We thought today for our interview, that we'd get an update on the angel investment environment here in Southern California from Scott Sangster , the incoming President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Tech Coast Angels , the biggest angel investment group in Southern California. Scott sat down with us last week and gave us some hints and tips about finding angel investment nowadays, and how the economy has affected local angel investors. It It seems that the economy hit angel investors pretty badly over the last couple of years, along

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 -- Tech Coast Angels Fast Pitch. Our Fast Pitch Competitions are "the" place for Southern California entrepreneurs to present their ideas to investors. Each competition consists of 10-12 entrepreneurs giving fast pitches to a panel of investors and other members of Southern California's entrepreneurial community. Pitches are judged on the quality of the CEO��s presentation and the company��s investment potential. Over the years, Tech Coast Angels and several venture capital firms have funded many companies that have been Fast Pitch

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 -- The Tech Coast Angels 5th Annual Fast Pitch Competition will take place on February 24th at UCLA Anderson School of Management. CEOs of 12 early stage companies, selected from more than 100 applicants, will have 90 seconds to pitch their companies to a panel of judges.The event will also include a keynote presentation by Steve Streit, CEO of TCA-funded Green Dot, a panel of CEOs discussing their funding war stories and angels and venture capitalists providing tips on how to get early stage funding. Dinner and refreshments will be served after the program at a networking event attended by hundreds of investors, entrepreneurs and other industry experts.

Last week's angel investment report by the Angel Capital Association reported that investments by angel investors dropped nine percent in 2008, with a hefty percentage of angel investors--40 percent--expecting this year will be a down year. However, a quick check of local, Southern California angel investors finds that although angel investment is down, investors are still investing--albeit much more selectively. "Capital Capital efficient companies offering very competitive terms are still getting funded," says Al Schneider of the Tech Coast Angels , although it appears the group is much more sensitive about how it is investing in deals.

The venture backed startup--which has scored funding from the Tech Coast Angels and VantagePoint Venture Partners--appears to have significant overlap to Google's new Google Voice services. Google, However, Alex Quilici, the firm's CEO, told socalTECH that he actually sees something good from the competition. "Our Quilici did say that the move Irvine-based startup YouMail has just gotten a new competitor: search engine giant Google, which launched a significantly comparable service to YouMail's voice mail services. YouMail offers a voice mail service which allows

Equipois , the developer of a mechanical arm--based on Hollywood's Steadicam--for reducing the weight of tooling and other objects, took the top prize and was ranked in 1st place overall in Wednesday evening's Tech Coast Angels Fast Pitch . The annual Fast Pitch competition pitted 10 companies against each other in 90-second, elevator pitches to a panel of 10 judges. After each 90-second pitch, and a quick Q&A, judges at the event gave both a presentation score and fundability score to each company. In terms of presentations, Renovation Planners was ranked

Thursday, October 2, 2008 -- San Diego Tech Coast Angels Second Annual Quick Pitch Competition. Announcing a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to participate in the San Diego Tech Coast Angels Quick Pitch competition. Selected applicants will make a 2-minute quick pitch presentation to a blue ribbon panel of judges. The panel will instantaneously judge your presentation on both substance (meat) and presentation quality (form).

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 -- The Tech Coast Angels Presents the 9th Annual Orange County Fast Pitch Competition. * Network with hundreds of investors and entrepreneurs. * Enjoy a sumptuous walk-around gourmet dinner and wine with the Angels. * Watch the finalists in the competition pitch to a panel of expert judges. * Learn about exciting new startup investment opportunities. See [link] (mor

We brought together Peter Cowen of Groundwork Equity , Mark Suster of GRP Partners , Rick Smith of Crosscut Ventures , and Richard Yen of Saban Ventures -- all of who will be on the judging panel for the Tech Coast Angel's Fast Pitch on February 24th, to give us a their hints and tips about pitching to venture capitalists. It's also good to talk somewhat about the competition, and why this ideas is different from the others. For this morning's interview, we thought we'd try something different, and put together a virtual panel of venture capitalists to give us a few tips on pitching your company.

For today's Insights and Opinions section, Frank Peters, of the Frank Peters Show, interviews John Dilts of angel group, the Maverick Angels. Maverick Southern California already has mature, well established angel groups like the Pasadena Angels and the Tech Coast Angels; is there room for one more? Will a little competition be good for entrepreneurs? Maverick is based in Westlake Village, to be more specific, which once hosted a Keiretsu Forum chapter. Is Maverick Keiretsu reincarnated?