Ever since launching two Silicon Valley startups during the heady days of the “dotcom boom”, I’ve had an abiding interest in new companies and how smart entrepreneurs can take good ideas and morph them into sustainable businesses.
I figure that between a stint as entrepreneur in residence for a small incubator, doing due-diligence research for VC firms in the Valley, and my own consulting efforts, I’ve worked with over a hundred startups, and I can tell you that most people don’t get it, and don’t have much clue at all about how to take a good idea and create a revenue stream that can fund both the current business and its future growth.
That’s why it’s important for most companies to get the turbo boost of raising capital, so they can build faster, with a better team that includes non-founders. And that’s why I’m really looking forward to going to the Angel Capital Summit in Denver, Colorado on November 13th.

Frankly, startups seeking funding are in a very similar position to single people looking for dates and a long-term relationship. You can hang out at the local bar (the startup equivalent is “networking events”) and hope you’ll get lucky, but ultimately that’s a very inefficient approach and odds are definitely working against you.
A smarter strategy is to have someone introduce you to people that they think you’d “click” with based on them knowing both of you. Best is to actually have some sort of profile and personality matching system, and that, of course, is why companies like Match.com and eHarmony.com are raking it in while serving a valuable purpose in the relationship world.
Why is this relevant? Because I think of the Angel Capital Summit as a kind of on-ground match.com for startup companies and angel investors.
Interesting, no?
As the site explains: “The Angel Capital Summit, hosted by the Rockies Venture Club, is a new collaboration of leading professional organizations that serve entrepreneurs and early-stage investors. This summit delivers a uniquely different approach of matching up Investors and Entrepreneurs by presenting only companies which have been Benchmarked for Success™”
If you’re in the Colorado Front Range area and are either part of a startup, an angel investor, or just curious about how these two groups connect and work together to launch successful ventures, I’m confident that the Angel Capital Summit is going to be well worth the afternoon. I’ll find out: I’ve already booked it in my calendar!