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!