- Do you love the idea of startups?
- Do you want the Seattle Startup scene to thrive?
- Do you want to invest in early stage startups but don’t know how to get started?
I’m committed to helping make Seattle a world leader for creating new technology businesses. I’ve jumped in by doing my own angel investing, mentoring and advising, and of course working on my own startup. But as I’ve done this, I can see that Seattle has a real problem compared to, say, the Bay Area. The current crop of angel investors, while somewhat active, are super-conservative and insular.
Early stage startups looking for seed money (e.g. $100-200k) are having to seek out angels in other cities. They struggle here in Seattle to get seed funding, but find it much easier in the Bay, Boston, or New York.
This makes no sense to me given Seattle’s economic base. I believe there population of people in the Seattle area who could be involved is much, much larger than those currently engaged.
It was great to see 300-400 people at the Seattle TechStars Demo Day last week. But it really seems like those are the same people who have been involved for years and years. I personally can think of 30 or 40 people who I worked with at Microsoft who should have been there, but probably didn’t even know about it. They probably can’t even spell Angel.
How do we get more, new blood, involved? How do we make them aware of the opportunities and help them understand how to be effective?
One idea comes from Oregon. Down there there are several organizations that run these events called Angel Conferences that provide noob angel investors a way of putting their toes in the water. They are a low-cost, low-risk, entertaining way for potential angel investors to become highly involved.
The format of these Angel Conferences was pioneered by the Oregon Entrepreneur Network (OEN) and has grown to include five Angel Conferences:
- Angel Oregon (Portland)
- Bend Venture Conference
- Willamette Angel Conference
- Gorge Angel Conference
- Medford Angel Conference
While I’ve never been to one of these, my understanding is the basic model is:
- A date is set for the conference about 6 months out.
- 50-100 early stage startups are recruited to participate
- 40 investors sign up committing $5000 each plus a ~$200 administration fee.
- Over about 4 months, the 50-100 startups are advised, mentored, and vetted winnowing the number down to 8 or 10 who will speed demo at the conference.
- During that same time period seminars and events are held where both investors and the entrepreneurs get training and coaching on deal flow and other startup topics critical to success.
- One startup is voted on to win it all ($200k). Its an “American Idol” like completion.
I love the idea of this format and would love to see the happen in the Seattle area.
What about you?
- Do you have the means to be an angel investor (you have $5K to $250K you are willing to put in risky early stage investments per year)?
- Do you have a passion for new businesses, technology, and innovation?
- Do you want to see the Seattle startup community thrive?
If so, go to www.seattleangelconference.com and fill out the survey. Or add a comment below with your thoughts.
Please forward this on to others you know who might be interested as well!
RSS - Posts
We have a great organization right here in Seattle called the Alliance of Angels.
I’m a member of AoA. It’s awesome. But it does not actively encourage the type of community growth I am talking about. Perhaps AoA would be a great organization to help sponsor/organize the type of event I’m talking about.
I’m a member of AoA. It’s awesome. But it does not actively encourage the type of community growth I am talking about. Perhaps AoA would be a great organization to help sponsor/organize the type of event I’m talking about.
I’m a member of AoA. It’s awesome. But it does not actively encourage the type of community growth I am talking about. Perhaps AoA would be a great organization to help sponsor/organize the type of event I’m talking about.
I’m a member of AoA. It’s awesome. But it does not actively encourage the type of community growth I am talking about. Perhaps AoA would be a great organization to help sponsor/organize the type of event I’m talking about.
Chris DeVore of the Founders Co-Op posted something very similar a few weeks ago. You should talk to him about how to improve the angel scene in Seattle
Great idea! Check out the Zino Zillionaire contest for something similar that’s happened here. I don’t think there’s another one scheduled soon, but it might be a good source of learnings.
I recently signed up for Zino Society. Looks like a great organization. Thanks Dan.
Intuitive investing of companies that have a value proposition and scalability with definitive IP and I am in. I think this should also be the Pacific Northwest and there should be synergy within. Most startups are of a notional idea that when one seriously scratches the surface one gets light as opposed to a core model. Most angels want to see a strong management background within that sector or tech. Allot of well funded social media startups are neither profitable nor scalable. The reason why SF is a launching pad is the scalability and network which the Northwest lacks, early entry and scale is optimal. Startups should focus on cloud saas solutions at this stage as this where the traction will come. Check Vulcan’s VC portfolio and you will see many non performers.
I’m in!
I’m in!! love this idea…
as a founder of a startup , I would rather approach an angel directly for the terms . Rather than to through this new game of American Idol version. It is probably good of investor who can pit the startups against each on the ruse of ‘mentoring’ them and then pick the winner.
but if you understand market dynamics and have the product at demo stage, its better to ditch these gimmicks and either go directly to angel or round A.
Most of the startups in these programs dont know what they are doing
Referring to one pair of sneakers, we have to think over their capacity. It is no exaggeration to say that cool grey 11 is the most suitable for wearing casually and playing basketball, jordan 11 cool grey were eventually released in 2001 and re-retro’d in 2009 with the nickname “jordan space jams“. Another version of the XI’s were released on December 23, 2010 called the “jordan cool grey“.the jordan cool grey 11 has very strong ground control. which is also one of the best capacity with perfectly understandable. If every pair of shoes has its own soul, undoubtedly, the jordan 11 concord is the most respect ones for me. jordan retro 11 was released in 2010 and had patent leather. which appeared in the playoffs firstly in early 1994. At that time, there are two version of this pair, one of which is the black / white color way, and we called it Jordan 11 Space Jam for being worn by Jordan playing movie.