Jason Calacanis , CEO of Santa Monica-based Mahalo.com and co-producer of the TechCrunch50 conference--not known for pulling his punches--publicly targeted angel group The Keiretsu Forum today for their presentation fees. In Calacanis' personal blog, he called for bloggers to launch a public campaign against Keiretsu. ...Tags: According to Calacanis, he's on a campaign to "destroy" the angel group, saying that the group has been taking advantage of startup companies by charging them $4,000 to $6,000 to present to angel investors. The effort highlights

A personal campaign by Santa Monica-based Mahalo.com 's CEO, Jason Calacanis, to put pressure on for-profit angel investment firms to stop charging entrepreneurs to pitch, has ramped up, as Calacanis said Tuesday that he has been informed that Keiretsu Forum is filing a lawsuit against him. Keiretsu Forum was the initial target of the effort by Calacanis to stop the practice of charging entrepreneurs to talk with investors. No details on the lawsuit have been released by either of the parties. Calacanis has been on a crusade since last week, to expose the fees

Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Santa Monica-based Mahalo , is continuing his crusade against angel groups and others who charge startups to pitch their groups, saying that he's now calling on groups to stop charging fees, and post what fees they were charging to entrepreneurs on their web sites. Calacanis--who launched his campaign earlier this week, targeting angel group the Keiretsu Forum --has now expanded his list of target angel groups to not only Keiretsu, but also Westlake Village-based Maverick Angels , PrivateEquityForums.com , Los Angeles-based iHollywoodForum's Tech

Jason Calacanis , CEO of Santa Monica-based Internet search site Mahalo , has signed on several angels for his new angel group, the Open Angel Forum - Los Angeles . Calacanis--who started the group as an outgrowth of his crusade against pay-to-pitch angel groups like The Keiretsu Forum--said in his blog today that he has signed up Matt Coffin , Sky Dayton , and Bill Woodward as members of his group. Coffin is the founder of LowerMyBills, Dayton is the founder of Earthlink, and Woodward is a venture capitalist at Anthem Venture Partners. Calacanis launched what he called

Seattle-based startup Earth Class Mail has landed in Los Angeles, saying Monday that the firm has opened up shop on Santa Monica Boulevard for the firm's Internet mail service. Earth Class Mail -- which is venture backed by the Keiretsu Forum -- said the new location will help "entertainment-industry professionals and jet-setters" to gain a Hollywood area mail address. The new location Earth Class Mail receives and digitized physical, postal mail for its users, allowing them to read their postal mail online, and request specific pieces of mail for delivery to their street address.