The Open Angel Forum is a recurring event designed to aid early stage

startup companies A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses tha ...

seeking funding, via presentations to prospective

angel investors An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible debt ...

. Launched in 2009 by tech entrepreneur and media figure

Jason Calacanis Jason McCabe Calacanis (born November 28, 1970) is a podcaster, American Internet entrepreneur, angel investor, and author. His first company was part of the Dot-com bubble, dot-com era in New York. His second venture, Weblogs, Inc., a publishi ...

, the event was the culmination of a series of public comments by Calacanis questioning the ethics of groups who charge fledgling companies to present to wealthy investors. Calacanis, already co-founder of startup competition TechCrunch50 with

Michael Arrington J. Michael Arrington (born March 13, 1970) is the American founder and former co-editor of TechCrunch, a blog covering the Silicon Valley technology start-up communities and the wider technology field in America and elsewhere. Magazines such as ...

(which ran from 2007 to 2009), had spoken out repeatedly against specific groups he characterized as preying on small, hopeful companies seeking financing. The conversation evolved quickly over the course of several days, beginning with
blog post
calling for "

Jihad ''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...

" against the Keiretsu Forum, a discussion on his online broadcast This Week in Startups, and two impassioned polemics outlining the impetus for creating an alternative model: th
first
self-described as "declaring war" and "written with boiling blood" quickly followed by
second
containing quotes from other prominent tech industry pundits such as Fred Wilson and Brad Feld as well as anonymous individuals claiming to be formerly affiliated or familiar with the groups in question. Upon formalizing the organization, several principles were outlined regarding qualifications and structure, the most notable legacy of the initial controversy being a strict rule against fees for both presenters and investors for participation. Startups presenting at the Open Angel Forum are picked by the event's organizers (which include regional "chapter heads" as well). Six companies are chosen and each presents for 10 minutes. Angel investors must apply for admission as well, and required to be active, with at least four investments in the past year. The first event was held on January 14, 2009, in Los Angeles and to date events have been held in six cities:

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Boulder, CO Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Though news reports and blog postings by participating companies, as well as the organization itself, have touted funding offers following the events, the group does not maintain a comprehensive list of presenters, nor have they announced the success rate or other metrics as to the efficacy of the program as a source for startup capital for participants.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Business conferences Computer conferences