For more information about Angel investors, contact the Arizona Technology Investor Forum

WebPT is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ and provides an enterprise level, state-of-the-art Electronic Medical Records (EMR) solution to address the spectrum of physical therapy needs. WebPT has achieved a high adoption rate (500 clinics and 3000 individual members) and continues to double its member base every six months.  WebPT’s SaaS model and deep functionality have allowed the company to successfully penetrate this underserved market.
Medipacs is headquartered in Tucson, AZ and is bringing to market disruptive products for parenteral drug delivery that reduce medication errors, reduce nursing labor, improve patient satisfaction and outcomes. These devices are worn like patches and disposed of after a single use. Medipacs’ team has delivered exceptional returns in prior drug delivery device start-up firms.

All three businesses gave wonderful venture presentations and Arizona angel investors group, ATIF, was very pleased to have these ventures as guests at their quarterly meeting.

For more information about Arizona angel investors, contact the Arizona Technology Investor Forum.

Tempronics is commercializing a solid state thermoelectric technology that it says can boost performance. The company is currently talking with several integration and design companies around end applications that include: solid state cooling and freezing, and solid waste heat recovery and renewable power generation. Experts have said that Tempronics could revolutionize the air conditioning and heating industries as well as potentially double the fuel mileage of hybrid cars.

For more information about angel investor networks, contact the Arizona Technology Investor Forum.

Our goal with the Affiliate program is to connect the outstanding ventures that come to ATIF, with the local companies that provide the best service to early stage technology ventures.  Services range from legal, to web development, to PR and marketing.  And Affiliate members sweeten the pot by offering discounts on services that are only available to ventures applying to ATIF.

Check out our website (http://atif-az.org/partners/atif-affiliate-program/) and a recent article in the Phoenix Business Journal to learn more Phoenix Business Journal Article.

If you are a mentor to early stage startups, please keep this info in mind.

If you are a startup entrepreneur, please take it to heart.  You will be better off for it.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1447428

Basil Peters was the Speaker on Early Exits and provided attendees with a lot of great statistics and data points showing that the major acquirers in the internet space are having trouble innovating, flush with cash, looking for acquisition of small companies (under $100 million valuation), able to move fast. The key takeaway from this segment of the summit being that angel investor groups should include early exit opportunities in their analysis of angel investments.

In regards to syndication, Venture Capitalists have moved away from early stage investing and Angels have filled the void. However, most Angel investor groups are too small to take entire rounds, so they need to syndicate across multiple Angel groups. Syndication opens avenues to additional expertise, new networks etc. ATIF is working closely with the Desert Angels, New Mexico Angels, Vegas Valley Angels and others to build relationships and seek syndication opportunities. The key takeaway from this segment of the summit being that Angel investor groups working together are a powerful force and will continue to grow and even thrive.

For more information about the Angel investor groups, contact the Arizona Technology Investor Forum (ATIF).

The Angel Capital Association Summit was attended by a number of angel investor groups and held in San Francisco on May 6 and May 7, 2010. The summit had over 400 attendees and featured a great set of speakers including well-known investors in the Silicon Valley such as Ron Conway and Mike Maples.

Basil Peters was the Speaker on Early Exits and provided attendees with a lot of great statistics and data points showing that the major acquirers in the internet space are having trouble innovating, flush with cash, looking for acquisition of small companies (under $100 million valuation), able to move fast. The key takeaway from this segment of the summit being that angel investor groups should include early exit opportunities in their analysis of angel investments.

In regards to syndication, Venture Capitalists have moved away from early stage investing and Angels have filled the void. However, most Angel investor groups are too small to take entire rounds, so they need to syndicate across multiple Angel groups. Syndication opens avenues to additional expertise, new networks etc. ATIF is working closely with the Desert Angels, New Mexico Angels, Vegas Valley Angels and others to build relationships and seek syndication opportunities. The key takeaway from this segment of the summit being that Angel investor groups working together are a powerful force and will continue to grow and even thrive.

For more information about the Angel investor groups, contact the Arizona Technology Investor Forum (ATIF).

When: Submissions are due August 20, 2010

What: Process to submit your company to ATIF for its quarterly meeting of investors

Where: Companies can submit online: http://angelsoft.net/angel-group/atif

To be qualified for consideration, submitting ventures must be based in Arizona, a technology company that’s either in start-up phase or early stage, and seeking investments of up to $500,000. All companies are required to provide a business plan, financial plan, executive summary and an investor presentation.

The ATIF Selection Committee will evaluate all submissions during the month of January in preparation for the May Investor Meeting. Applicants will be notified by September 6, 2010, of the results of the Selection Committee, and finalists will present to ATIF members on Thursday, September 16. Prior to the investor meeting, finalists will work closely with an ATIF due diligence team in preparation for their presentation.

Early stage technology ventures that are interested in the ATIF submission process can learn more at http://atif-az.org/entrepreneurs.

About ATIF

The Arizona Technology Investor Forum (ATIF) is an active community of accredited investors who invest in early-stage technology companies based in Arizona. ATIF was founded in 2007 and has quickly become an important resource for new technology ventures that are the future of our local economy. Since May 2007, ATIF members have invested over $2.3 million in Arizona-based technology ventures that have presented at ATIF meetings.

There are two main issues at stake.  First, the bill aims to raise the minimum net worth and annual earnings required for investors to be accredited.  Second, accredited offerings regulations for “small” investments will change hands from federal to state commissions.  Fred Wilson summed up the effects in his blog post Startups Get Hit By Shrapnel In The Banking Bill:

1) Changing the definition of a “qualified investor” in angel and venture deals. Not just anyone can invest in a startup company. You have to be a qualified investor. A qualified investor is currently defined as anyone with a net worth of over $1mm or net income of over $250k. Dodd’s bill would increase that to $2.3mm and $450k respectively. And then index those numbers to inflation.

2) Eliminate the existing federal pre-emption over state regulation of “accredited offerings.” Angel and venture financings could be regulated state by state creating a fairly burdensome set of rules and regulations that each financing would need to be subject to. Currently there is a federal pre-emption that makes getting these kinds of deals done fairly easy.

 Bill Carleton and Joe Wallin also weighed in on the issue in John Cook’s Venture Blog on Seattle’s TechFlash: Dodd’s Attack on Angel Financing

And John Mauldin makes similar comments in his widely read weekly update: First Let’s Kill the Angels.

Even the Wall Street Journal has taken note of the outcry from the investment community: Dodd Bill’s Accredited Investor Rules Draw Fire

We want to echo the sentiments of these posts, in that we encourage you to get educated and get actively involved in eliminating these provisions from the bill.

The first is featured in this April 7^th Wall Street Journal article:

                New Service Aims To Enable ‘Peer-To-Peer’ Early Investing

This article describes the Texas-based MicroVentures, which claims to be the first in the industry to merge “peer-to-peer lending with the venture capital industry.” (microventures.com/about-us).  It remains to be seen if this model can gain traction, but I like the use of technology to enable investment connections.

The second example has a bit more traction.  It is a service provided by Venture Hacks called StartupList.  VentureHacks has identified hundreds of angel investors they claim are actively looking for new deals, particularly internet startups.  They describe the process like this:

It’s a weekly email we send to AngelList, with 3 high-quality startups who want intros. Here’s how it works: you send us your pitch, we review it and, every Monday, we email the best 3 startups of the week to AngelList. (venturehack.com)

They describe the process in more detail, and outline the way for investors to get involved on this blog post:

                Launch: StartupList — a new way to reach angels

We do want to emphasize to ATIF members that with this market shift, scammers will invariably emerge.  Entrepreneurs and investors should beware the possibility of scams and unfulfilled promises.

These models should also be reviewed in the light of the new financial regulation bill.  The bill could significantly curtail these nascent efforts to encourage and support angel investment.

If you are pitching your company to any investor, you should watch this video and take notes. It’s really one of the best and most complete pitch resources on the Web.

David starts by defining what investors are really looking for in a presenting company – the stuff that’s not on your Powerpoint presentation. Then, he outlines the key content required in your presentation.There’s not much to argue with in this entire talk.

David’s blog also has additional information and advice for any CEO seeking investors to fund their startup.