So so sad. I have just heard from Richard and you that Luis has passed away. It is all so sudden and shocking and sad; jarring to have to use the past tense.

Luis was my friend and persistently engaging in everything he engaged. I liked him and always enjoyed his company. Professionally, he is irreplaceable and a huge contributor to angels and entrepreneurs alike. He and Hans Severiens were kinsmen in caring seriously about the avocation of their later lives. But that seems small now to say compared to the size of sadness around losing the man in full, his much broader personality and activities. My sympathy to Ora, and his other family, and to all his friends in LA and around the country and world.

Sad news indeed. I have heard today from Frank of Luis' passing.

Luis shared with me, an angel investor from the far side of the planet, a friendly welcome and considered wisdom that I have come to know were characteristic of his good nature and generous heart. I am enriched for having known him. My sympathy and condolences to his family and friends.

Frank - thanks for sharing. How unbelievably sad.

Deep condolences for your loss, Frank.

Luis had a wonderful way of bringing people together. I'll miss his energy and enthusiasm.

A true loss to the venture and entrepreneurial community. Luis' vision and energy have made positive contributions and touched a many people in a positive and sustained way. We will miss him.

Luis was not only one of the pillars of the investing and entrepreneurial worlds to whom I and so many others looked up, I am honored to say I could call him a friend. I am so sad for your loss.

:( I was a huge fan. We all are worse off.

Every angel network in the world should be thankful for his innovation and leadership. He will be missed!

The award meant a lot to him. Hans was a role model and the source of the inspiration to start TCA 12 years ago.

Live every day as it will count more than we ever know.

Please share my condolences if possibly.

Thank you for passing on this sad news - I only knew of Luis through your show and was shocked to learn of his passing.

Luis was terrific.

Frank, sorry to hear this.

I specifically remember Luis giving very encouraging words in my pitch at my first TCA pitch that you set up. I didn’t know him except for that one encounter, but his presence and comments and support are all still very clear in my mind.

Thanks Frank for sharing a few Luis memories with us. He really was a special guy and you captured his willingness to do whatever was asked of him very well. Not sure how you were able to compose yourself to put your thoughts on audio so quickly but I greatly enjoyed eavesdropping on some of the moments you had shared with him. Well done.

Our deepest condolence to Luis Villalobos' family. Luis was a well known angel investor in S. Cal. Thanks for sharing this sad news in a very timely manner.

Wow I'm shocked!

So sorry to hear.

Thank you Frank for dedicating a show.

Wow. Unbelievable. He was an investor in miw and an awesome supporter. Very sad.

Luis was a true visionary! Thank you Luis, for all you have done for entrepreneurial capitalism in the USA and for entrepreneurs around the world!

Luis was truly a leading light in the angel investing field on a national and world basis. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to know and work with him on projects. He was very giving of his time and expertise. What a tremendous loss for our field and of course for Luis' friends and family! My heart goes out to those who loved and admired him.

This is terrible. I'm stunned. I'm sad. I was just talking with him a few weeks ago.

I am very saddened by the death of Luis. He was so passionate about the TCA.

Sad to hear about Luis...

Frank, this is very sad news. Luis was a can do guy and a real gem in the southern California startup community. He will be missed. I will miss him.

I am sorry to learn of this sad news.

very shocking - we'll miss his presence - brilliant guy, decisive voice, and I'm sure a friend to many.

Oh my goodness!! He seemed so healthy just a couple of months ago when I met him. I know everyone talked about his hospital visit on Wednesday when Don announced it at the TCA screening, but in my head, it didn’t occur to me that it was this serious. I’m in shock. Thank you for passing along this message.

The news of Luis passing away, has been a big blow to me and of course Atticus, my son. Atticus just said that Luis was his 2nd Dad.
He was a good friend to all of us. He cared so much about TCA and its members. The entrepreneurial world has lost a great advocate. I cannot tell you how much I will miss him. He was kind enough to travel all the way to Big Bear Lake to attend my son's wedding. He was always there when I needed him. Perhaps there is something I can do to help his family, but I also wanted to share with all of you at TCA my personal feelings. Please forgive me if I am rambling, but I will really miss him.

I just listened to your podcast remembering Luis. Very nice. I feel honored to have known him and always respected his calm approach to venture investing.

We have all lost a rare, true friend.

Luis was a true visionary, a real down to earth, honest gentleman. I will always consider it an honor to have been his friend.

CRW

This is sad.

Luis was a force of nature in getting TCA from an idea to realization. His drive made it possible for so many entrepreneurs in SoCal to realize their dreams of starting and growing a business and gave angels in the area and around the country the confidence to put their investments to work while growing regional economies.

Luis was one of a kind and will be missed.

WOW what a loss!!!!!!

I got the email this morning about Luis. He was on our board of directors at Youmail and we had a board meeting today he was to attend at the office. He was a great guy and a great director and contributor to all his companies. It was a very sad thing to read and approve last months board minutes and see his name and proposals and to think he had passed away so suddenly, he will be missed by a lot of people. Sorry to miss you Luis.

Shocked. Sad... Nostalgic. Stunned.

Thx for sharing news.

Shocking, and an awful loss for entrepreneurs and fellow investors, quite apart from the terrible sadness for his family. I have worked with him as a fellow director and it has been a pleasure. He will be missed.

A wonderful man with a keen mind and a great sense of humor (and irony).

This is terrible news!

I remember sitting right in between you and Luis at the ACA Summit lunch in Atlanta. My limited involvement with Luis was always great, and I’m sure that he will be sorely missed by both his fellow TCA members as well as angels.

My deepest condolences.

I was so pleased you immediately posted your past interview with Luis. I got to listen to it before our ACA/ACEF BOD teleconference, as several had too. What a nice tribute to a giant!

Yes, Luis was a one of a kind and he will be missed - as pioneers always
are. We can honor his life best by continuing to be active and innovative in our field - his chosen life's work - and being straight with entrepreneurs and outspoken, as he always was, in our community.

Luis was part of our family. He was kind to my twin nephews when my sister-in-law was very sick and passed away. Ora, Luis' wife, was my sister-in-law's sister.

I am very sad, Ora, my sincere condolences from the family, he will always be for us, Luis, the person and not the genius entrepreneur.

Love, Nina

Thank you for the tribute to Luis. Its beautifully done! You captured his essence.

Brilliant, Dynamic, Compassionate, Daring and Courageous.

I have been with him half of my life and each day was special.

It all went past too quickly.

He remains the love of my life, my sweetheart, hero and angel.

I am sure he will be giving lessons in heaven.

We are having a memorial planned for 1st week in November.

I would love to meet you and hope you will be there.

A profound loss.

I remember with affection my last conversation with Luis - and it was not about PAI. We shared a love for Jerry Garcia ties which we discovered at a Summit reception in San Diego. He was wearing one of his favorite Garcia ties and was delighted that I noticed. We had a great conversation about ties, creativity, and Garcia's music. He knew a lot about all three!

What a great mind and what a lovely man.

Was VERY saddened to hear the news of Luis. Those of you who were close to him, I'm sure were deeply saddened. If it not for your show, I probably wouldn't have known so quickly. In my short interaction with him, I was very impressed by him, and for the early stage investment community, this was a great loss, as you know.

How incredibly sad. A tremendous loss to all of us - especially the entrepreneurial community in California.

My friendship with Luis dates back to the early 70's. I have never known a more brilliant person.

Bless you, Ora, for your call to alert me to the VERY sad news, and for your tender care for Luis through the past 20 years.

Love and hugs, Karen

I am really sorry to hear about Luis. He was a nice man with a great legacy.

Luis was an incredible mentor and champion of women entrepreneurs. He was my lead investor in 1998 during the height of the Internet craze. He continued to support me and those I referred to him over the years. He will be greatly missed.

I met Luis through Karen Swaim Babin more than 30 years ago. He was a kind, gentle, respectful man who believed in full equality between men and women. And I agree with you, Karen, he certainly was brilliant.

I am grateful for having known him. I send my sympathy to Ora and to all of you who share this loss of a friend, colleague, mentor and investor.

While working on my MBA at UCI, I did an internship with Luis for Angel Led Capital. I feel fortunate to have spent that time learning from him. He was a very gracious individual. He assisted me with a venture and always made himself available whenever I requested his time. I am very sad to hear that he has passed. I am sure he is now in the company of another group of angels.

Will TCA Pick Up The Baton That Luis Villalobos Has Passed To It? Is The Goal Of Attracting The Best Ventures To TCA Going To End With Luis Villalobos?

Hi Frank,

I've been away from the show for awhile and have only just heard of the passing of Luis Villalobos; my condolences to you on the lost of your friend and mentor.

Looking at the more recent photos of Luis on the internet often made me think of my own father who we have been watching wither away from his own lung problem. They say it is probably from exposure to asbestos during his days as a Navy submariner. I may have already seen my father for the last time (as he is away for treatment) and just don't know it yet.

I don't think I've listened to this episode before, thank you for reposting it. As one of the founding members, Luis has sure done a lot of the most difficult groundbreaking work for TCA that many have and others will benefit from.

In listening to Luis in this episode, I noticed that TCA has yet to achieve the goal Luis had when he founded it, of attracting the very best ventures. I dont say this as a criticism of Luis. Everyone and every organization has to start somewhere.

A fruit tree takes ten or more years to bear fruit. It's easy for someone to come along after a tree starts bearing fruit and prune the branches in a manner that will maximize yield. But before that can happen, someone had to do the hard work of preparing the land, planting the tree, and keeping it healthy and growing strong all the years prior to it bearing fruit.

Many of the things we love best about our country, the USA, came many years after our Founding Fathers have passed into our history. We give the Founding Fathers credit even for the good things that came along after them because we acknowledge that they gave us the ability to create those good things; that the good things that we have done later could not have come without our Founding Fathers laying the groundwork.

History tells us that if TCA does not improve its track record, the memory of Luis will disappear along with the generations that personally knew him. The best tribute the surviving members of TCA can give to Luis is to pick up the baton that he has now passed to it, and continue toward that goal that Luis tells us TCA had upon its founding, of attracting the best ventures.

Hindsight being 20/20 we now know that the model presented in this old episode which states if you invest in
"X" number of ventures you will attract the best ventures, is a flawed model.

The goal of creating an organization that attracts the best ventures is a worthwhile goal. I've never met Luis, but if he was my friend and if I was a fellow member of TCA, I wouldn't want him to be remembered for creating an organization that never achieved this stated goal. I would pick up the baton from Luis and work toward it.

That being said, my two cents on the subject is, instead of advertising the number of ventures funded, advertise that TCA will give the entrepreneur the right to buy them out once they have achieved 10X per annum (or some other figure). In order for this approach to work, TCA members will still have to do their homework, but they will attract the best, who will help them do that homework.

The flawed model simply relies on numbers. It says a high number of investments will attract the best ventures and the best ventures will in turn attract the best angels. Another way to look at it is to say if the best ventures are what's important, then it is about returns and not the total number of investments. TCA's focus has been on formulating the equation rather than getting to the desired answer.

The flawed model seems to say that money is the only important thing to the entrepreneurs of the best ventures and the model does not consider what it takes for the angels to be able to identify a higher quality venture.

The days of riding the technological waves of the PC, software, and internet are over. Without a technological wave to ride, it is no longer a numbers game. Angels need to learn how to identify the best ventures when they don't have a wave pointing the way for them.

We see this over and over again throughout history. The automobile was only part of the technological wave of its time. During the time the automobile was being perfected, engines were being added to everything: pumps, mills, aircraft, and so on. The engine wave was followed by the electric wave, where electric motors were added to everything an engine was unsuitable for, such as baking mixers, sewing machines, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and so on.

In order to attract the best ventures TCA will have to show that it is reserving its cash for the best ventures. The best ventures do not want to compete with vending machines, research projects, and hair extensions; which is what applicants to TCA currently do. It not only belittles the best ventures it is a waste of their time. The best ventures want to know that they are being taken seriously.

Attracting the best ventures is a worthy goal, and maybe the old model worked during the internet wave. But with the no wave to ride, is TCA going to lose sight of this goal, along with the loss of its friend and mentor Luis Villalobos?

I think his legacy of trying to attract the best ventures is worth carrying on. It would be a pity if it ends with him.

I have been out of the LA area for several months and just happened to send Luis an email yesterday which came back as undelivered. That led to my discovering, only a few moments ago, that Luis had passed. I echo everything that has been said in prior posts, and to that, I will add that I am truly heartbroken over the news. I served as counsel for Luis and Larry Goelman on GazelleLabs, their internet venture incubator, and over that time and after, got to know Luis quite well. Beyond his brilliant mind, his complete integrity, and enthusiasm for his work, on a personal level he had a warm human quality that made me feel truly privileged to call him a friend.