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Entrepreneurs Put Best Investor Pitch Forward in Annual Contest

SAN DIEGO QUICK PITCH COMPETITION

Event organizer: Tech Coast Angels San Diego Network.

Time, date, place: 6 to 9 p.m., Oct. 6, Irwin M. Jacobs Hall, Qualcomm campus.

Lead sponsors: Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, Qualcomm Inc.

Event description: Contest based on two-minute business pitches, with winners based on content and presentation quality.

The 14 finalists at this year’s San Diego Quick Pitch Competition range from a 3-year-old business that makes snacks for video gamers to one that aspires to find the cure for cancer.

The concept for the contest is simple: Selected entrepreneurs get to make a two-minute description of what their business is and why it deserves investment.

The Tech Coast Angels San Diego Network, the nonprofit group of investors sponsoring the event, launched Quick Pitch five years ago to garner publicity about what it’s all about, and attract some promising startups to seek investments from its members.

Angels belonging to the group generally invest a minimum of $25,000, while investments to a single business range from a few hundred thousand dollars to about $1.5 million, said Steve Flaim, TCA’s network president.

Besides well-heeled angel investors, the expected audience of about 450 people at the Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall on Oct. 6 will include venture capital firm representatives and executives from several high-tech corporations that may be inspired to open up their checkbooks, Flaim said.

The final 12 who make their two-minute presentations (two are designated as alternates) will be judged by a panel of eight business executives on both the content and the overall effectiveness of their pitches. Prizes will be given for best presentation, best content, audience favorite and the overall winner, but don’t include money.

Audience Submits Votes

One of the event’s features is giving audience members the chance to vote for whom they think is the best through a text messaging system, said Ron DiNocco, a TCA member in charge of the event.

Boiling down what a new business does in two minutes is essential in order for the enterprise to attract the investment dollars needed in the early stages, DiNocco said.

Here’s a look at a few of the

participants.

Jonathan Simkin compares his business, SwoopThat.com, to kayak.com, giving consumers a list of items and costs. The online site provides students the best prices for college textbooks from a range of retailers. So far, the site that’s been operating for a little more than a year raised $30,000 from family members. Simkin says he’s trying to raise about $500,000 from investors. He declined giving revenue but said in the past six weeks, some 250,000 books were sold through the site, which collects a commission on each sale.

Derek Smith, who heads up Tesla Controls, an energy management system that uses hardware and cloud-based computing systems, said he’s working toward putting together a first round of investment of $250,000 to $450,000 to supplement the $50,000 raised from friends and family members after the business was founded in December 2008.

Because Smith’s presentation includes some props, a TCA volunteer helping him hone his pitch suggested he use a rubber chicken to liven it up. He declined to say whether he’s taking the advice.

Tom Bang, chief executive at iTel Companies Inc., said the eight-person business will conduct beta testing of its systems in the next month. The software iTel makes enables therapists to conduct remote appointments with patients via the Internet that are both compliant with federal confidentiality requirements and have a billing component.

Bang wouldn’t disclose what the 3-year-old business raised so far but said it’s not generating revenue yet. The company is seeking a first round total of $1 million.

Business of Snacks

When Keith Mullin sought energy replenishment while spending hours playing video games, what he got wasn’t up to snuff. In 2008, he launched Gamer Grub, which makes snacks that not only contain vitamins, but can be neatly digested while virtually killing off the Hordes. Today, Gamer Grub, which comes in four flavors: pizza, peanut butter and jelly, wasabi and chocolate, is sold in about 3,000 locations in the nation and internationally, including at some 850 Best Buy stores. Mullin says he’s already raised $450,000 in seed money and is seeking a first round investment of $1.5 million.

Mark Glassy would seem to be somewhat out of place in this competition, with 27 years in the biotechnology industry. But he’s starting his sixth company and needs investors. Called Nascent Biologics Inc., the business is taking past human clinical research trials conducted in Japan covering the effects of certain antibodies on cancer cells. While much depends on how the Food and Drug Administration views the past data, the business could be three to five years away from finding a cure for cancer, said Glassy.

Glassy is seeking $3 million in first round funding.

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