Friday, April 6, 2012

Application date extended to April 9th

We have had 24 companies apply to the Seattle Angel Conference. This looks like an interesting mix of companies. We have had a couple of request for people to join into the due diligence. If you are a company that wants to apply , the tickets have been reopened and will close on Monday 4/9.  Please go to 


and register as an applying company. 

If you are investor and want to get in on the due diligence, please look at the investor page and fill out the interest form:


Our due diligence will happen every Tuesday night until the end of May, where we will review companies and explore the process of investing. Our goal is to engage more people in the startup funding process. 

The First Due Diligence deep dive will happen on Tuesday April 10th. The reading of the documents for companies has already begun.  Please let us know if you would like to join this process. 


Termsheets for Entrepreneurs Workshop


Termsheets for Entrepreneurs
with Anik Guha from Orrick
April 16th, 2012  - 6:00pm






As an entrepreneur and an investor come to decison that they want to work together, they need to come to an agreement of the terms under which the deal will be struck. Will it be a Loan? A Convertable Note? An stake for equity or a piece of revenue? The terms and conditions of the deal will make a significant difference to the end result. 

Even with the new crowdfunding law in place, there will need to be terms and conditions on the deals that are made. Due diligence is one of the best tools when you are making a deal. Come talk with Anik Guha from Orrick about how to structure a deal. 

Learn about early stage term sheets (debt and equity), with a focus on long-term consequences for founders. Specific topics include:
            --How should you structure your early financings?
            --Dilution impact of convertible debt and early stage equity
            --Setting a template for future rounds
            --Board structure
            --What is "market"?

Anik Guha is the head of Orrick's emerging companies group in Seattle. His practice includes the formation, financing and general corporate counseling of emerging growth private companies. Most of Anik's clients are in fast growth fields related to information technology, media, entertainment and clean technology.



PS, Orrick is one of the firms that has an online Startup Kit

Friday, March 23, 2012

Get engaged in Startups: Present, Invest, participate in the Seattle Angel Conference


Apply to participate - Deadline is April 2nd. :

Participate in the startup ecosystem. Pitch your company to investors and get feedback and meaningful due diligence. Be an investor and as a group decide where to invest your fund dollars. Learn about due diligence and investment term sheets as a participant at the conference. 

Apply to participate - Application Deadline is April 2nd:

The Seattle Angel Conference is an investor driven event, which helps to grow the early part of the startup ecosystem. One of the ways to grow more successful startup businesses in the region is to have more people investing in more good startups. The Angel Conference draws together people who are interested in learning more about Investing in startups with the startups who are looking for investment. 

At the event, Come hear Dave Hersh from Jive Software tell his Entrepreneurial story. Listen to Rob Wiltbank from Willamette University and Montlake Capital present research about the success of Angel Investing. See six finalists present their companies and hear from the due diligence teams how they see the companies. 

But the most interesting part of the event happens in the 8 weeks before the conference event, with the weekly due diligence meetings between the Investors and the presenting companies. To get the deepest value from this event, participate as an investor or as a applying company. 

All of the companies that apply will be listed in the event booklet and will be able to attend the event. They will get get feedback on their idea and will be connected to resources to help move them forward. 


Apply to participate - Deadline is April 2nd. :


Monday, March 12, 2012

Rob Wiltbank will present at Seattle Angel Conference


Dr. Wiltbank will be speaking at the Seattle Angel conference. He is actively tracking the activities of the OEN Angel Oregon style Conferences and the Oregon Angel Fund. His analysis of Angel Investing and Venture Capital returns have been referenced in many conversations, especially the Returns for Angel Investors in Groups.  

Dr. Wiltbank is Associate Professor of Strategic Management for the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University, a program dedicated to management principles that are core to creating value in For Profit, Not For Profit, and Government organizations. He teaches courses on Industry Analysis, Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Governance, and Venture Finance.

He is also a Partner at Montlake Capital, a growth stage venture investment firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington. He currently serves on the board of Max-Viz Inc, and the board of the Angel Resource Institute. In addition, he teaches governance and strategy to nonprofit organizations throughout the U.S. as part of National Arts Strategies, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing managerial expertise in non-profits.

Dr. Wiltbank's research focuses on strategy making under uncertainty, particularly as it relates to growing new organizations. He is a leading researcher in the field of angel investing, and has published research in top tier academic journals covering topics from change in top management teams, to non-predictive strategies; from entrepreneurial expertise in marketing, to formal venture capital investment practices. He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Venturing.

Rob is co-author of the book The Catalyst from Crown Publishing, based on his research as a Batten Institute Research Fellow with the Darden School at the University of Virginia, selected by Business Week as one of the top 10 books on innovation and leadership in 2009. He is also co-author of Effectual Entrepreneurship, from Routledge Publishing in 2011, a text on entrepreneurial expertise based on 15 years of academic research on the topic. He holds a Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the University of Washington, and a degree in finance & accounting from Oregon State University.


Dave Hersh is the keynote speaker for Seattle Angel Conference


Dave Hersh picture

Dave Hersh is coming to the Seattle Angel conference and will launch the conference with the keynote address. 

Dave is an active investor and advisor to early stage companies with a focus on enterprise SaaS and social technologies. Dave sits on the boards of Crushpath, ShopIgniter, Steelwedge, and the nonprofit Wildaid, and is an active advisor to many companies. 

Dave was the Founding CEO and then Chairman of Jive Software, a Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins backed growth company. In that role, his vision and leadership grew the company from its inception as a small open source project with no revenue to a $55M, pre-IPO company. Jive became the hands-down leader of the Social Business Software revolution, with leadership positions in three separate Gartner Magic Quadrants. Prior to Jive, Hersh was the CFO at 4charity and a management consultant at VIA International.

Dave has gained a reputation for his knowledge of how to build great companies, create and win markets, and assemble rockstar teams. He has been profiled in New York Times and Forbes, is an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and is a frequent speaker at industry events. He lives in Mill Valley, CA and holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from DePauw University.

Come to the Seattle Angel Conference to hear Dave speak about his startup experience.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Registration Now Open

Tickets are now available for the Seattle Angel Conference:

or

The date of the conference is Thursday May 31st, 2012. 

Oregon's Angel Business Plan Competition Model: Coming to Seattle?


A very interesting article by Sabrina Parsons has been posted at Forbes website about the Oregon Angel conferences. It is worth a quick read. Take a quick look at the following link: