Building a Pipeline

Under these rocks I will find the deals I need!

People often ask me where I find the companies who present at ZINO investment forums, and I liken the search to turning over rocks on the beach looking for little crabs. Every rock in my path will be pried up and flipped in my search for fledgling companies. No place is too odd or unlikely to find startups in need of investment capital, key connections and mentoring. We offer these opportunities and connections and more at ZINO, and thus my search is unending.

Some entrepreneurs find me through LinkedIn, ZINO's website or referrals from our members. I am always pleased to hear from interested entrepreneurs who have happened upon ZINO and want more information. Since I consider myself a proactive person (who, in the interest of total honesty, can't leave well enough alone) I often go out hunting for startups seeking funding. I try everything. I attend events of the other major angel groups around Seattle to get my name and face out there. Northwest Entrepreneur Network, which works with early-stage companies has adopted me and won't let their presenting companies leave an event without meeting me first. I go to coffee shops around town and look for people crowded around laptops and surreptitiously listen in on conversations. I stay in touch with my network of researchers, professors and students at UW, with whom I worked closely during my years at UW's Center for Commercialization. When I go to parties, I ask people about their lines of work and if anything sounds even slightly related to investing or entrepreneurial, I get a business card and follow up the next day. I post to LinkedIn and Facebook and respond to all comments, even if they are off topic (any comments are better than no comments!). At educational and networking seminars I will wait for ages to corner a panelist or keynote speaker in an attempt to tap into their knowledge of where the startups are. Connecting with people is my specialty--you could call me a professional networker; it's what I do, and I love it.

The search for startups is challenging and fun. Working the chain of connections to build my pipeline of entrepreneurs is exciting, and I meet many interesting people along the way. We offer many wonderful services and opportunities to entrepreneurs who join ZINO, either as a presenter or just to check us out--from our acclaimed coaching board, to our fun networking events with accredited investors we take wonderful care of our entrepreneurs. In 2012 we will be holding many of our investment forums and social events in the Columbia Tower Club, high above the city. Perhaps from the 75th floor I will be able to spot many new deals to keep my startup pipeline full to bursting!

ZINO Roundtable Forums: Connecting Ideas with Investors

Clay Young of Inovus Solar
wants to help us skip the power
bill by investing in solar power.

Seattle Sensor Systems,
represented by Tom Skillman has
created food safety testing kits.

We held ZINO's final Roundtable investment forum of 2011 at the impressive Russell Investments Center in its new(ish) Downtown Seattle home, overlooking Puget Sound. ZINO's investor and sponsor members watched pitches from five excellent companies, Inovus Solar, Browsium, G.R. Silicate Nano-Fiber and Carbonate, Lacuna Systems, and Seattle Sensor Systems Corp. I was lucky in that a few of the presenters contacted me after hearing good things about ZINO's angel investments. Another company came from my relationship with my former employer, UW's Center for Commercialization and I picked up another at Tacoma Angel Network's most recent investment meeting. A large part of my role as Dealflow Manager involves scouting out companies to showcase for ZINO's investors, and I'm always pleased to put up high quality deals as I did yesterday. 

Gary Schare's Browsium is
software that improves security
management of browsers and
LOB web apps.

Lacuna Systems is web
performance management
technologies for critical websites,
as presented by Tom Spoonemore.


ZINO's Roundtable Forums showcase three to five companies working in any space. The meetings are typically held over lunch and allow for a ten-minute pitch from each company. Roundtables are an outstanding way for entrepreneurs to network with accredited investors and get exposure for their companies. It's a convivial atmosphere with entrepreneurs and investors sharing lunch, ideas and connections. At ZINO we strive to create a fun, relaxed atmosphere that facilitates conversation and new partnerships between our membership groups.



Dr. Vijay Mathur explains G.R. Silicate
Nano-Fiber and Carbonate's economic,
environmental and energy solutions
using patented silicate nano-fibers
and carbon dioxide capture
technology.

We've just finalized ZINO's 2012 investment forum calendar.  Our
next Roundtable meeting will be Tuesday, January 24th at the Columbia Tower Club. I would love for you to join us!



And the ZINO Marketplace $50K Fund Finalists Are...

(L to R) Dean Lester of Vizua, Robin Elenga of Revel Body, Dave Owen of Proz, Inc. & John Baker of Thos. Baker

I am thrilled and proud to announce the four ZINO Marketplace company finalists for the 2011 ZINO Annual Angel Investment Fund Forums $50K fund: Vizua, Revel Body, Proz, Inc. and Thos. Baker. Each company presented a five-minute pitch at Tuesday night's ZINO Marketplace showcase of consumer products and services investment forum, along with nine others. We were lucky enough to secure Bellevue City Hall Council Chambers; an intimate and lovely space for ZINO Marketplace. The venue features a concourse with an exquisitely beautiful floor inlay that evokes a flowing river--could not take my eyes off it (awkward!). Each entrepreneur had an exhibition table on which to display their wares. The concourse was abuzz with conversation and connection as company teams shared their ideas and products with accredited investors, other entrepreneurs and ZINO sponsor members.

And what a motley crew of companies we watched pitch! We saw a new kitchen gadget from CookBright that will eliminate the need for cookbooks. A throwback "low-tech" sports gaming product was presented by Ballpark Classics, Inc. Her Interactive has created Nancy Drew-themed computer games to inspire girl gamers. Childhood obesity will be fought using FoodNMe's cool phone apps that help kids make healthier food choices. CommutePays wants to pay you for getting stuck in traffic with its predictive route guidance and rewards. We'll all have a "concierge in our pocket" with EZgoer's hotel and services phone app. Burro will empower low income families to do more in their lives. Truffles and trees will live in beautiful symbiosis through Symbios' product leveraging. Global Index Group builds financial indexes for use in Exchange Traded Funds. Checking out each company's display and hearing their pitch made me realize what a wide world consumer products and services truly is, and what magnificent ideas are out there in development.

I worked with each company from applying to ZINO Society to the day of the event and I am incredibly impressed with the improvements they all made over the course of a few short weeks. I have our outstanding coaching board to thank for that. ZINO has a group of 50 coach members who generously volunteer their time and expertise to mentor ZINO entrepreneurs through the pitching process. They are a phenomenal group of individuals who help companies tighten their pitches and make them more attractive to angel investors, as well as boost their self-confidence. One of my favorite parts of being Dealflow Manager at ZINO is being the conduit between coaches and companies. I love helping people connect with one another.

As for our fund finalists, they will go through the due diligence process with our fund investors and one company will be chosen to receive the $50K investment. Our fund investors will have to find a way to choose between Revel Body's high performance vibration motors that will revolutionize the sex toy industry, the eBay for private instruction Proz Inc. has developed, Thos. Baker's extensive online and catalog collection of premium furniture, or Vizua's 3-D scan reconstruction service that helps non-medical professionals understand their scan images. Who would you choose? 

South Sound Road Trip: ZINO Partners with Tacoma Angel Network

Downtown Tacoma, Washington

ZINO Society is honored to have been chosen by Tacoma Angel Network to form a new kind of angel investment group partnership. Effective February 2012, ZINO will be providing its high-quality dealflow to TAN. Think "Tacoma Angel Network, dealflow powered by ZINO Society". Early this fall, TAN Chair Brian Haynes approached ZINO Founder & CEO Cathi Hatch with a proposition: join forces in the interest of creating a robust dealflow in the South Sound region while expanding opportunities for companies in Seattle.

I attended a TAN meeting last month along with Cathi and ZINO's Chief Marketing Officer, Mary Holmes to learn more about the group, their members' interests and dealflow process. It was a nicely done lunchtime gathering at Pacific Grill Event Center in Downtown Tacoma. The food, company and conversation were outstanding, and the ZINO team left the meeting with the feeling that the two angel groups will benefit greatly from this partnership. TAN's staff and board is clearly a committed group of individuals, all of whom volunteer their time to the organization.

John Rodenberg heads TAN's membership committee and he, Brian and I participated in an interview with the Tacoma News Tribune in which we discussed the emerging plan. The three of us discussed the ways in which the relationship between the two angel groups will be of benefit to the Greater Puget Sound investment and entrepreneurial communities. Dealflow powered by ZINO means TAN staff can focus on building membership and continuing to produce high quality forums. Access to TAN's eight yearly investment forums means more exposure for ZINO's entrepreneur members, who will be eligible to present to TAN investor members. TAN investor members will be invited to participate in ZINO's annual fund, which invests in companies at ZINO's six yearly targeted investment forums. Certainly both groups will have the opportunity to learn from each others strengths and processes.

I am looking forward to next week's TAN investment meeting. I hope to meet and connect with more of their investor members and get a sense of what kinds of deals they are interested in seeing come through their organization. I am excited to meet Tacoma-based startups and learn more about what kind of innovation is happening in the South Sound. I had better get busy finding some great deals for my partners to the south!

Melt This: Prosperity Organics

Meg Carlson, President & CEO of Prosperity Organics

I don't know about you, but I try to be as health-conscious as possible and limit the amount of saturated fat I eat. Which, sadly, means almost never using butter. But thanks to Meg Carlson and Prosperity Organics, I can now use Melt, a butter substitute made of healthy fats and oils on everything!

According to Meg, Prosperity Organics "was born from an authentic need...after debilitating digestive disorders meant giving up butter and other favorite foods." Melt features "virgin coconut oil and flaxseed oil" and is already being carried in a grocery store near you. Seattle folks, look for it at QFC.

Prosperity Organics presented at ZINO Society's 2011 ZINO Zillionaire forum in September was chosen as one of six finalist companies for a $75K fund. To be expected from a company whose culture is "passion" and differs from the competition in that "consumers trust [Prosperity Organics] because they believe the employees are real people with similar needs..." Meg has big goals, should she receive funding: "we would accelerate the investment in field sales force and consumer marketing initiatives to more rapidly gain awareness and trial, build loyalty with our consumers, more rapidly commercialize our R&D pipeline and build a national brand sooner than our current plans project." I'm sure this "small, aggressive, innovative company" can achieve that tall order.

Melt and Prosperity Organics will be successful because the company is "nimble and responsive to changes in market conditions...on trend with latest consumer preferences...addressing concerns about adult and childhood obesity...good stewards of cash..." Check out Melt's website and watch for Meg's products, designed with your health in mind on your local grocery shelves.

Now Playing: Von Piglet Productions, LLC

Sue Corcoran, CEO of Von Piglet Productions, LLC

A Christmas Story finally has some competition in Von Piglet Productions' Ira Finkelstein's Christmas--an hilarious and touching family film about a young Jewish kid who is obsessed with Christmas and his wild quest to experience the holiday.

CEO Sue Corcoran blew the ZINO investor audience away with Von Piglet's trailer of Ira Finkelstein at ZINO's 2011 Zillionaire Investment Forum. Her pitch had our rapt attention during the screening and coaching process, due to the beautifully scored and presented preview. From the two minute snippet the film looks so good that literally any time Sue is in the room, we ask her if we can watch it again. I'm personally excited for the release, as I agree this movie could be an evergreen holiday classic; outstanding work by a company that describes its competitive edge as "high production value on a low budget".

Sue tells us Von Piglet LLC is "run by women who are creative and savvy in business" and that the idea for Ira Finkelstein "grew from personal experience". We're incredibly proud of Sue for being selected by ZINO fund investors as one of the six finalists for a $75K ZINO Zillionaire Investment.

Von Piglet will be successful because of its "year of production experience and storytelling that makes films accessible and available in a competitive market", according to Sue. We hope to see Sue reach her goals of "developing additional movie properties and shoot[ing] another family feature film". I know I will be adding Ira Finkelstein's Christmas to my queue of holiday classics!

Impressive "First Look" at Northwest Startup Companies

Last night I attended Northwest Entrepreneur Network's Fall 2011 First Look Forum at the Arctic Club Hotel. The event showcased twelve early-stage Pacific Northwest startups working in a wide swath of spaces. The Dome Room provided an intimate and lovely setting for the forum with its stained glass domed ceiling and intricately scroll-worked walls. NWEN did a magnificent job with the program, setting their presenting entrepreneurs up for success and building in time for networking and connecting.

I spoke with many of the presenters about their experience of going through NWEN's process. They overwhelmingly reported positive experiences with the coaches and "pitch doctors" who mentored them through the process. Several of the presenters were new to pitching, and many were seasoned from previous ventures. Watching the presentations, I could tell each entrepreneur had worked hard to refine and improve their pitch to attract investors. It's clear the resources provided by NWEN made a difference for the showcased startups. I was especially impressed with the guts displayed by the very early-stage companies. Standing up and articulating ones rapidly-developing budding vision isn't easy to do, and yet it's extremely important for early-stage companies to receive feedback and exposure. In my view, one of the keys to a successful pitch is practice, and not just in front of the mirror at home. It's about getting up in front of a live audience and getting your work out there in a crisp, organized manner, and addressing the points that interest investors within the allotted time. You must learn to be comfortable doing this over and over.

At ZINO Society, we recognize the importance of supporting, mentoring and connecting our entrepreneurs. With our group of dedicated investor screeners and coaches, we offer entrepreneurs the chance to meet with a panel prior to presenting at our forums in order to receive individualized feedback and mentoring.We understand how important it is to facilitate connections between entrepreneurs and investors, hence our focus on social and networking events in addition to our eleven annual investment forums. ZINO is committed to helping entrepreneurs present the best pitch possible. Going through our acclaimed screening and coaching process is an invaluable experience.

I'm grateful to Dan Rossi and Caitlin Goetze for inviting me to NWEN's First Look and to Dan for introducing me to his twelve finalist companies. Special congratulations to Scott Elliot and Mountain Logic who took last night's Grand Prize.  Be sure to check out this extraordinary group--they are truly up-and-coming. I certainly hope they all decide to become ZINO members!

BAM Testing, What's your athletic potential. 
FanZappy, "Social-to-Store" service attracts social fans to local businesses and further converts fans to repeat in-store customer via our mobile app. 
Glacier Peak, Nature does nothing uselessly. 
Green Simian, Renewable Mobile Power. 
Grid Mobility, Connecting Power to People. 
Lacuna Systems, Expert Web Performance Management. 
MotoVolta, Inc., High Performance Electric Motorcycles. 
Mountain Logic, Halves heating and cooling costs for 100 million homeowners with central forced air by only conditioning occupied rooms. 
Phytelligence, Smarter plants. 
ProtoSec, Creating the next wave of Internet and Web vulnerability detection giving enterprise customers novel and low-cost vulnerability information about their applications, helping them meet compliance and security requirements. 
Radiate, The Future of Internet Radio. 
Relaborate, Blogging Made Easy.