As a first time entrepreneur – or maybe even a seasoned veteran! - How do you decide which is best for you, between angel & VC money?

While on the whole most angels and VCs are smart and successful people, who want their portfolio companies to be wildly successful, there are significant differences in the way they approach potential investments. A clear understanding of the similarities & differences between individual angels, angel groups and VC firms is critical to a successful funding strategy.

In a lively and interactive discussion, our panel of seasoned investors will explore the following:

What are the metrics for individual angels vs. angel groups vs. VC firms? How much are they looking to invest, at what stage, over what period of time, for how much equity & how much return at the exit? Does anyone actually invest at the seed stage – that is, just an idea on paper anymore? If so, what does my seed stage deal have to look like to be attractive to investors? I’m further down the road; I’ve built a prototype/beta of my widget/web site, but don’t have any customers/users yet. Is this fundable, who would be most interested if I need less than $1M or more than $5M to start marketing? How much equity would I typically trade for this? I’m further down the road; I have a small number of paying customers/visitors, so I’ve validated the business model & customer demand. I now need expansion funding. Who would be most interested if I need less than $1M or more than $5M? How much equity would I typically trade for this? What else can the individual angel, angel group or VC firm provide besides the funding?

The Panel:

Tim Connors, General Partner, U.S. Venture PartnersKen Elefant, General Partner, Opus Capital Vishal Verma, Member, Sand Hill Angels, co-Founder, Hyde Park Angels

Speaker Bios:

Tim Connors, General Partner, U.S. Venture Partners Tim Connors joined USVP in June 2001. He focuses on early stage investments in the IT sector. Prior to USVP, Tim was a Partner at Sequoia Capital. Tim's operating experience spans seven years in engineering, marketing, manufacturing and sales roles at successful high-growth start-ups like C-Cube Microsystems and large companies like Tandem Computers.

Tim is currently a Director of 4info.net, Adify.com, Guidewire Software, Media6Degrees, M-Factor.com, Right90.com, and Yoomba.com. Tim conceived of and co-founded Spoke.com. Previously, Tim was a Director of Redline Communications (LSE: REDL), ClickShift.com (acquired by WebTrends), StorePerform (acquired by Red Prairie) and SupplierMarket.com (acquired by Ariba). Tim serves on the Board of Advisors of the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurship at Notre Dame.

Tim received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.

Ken Elefant, General Partner, Opus Capital Ken Elefant is a founding partner of Opus Capital focusing primarily on internet and software investments. Ken serves on the boards of Alert Enterprise, Jivox, iWidgets, Pudding Media, SuperSecret and TrustedID and was involved with several prior investments including Spock Networks (Intelius), Virsa Systems (NYSE: SAP) and Riverbed Technology (Nasdaq: RVBD). Previously, Ken was a Senior Associate at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Prior to this, Ken was a Senior Associate and Kauffman Fellow at Battery Ventures.

Ken brings strong operating experience to Opus. Previously, he worked at Radius Inc. as Director of International Sales and Marketing when the revolutionary Radius Pivot Monitor was the hot seller in Japan. His role at Radius included serving as a member of the executive staff and opening the company's first sales and marketing office in the Benelux region of Europe.

He has also held various marketing and business development positions at Claris Corporation (the software subsidiary of Apple Computer) and RealNetworks. While at Claris, Ken devised the compensation plan for the U.S. sales force that helped move the company from being a Macintosh-only company to being a cross-platform company.

Ken holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton undergraduate division at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Vishal Verma, Member, Sand Hill Angels, co-Founder, Hyde Park Angels

Vishal is a Partner of Edgewood Ventures, LLC. Edgewood is a leading accelerator creating the next wave of technology companies. Vishal has represented Edgewood’s interest in the following portfolio: Akroria, DSL Communications (Cypress), Edgewood Real Estate, Force10, HAL – Edgewood, HSMC, iLeverage (EPNY), Legal Remedies, LiquidMarket (Xoom.com), Rightworks (ICG). Vishal currently sits on the board of Edgewood Real Estate, HSMC, HAL – Edgewood, StepEdge and ZapEdge. Prior to Edgewood, Vishal was the Founder of Akroria Networks, Inc. a well funded – VC backed optical switching company. Akroria is creating a novel approach on solving the bandwidth clutter in the telecommunication market. Prior to Akroria, Vishal worked at Loral reporting to the Vice President of Asia Pacific. Vishal was responsible for creating and managing relationships with Loral’s customers in Asia. Vishal is a Charter Member of the the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Chicago Private Equity Networks, CEO Roundtable, Executive Club. Vishal holds a B.S. from Santa Clara University, and a MBA from the University of Chicago

AGENDA: 11:45-12:00 Registration, Networking and Food 12:00-12:15 SVASE/Startup-U Overview, Introductions, Speaker Intro 12:15-1:15 Speaker Presentation & Interactive Q&A 1:15-1:30 Networking with the presenters!

Pre-registration closes at 9 AM the day of the event.

With your help, we will start on time so the speaker can provide you with as much interactive information as possible.