes. Some people will just ignore your e-mails or calls, while some respond shortly saying they are not interested; some let you pitch just to tear you to shreds, while others go ahead with you. However, almost every time you feel like investors are doing you a favor by talking to you. After all, they have the money, many entrepreneurs and start-ups are chasing them, so you should be grateful that they even talk to you, especially if you’re a first-timer (and I’m not even going to talk about the assholes that ask for money just so you could pitch them).

This is part of what makes Open Angel Forum an amazing event. My venture got into the Silicon Valley OAF. There were about 20 angels, and 6 companies that pitched. The first thing you notice is the relaxed, intimate atmosphere. You don’t feel intimidated. On the contrary, you feel like the angels are really interested in what you have to say. The pitch format (5 min. demo, 5 min. Q&A) keeps everybody’s attention – you manage to present your main concept and answer the main questions, and you can dive into more details in the networking session following the presentations.

The angels themselves are amazing. Each angel presents him or herself when the evening begins, including what other companies they invested in. My partner and I were eyeballing each other constantly. The names you hear are amazing – companies that made it big time (that’s an understatement) – and they know their stuff. They have incredible track records, either as investors or as entrepreneurs (or both). And you have 20 of these amazing people, sitting in front of you, listening to your business idea, giving insightful advice and helpful suggestions, and considering investing in your venture. It doesn’t get more “smart money” than that.

So for any seed-stage venture out there – go for it. OAF gives you a really unique opportunity and exposure to many prominent investors in a great forum concept. I hope OAF will become a global standard of how angels listen to entrepreneurs. Everybody would benefit.

April 12, 2010

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OAF NYC Recap

This past Thursday we kicked off the inaugural OAF NYC.  Six startups presented to 20 angels for 10-15 minutes each.  How did it go…?  Here’s a few blog posts from some of the angels and startups that were present….

Jon Steinberg

Fabrice Grinda

Brian Alvey

And of course there were tweets…..

A very special THANK YOU! to the sponsors who made this event possible….

JoyentCooley, and Winter Wyman.

Also a huge high 5 to Dogpatch Labs NYC for providing the venue, burgers and beers; and a double high 5 chest bump to our NYC chapter heads Charlie O’Donnell and Brian Alvey for all their time and effort and for making the OAF NYC magic happen.

March 25, 2010

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OAF NYC Application Deadline Next Week

Things are shaping up nicely for the inaugural OAF NYC event on April 8th.  The deadline to apply as an angel, startup, or sponsor is April 1st (no joke) but sooner is better as we will start going through the applications this weekend.

Signup Forms (NY)

March 5, 2010

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Applications open for OAF Silicon Valley, April 16th

Right off the heels of the inaugural OAF San Francisco event (which you may have read about here or here or here) we’re stoked to be kicking off OAF Silicon Valley on April  16th with none other than Dave McClure and Shervin Pishevar as the Silicon Valley chapter heads.

As usual, this event will bring together five great startups (apply here), a handful of great angels (apply here), and five seats for sponsoring service providers (available here).

The deadline for startups to apply is this event is April 8th.

OAF NYC takes place on April 8th and is accepting startup applications until March 30th.

March 2, 2010

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OAF SF Angels

We are just a couple days away from kicking off the first OAF SF this Thursday evening.  Joining us on the angel side of the table will be:

Mike Maples

Shervin Pishevar

Dave Morin

Brian Pokorny

Kevin Carter

Topher Conway

Andrea Zurek

Jeff Clavier

Mitch Kapor

Matt Mullenweg

Narendra Rocherolle

Ivan K. Nikkhoo

Joshua Schachter

Mark Suster

Cyan Banister

Andy Sack

February 24, 2010

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OAF SF Application Deadline!!!

We’re getting ready to kick off OAF SF and starting to review the applications.  If  you haven’t already, be sure to apply asap!  The deadline is Feb 26th, however, we will be reviewing over the weekend so you could squeak one in under the wire if it’s in by Monday morning (March 1st).

February 17, 2010

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Love for our sponsors

Valentine’s Day just passed, and there are a few people we wanted to send our sweet THANK YOUs to.  Below are the kind-hearted service providers who graciously made the whole thing possible by way of purchasing one of the five seats that we reserve at each event.

Los Angeles

Jonathan Atzen at DLA Piper

Scott Walker at Walker Corporate Law Group

Boulder

Dave Drach of Microsoft Emerging Business Team

Matthew Fargo of Cbiz

Doyle Albee  of Metzger Associates

Ben Oelsner of Kendall, Koenig & Oelsner

Anke Corbin of Zenzi

Mike Platt at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP

We are very pleased that the interest from and quality of the service providers continues to grow as we add new chapters.  Many new cities will be announced soon for those who are interested, and there are a few seats available for the upcoming OAF SF and OAF NYC events.

February 16, 2010

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Helping startups land angel funding (San Francisco, March 4th)

From: Jason Calacanis
Date: Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 5:32 PM
Subject: Helping startups land angel funding (San Francisco, March 4th)

PLEASE FORWARD TO: startups looking for funding.
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=========================================

Friends,

A quick and positive update on the Open Angel Forum (www.openangelforum.com).

As many of you know from reading this newsletter, I’m not a fan of
people having to pay to present at a conference or to angel investors.
Three years Mike Arrington and I partnered on the TechCrunch
conference to stop the “pay to present” virus that the DEMO conference
has been spreading for a decade or so. It’s been a huge success with
over 140 companies launching from the stage including Powerset, Mint,
FitBit and Yammer.
In January I launched the Open Angel Forum to stop the practice of
people paying to pitch angel investors. It’s been a stunning success
thanks to the 11 amazing companies that have presented thus far. I
super proud to announce that we now have four chapters up and running:
Los Angels, Boulder, San Francisco and New York. We will be announcing
one new city every month or so for the next two years, until we reach
the foot print of the very bad Keiretsu Forum (which charges folks to
pitch!). How great would it be to have 10 to 20 chapters running
around the world?!
Quick updates by city including how startups can apply (you don’t have
to be based in the actual city, but you must be willing to come
present at the event):

1. Open Angel Forum Los Angeles took place in January. Matt Coffin and
I are the hosts of the Los Angeles chapter. 20 amazing angels showed
up for five presentations. All of the companies have/are going to
raise money based on this meeting is the rumor. Yes, a 100% hit rate
is possible! The next events will be in April and September. Here is
the recap:

a) Startups can apply for Los Angeles: apply here
b) Buy a service provider ticket: available here
c) questions: la@openangelforum.com

2. Open Angel Forum, Boulder took place in February. David Cohen of
the amazing TechStars.com program and my old friend, and amazing
VC/bloggers, Brad Feld are running the Boulder chapter. The next event
will be in the late sprint and early fall in all likelihood. You can
read about the event at the links below:

a) Startups can apply for Boulder: apply here
b) Buy a service provider ticket: available here
c) questions: bo@openangelforum.com

3. Open Angel Forum San Francisco will take place on March 4th. We’re
thrilled to announce that new angel investors, the brilliant Kevin
Rose of digg fame, and seasoned angel investor Chris Sacca are running
the San Francsico chapter. Related links below:

a) Apply for San Francisco: apply here
b) Buy a service provider ticket: available here
c) questions: sf@openangelforum.com

4. Open Angel Forum New York will take place on April 8. I’ve tapped
Brian Alvey, my partner on Weblogs Inc. and Charlie O’Donnell of First
Round capital, to host the New York chapter. Related links below:
a) Apply for New York City: apply here
b) Buy a service provider ticket: available here
c) questions: ny@openangelforum.com

February 7, 2010

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Applications open for OAF SF, March 4th

Right off the heels of the LA and Boulder events we’re stoked to be kicking off OAF San Francisco March 4th with none other than Kevin Rose and Chris Sacca as the SF chapter heads.

As usual, this event will each bring together five great startups (apply here), a handful of great angels (apply here), and five seats for sponsoring service providers (available here).

Applications open for OAF NYC, April 8th

Right off the heels of the LA and Boulder events we’re stoked to be kicking off  OAF New York  April 8th with Brian Alvey and Charlie O’Donnell as the NYC chapter heads.

As usual, this event will each bring together five great startups (apply here), a handful of great angels (apply here), and five seats for sponsoring service providers (available here).