Subject: Monday, April 18th meeting notice - The Tech Startup Connection

From: "B. Mitchell Loebel" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:06:58 -0700

Looks like another popular TSC 
<http://www.TechStartupConnection.org>www.TechStartupConnection.org 
meeting coming up this Monday, April 18th. If you are planning to 
attend, You must RSVP asap ... seating is limited! Last month we had 
to turn people away at the door ... only acknowledged RSVP's can be 
admitted. Do it early and please post this on your company's email.

**Note: TSC made a very important connection that will significantly 
benefit those of you who are developing or have developed a Consumer 
Electronics product. We will announce the details at our meeting. 
Btw, thanks to those of you who have already responded to this note.

Monday, April 18th, 7:30PM - Hal Nissley of Angel Investors, Stanley 
Wong of Sand Hill Angels, and Tom Hong of CEO Connection will present 
"What Angel Investors Look For in Entrepreneurs AND What 
Entrepreneurs Should Look for in Angels"

OK, you're an entrepreneur. You and your team have a great product 
idea ... perhaps even several. You've well designed your business 
model, you've paid careful attention to the construction of your 
management team, and your technology is sound. You've used your good 
connections (including The Tech Startup Connection) to gain free 
access to expensive resources needed to go forward. What's next? 
Funding, of course to pay for additional resources. You've tapped out 
your friends and relatives and full fledged VC's typically don't 
invest at the seed capital level. Oops ... now what?

Enter Angel Investors ... wealthy, loosely connected, investors ... 
using their own money. In fact, there is even a new trade group, the 
Angel Capital Association (Wall Street Journal, April 11, 2005, page 
B1 ... 
<http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org>www.angelcapitalassociation.org). 
But its not a cake walk. Which angel group should you approach and 
which angels within a particular group should you target? And the 
problem is exacerbated by the fact that funding people aggressively 
share information about presentations they've heard. That makes 
"shopping" for the right funding partner and the right deal a 
difficult proposition! In fact, funding people will typically let you 
know that you are not in charge! If you can be made to believe that, 
you won't try to negotiate and then, voila, you won't be in charge.

Angel Investors and VC's are very important and The Tech Startup 
Connection wants very much for you to hear their points of view 
vis-a-vis the questions alluded to above. TSC also knows that they 
are not the only funding game in town ... negotiating with them is 
not an exercise in futility. Corporate investors are an important 
alternative and we will empanel such a group in the near future. 
Corporate money brings certain advantages to the table (and other 
problems, too). We'll open that discussion with our panel. As always, 
The Tech Startup Connection will explore pragmatic solutions ... it 
doesn't accept "traditional wisdom" as absolute truth.

Who should attend?
Entrepreneurs ... obviously. Individual investors, too. Do remember 
that in order to allow all attendees to actively participate and 
interact with the speakers, seating will be limited to 25 attendees.

Early in his business career TSC's Executive Director, B. Mitchell 
Loebel  had the good fortune of being mentored by E. Joseph Cossman 
(author of "How I Made a Million Dollars in Mail Order", businessman 
extraordinaire, and founder of The Future Millionaires Club) ... 
Mitchell will have a few contributory remarks.

Join us ... it will be a valuable experience. Remember ... to be 
someone in the world, you must own a piece of it!

Heard from a TSC member ...

My company (Minute-Tape International Inc.) is developing a new 
product for its consumer electronics market. In 40+ years of 
engineering practice I have never seen the quality and level of 
support that we've obtained from Texas Instruments support engineers 
Neal Frager (972 927-4673) and Mike Nabasny (408 655-8688) ... 
phenomenal. Tell them Mitchell sent you.

Also ... check out Anchor Electronics in Santa Clara (408 727-4424) 
... ask for owner Alicia. All kinds of "jelly bean" components ... 
reminiscent of the old Frys and Quemont and Zacks. Again, tell her 
that Mitchell sent you.

Have you had some great business experience that you'd like to share 
with our 1000+ community. Let us know, please.

FYI ... here is a capsule description of The Tech Startup Connection ...

The Tech Startup Connection is a business association where 
technology is a means to the end, not an end in itself ... necessary, 
but not sufficient! Active TSC members have their sights set on 
forming new technology based businesses. If you think that you would 
like to participate as a principal therewith ... attend our monthly 
meetings (the next one is on April 18th). And you must RSVP to attend.

Our association was founded in late 1989 and met monthly at Sun 
Microsystems in Palo Alto from mid-1992 to mid-2002 (we had a name 
change from The PARALLEL Processing Connection to The Tech Startup 
Connection about three years ago). Our meeting venue is The Law 
Offices of Fenwick and West, 801 California Street in Mountain View.

TSC's modus operandi and raison d'etre have remained constant 
throughout the years:

The association exists to create alliances between companies, 
universities and government institutions on behalf of our 
entrepreneur members. And now we're expanding our connection making 
into yet another arena ... see the notice above. Venture capital 
funding is currently still at a low ebb because the traditional exits 
for VC's ... IPO's and Mergers/Acquisitions are very much diminished. 
Corporate strategic alliances can be a critically important 
alternative source of funding ... in more ways than merely providing 
money!

The Tech Startup Connection itself is not a profit center and its 
officers are not compensated ... so we're not an incubator ... 
services for fees. We are not a user's group so we don't parade 
shrink wrap. And we're not merely a technology presenter such as an 
IEEE or an ACM (although we provide every bit the same caliber of 
presentations). Our people expect to profit by participating in each 
other's enterprises as officers, employees, consultants, and/or 
investors ... that's a much bigger game than merely operating for 
fees!

During the first half of our meetings you are treated to an excellent 
presentation. Immediately thereafter we convene an open ended second 
half. During this ad hoc session we examine your individual business 
needs, discuss the value of strategic alliances, and explore 
important ways in which your TSC can be of assistance to you. Do 
attend and especially stay for the second half!

Note: Please see www.TechStartupConnection.org for important 
additional information including a map to our NEW MEETING SITE. 
Please let us know immediately if you are unable to view our site.

A few important notes ... if you are going northwest on Evelyn Avenue 
(see our map), please know that you cannot make a left turn onto 
Castro, do your left turn at the previous block (Hope Street). 
Secondly, there is free parking in the city lot across California 
Street from the Fenwick and West building. Finally, please use the 
California Street entrance to the Fenwick and West building.

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B. Mitchell Loebel

Executive Director
The Tech Startup Connection			408 264-2068 office
(formerly The PARALLEL Processing Connection)	408 425-9920 cell