By Chris Kauza Technology Editor First held over 20 years ago, the Angel Capital Summit has been attracting some of the most innovative entrepreneurial talent between Chicago and San Francisco. And this year was no exception! And with more than 650 people in attendances, the Summit offered two very well received keynote address by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (himself a successful businessman) and Anita Burke, a former Shell Oil Executive and head of the Catalyst Institute. The conference provided qualified investors and companies to meet one another, in a relaxed and professional manner. And if this conference was any indication, the Technology Industry is showing signs of strong growth along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains!
More than 120 business plan reviewers narrowed the 200+ candidate companies down to a final list of 43 presenting companies. While no specific industry was targeted in the conference, many of the companies I spoke with were related to Technology and Healthy Living were well represented. Interestingly enough, all of the companies had a variation on a common theme – Community. There were technology companies that helped create community as a core part of their business plans (Varvee, Xpressplay, etc.). There were companies that promoted lifestyle elements of a community, such as healthy living and there were even companies that targeted the needs of very specific communities, like deep water drilling. While the economic downturn was an obvious undercurrent to the proceedings (one presenter remarking that, "For an entrepreneur, it's always a Recession."), it was overwhelmed by a grounded optimism, characteristic of most entrepreneurs.
In a bold Marketing move, the Angel Capital Summit augmented their press coverage with 8 people reporting on the event using blogs and Twitters. It was the largest trending topic on Twitter that day, and also received very high Google search rankings – the “new media” pool made an impact! You can search on the conference proceedings by going onto Twitter or Twitter Search and doing a search on “#ACS08”. There you will see all of the Tweets of the conference attendees; scroll to the bottom of the page to go "earlier" in the conference. Many of the Tweets contain links to the company and presenters, for more information. If you want to follow any of the people posting the Tweets, simply click on the user name and "Follow". This was a great example of how Social Media tools can go from being an idle curiosity to force the promotion and awareness.
The point of the conference was to connect with like-minded individuals who could help each other, and that certainly happened. But how are attendees intending to connect and stay in touch after the big presentation? It turns out that most are using pretty standard channels – email and phone call follow ups. If there is determined to be a more substantive match, then generally a follow up face-to-face meeting ensues. To support this, conference organizers are leveraging Social Networking tools. They have created a private group on LinkedIn (by far, the platform that most attendees are on) where inventors and companies can meet with one another and develop more substantive relationships.
While I am not aware of any specific deals that were consummated at the conference, there were many interested investors. And while most of the companies did an excellent job of presenting their case, the one weakness I tended to see was when they tried to explain why they were better than their competition or a well-established / funded incumbent. And if there's one weakness I see in most business owners, it's “believing their own press” and under-estimating their competition.
Bottom line: it sounds like a worn-out phrase but people and relationships really are the backbone of your business success. Whether employees, investors, customers – you need to find ways to reach out and connect with people you are interested in and who may be interested in you. The Angel Capital Summit was a great example of how to blend traditional and new networking techniques to do just that!
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