The 2012 Seattle Angel Conference FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

The Seattle Angel Conference (SAC) announced its finalists for the first Seattle Angel Conference to be held on Thursday, May 31th at the MakersSpace in Downtown Seattle. The SAC if following the pattern set by the Oregon Angel Conferences which are run in five Oregon communities. This is the first year for the Seattle Angel Conference.

The six finalists are vying for an investment of about $100K . A wide range of companies applied the conference. These finalists were chosen after weeks of due diligence performed by the SAC investors.

Seattle Angel Conference 2012 Finalists:

Apptentive - Seattle - http://www.apptentive.com

GetSatisfaction + Salesforce.com for app developers. In < 15 minutes, developers can get better ratings & direct customer relationships.

Buddy - Seattle - http://www.buddy.com

Buddy provides a cloud services backend for app developers on any OS platform, and incredibly high fidelity analytics for app publishers.

Empower.me - Seattle - http://www.empower.me

We are a B2C startup in the TechEd space for parents and their students in high school and middle school. The Empower.me teen rewards system accelerates and augments your efforts to ensure your teen enters the real- world as a high ‐performing, engaged, prepared adult capable of meeting his/her full potential.

Homeschool Snowboarding - Portland - http://www.homeschoolsnowboarding.com

Homeschool creates the most durable highly breathable snowboard outerwear available. Keeping you warm and dry from the inside out.

Illumagear - Seattle - http://www.illumagear.com

We are a safety company working to impact the construction market by illuminating those who work and recreate in low light environments.

Stockbox Grocers - Seattle - http://www.stockboxgrocers.com

Stockbox Grocers improves access to fresh produce and grocery staples in urban food deserts to promote healthy and thriving communities.

One of the six finalists will be selected to receive the 2012 SAC investment on May 31th. The Seattle Angel Conference is open to anyone interested in the process of Angel Investing and Capital Entrepreneurship.

Crowd Funding? Paths to investment for startups

As a part of our ongoing workshops to help entrepreneurs and investors connect, we are doing the following workshop:

CrowdFunding

Talk about the JOBS Act

May 21st, 2012

Register here:  http://crowdfundmay2012.eventbrite.com/

With the recent passage of the JOBS CrowdFunding act, the rules for getting funding for your startup are changing. There is a great deal of hope about the possible new sources of funding for startups. There is also a great deal of fear that there will be rampant fraud. What are the possible outcomes of this legislation? Perhaps the changes in the 506 regulations will have a larger impact than the crowdfunding provistions. 

John Myer has started a conversation about this on his blog at :

              http://myercorplaw.com/complying-with-the-crowdfund-act-wont-be-trivial

John Myer and William Carleton will facilitate a conversation about the crowdfunding possiblities and consequences. Come join us to learn more about crowd funding. 

John A. Myer of Myer Law PLLC represents start-up companies from formation, though angel financing to merger or acquisition. Mr. Myer also negotiates bank or venture capital financing for established businesses and drafts contracts with companies' employees, customers or vendors. In addition, Mr. Myer represents investment advisers who operate hedge funds and others who manage public mutual funds. Prior to moving to Seattle in 2004, he was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell (New York and Frankfurt), Paul Weiss (London) and White & Case (Miami). Before his career in law, Mr. Myer received an MS in finance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked as a financial analyst and management consultant with Arthur D. Little, Inc. He earned his JD, magna cum laudefrom the University of Miami and an AB in mathematics and economics, summa cum laude, from Dartmouth College. He is a member of the Securities Committee of the Washington State Bar Association.

 

William Carleton, McNaul Ebel Nawrot & Helgren PLLC, serves on the Angel Capital Association's Public Policy Committee Advisory Council. In his work on the Council, he has closely followed the drafting and the passage of the JOBS Act. Bill writes regularly about startups, angel investing, the new crowdfunding exemption, and related topics in various publications, including his daily blog, http://wac6.com.

Register here:  http://crowdfundmay2012.eventbrite.com/

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 

http://seatttleangelconference2012.eventbrite.com/

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:

http://www.seattleangelconference.com/p/investor.html

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

Register Here

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.

Register Here

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

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

Apply to participate - Deadline is April 2nd. :

Companies: Apply to pitch at the event 

Qualified Investors: Apply to be part of the Investor LLC

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:

Companies: Apply to pitch at the event 

Qualified Investors: Apply to be part of the Investor LLC

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. :

Companies: Apply to pitch at the event 

Qualified Investors: Apply to be part of the Investor LLC

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.

Learn more at http://www.willamette.edu/mba/faculty_directory/wiltbank.htm

Dave Hersh is the keynote speaker for Seattle Angel Conference

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.