Last Wednesday in the Easy, we hosted the 2nd ever Seattle Open Angel Forum. Myself, my partner Chris DeVore and about 20 other active Seattle-area angels heard pitches from 5 startups. OAF's format looks like this: Each team only has 5 minutes to present - basically just enough time to demo their product. Then we open the floor for Q&A and feedback. The feedback element is particularly valuable and pretty unique. I like it because it's rare that entrepreneurs get constructive criticism from their audience of angels. Investors can help entrepreneurs in more ways than just the obvious (writing checks), e.g. making introductions and giving feedback. OAF was successful and valuable to both entrepreneurs and angels alike. I'll definitely be hosting OAF again. If you're an angel or an entrepreneur, mark November 2nd on your calendars.
We heard from these 5 startups. They did a great job.
1) Appitude - social book-reading platform aimed at increasing publisher's sales and making book reading more social.
2) Deal Springer - Twitter for Deals, enabling anyone to promote deals instantly.
3) GreenLine Legal - could-based software to summarize, compare, and analyze legal agreement
4) iSheet Music - sheet music store for iPhone/iPad.
5) Venpop - providing technology to retailers to merchandise products in social networks.
