Show #128 Listen (44:33) Download

Serial entrepreneur Mikel Cvetanovic is driving a new Beverly Hills based company, YouLiveNow. The mission: to deliver live video chat to anyone, anywhere using any web enabled device; that's all. Why doesn't Facebook or mySpace have video chat today? Maybe they soon will. Orange County Tech Coast Angels president, Mike Stuhley, joins me on the interview; he put the software through its paces and has been mentoring the YouLiveNow team since.

Are they fundable? Can the design scale to accommodate millions of users? Is their beta test at a Finland university a suitable market or way off the mark? One thing's for sure, the YouLiveNow team has a tiger by the tail!

In the ecosystem:
Nov 13th I'll be at Green IT on campus at UCI 5:30-8:00pm in the Calit2 Building, "Learn how emerging clean-tech solutions represent the next big wave of innovation..." Register

Nov 16th Join me for the 4th Annual Southern California Entrepreneur Conference at UCI from 6-9pm at the University Club, details and registration.

Nov 29th Join me at UC Riverside from 5:30-9:00pm for the Tech Coast Angels Fast Pitch. Location: UC Riverside University Extension Center 1200 University Avenue, Conf. Rm E, Riverside, CA 92507

Show #127 Listen (54:20) Download

Southern California's Inland Empire wants to become a center for high tech growth and entrepreneurship. So two years ago Riverside Community College brought TriTech Consulting from Orange County where it had operated for 14 years as a Small Business Development Center funded by the Small Business Administration. That's where I met John Tillquist, RCC Dean of Technology and Economic Development.

Seems like a natural; just picture all those daily commuters on their way to their high tech jobs in Orange County. Sooner or later they're going to stop wasting those hours and work closer to their affordable housing.

Meanwhile, the Tech Coast Angels have been trolling in the Inland Empire. With fine schools like UC Riverside and CSU San Bernadino, there must be fundable deals, right? Mike Napoli is leading the charge for TCA. How's he doing? To create a sustainable angel network Mike must build a three-legged stool. He'll tell us about the unique challenges he's facing.

In the ecosystem:
Nov 13th the Frank Peters Show is sponsoring Green IT at UCI 5:30-8:00pm in the Calit2 Building, "Learn how emerging clean-tech solutions represent the next big wave of innovation..." Register

Nov 16th Join me for the 4th Annual Southern California Entrepreneur Conference at UCI from 6-9pm at the University Club, details and registration.

Nov 29th Join me at UC Riverside from 5:30-9:00pm for the Tech Coast Angels - TriTech Fast Pitch. Location: UC Riverside University Extension Center 1200 University Avenue, Conf. Rm E, Riverside, CA 92507

Show #126 Listen (1:13:46) Download

Three investors with Tech Coast Angels with over 130 investments in startups between them, think they have some advice on due diligence? What lessons have they learned the hard way? In this interview Dave Berkus, John Harbison and Luis Villalobos tell all their stories about investing in early stage companies.

Entrepreneurs will hear the candid perspectives, the voice of experience of what happens at the critical stage of negotiating a term sheet. Why do early stage investors want to escrow founders' stock? And what is a Participating Preference? Hear these patient investors describe the issues that go into closing every early stage deal. What if the business succeeds, generates great cash flow and turns into a lifestyle business? How can investors trigger an exit? Among these three, we have all the answers.

Want to hear more? Check out Dave's previous podcast #108 and his essay. John was recently on the show, listen to podcast #116. Luis tells the story of founding the Tech Coast Angels in podcast #72.

Show #125 (06:02)

Out of more than 50 presenters, only one can rise to the top.

The most investable, greatest opportunity for growth, the best creative technology, the greatest game-changing possibilities; no this isn't their pitch, it's the opinion of Steve Block. He and his fellow judges came to a unanimous decision: Aweli, Inc. CEO Joshua Paul is the 2007 TCVN Survivor champion!

Will Joshua get funded by the Tech Coast Angels? It's too soon to tell, but he has a shot.

Show #124 Listen (36:58) Download

Jeff just recently started listening to the podcast.
Which ones? He started with Don Siegel, #121.

Jeff is listening and reading everything he can about licensing technology because he's building a for-profit incubator at UCI. It's part of the Orange County Business Incubation Network, OCBIN.

To keep Jeff honest I get Asst. Vice Chancellor for Research and Technology Alliances, Dave Schetter, on the phone. Not one, but two incubators are planned and they're coming together quickly. Incubators could be great for Orange County, but for the Tech Coast Angels, does this mean more deals out of UCI, like CODA Genomics (podcast #52), or more competition?

The podcast finishes up with Jeff... when he's not building incubators, he's commuting to work on his new electric bike, a Veloteq, and it's more than just a new toy; Jeff has a new distributorship and hopes to find dealers across the southwest for this ecological mode of transport. It could catch on at UCI.