Comments on: OEN announces the winner of Angel Oregon (and it’s not a tech company)

By: OsoEco shuts down | Oregon Startup Blog

OsoEco shuts down | Oregon Startup Blog — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:55:10 +0000

[...] to report that Eugene-based OsoEco—a site focused on socially responsible shopping that was in the running to win Angel Oregon last year—has announced it is closing its doors and shutting down its site at the end of this [...]

By: OsoEco shuts down » Silicon Florist

OsoEco shuts down » Silicon Florist — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 07:34:35 +0000

By: Angels among us? Only if you apply by January 7 : Oregon Startup Blog

Angels among us? Only if you apply by January 7 : Oregon Startup Blog — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:17:08 +0000

[...] 2007, an architectural software company walked away with the prize. In 2008, it was an apparel company. Could this be the year that a Silicon Forest Web company takes the big prize? I don’t know. [...]

By: Angels among us? Only if you apply by January 7 » Silicon Florist

Angels among us? Only if you apply by January 7 » Silicon Florist — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:35:18 +0000

By: » Smart-ups: OEN Eugene chapter - Silicon Florist

» Smart-ups: OEN Eugene chapter - Silicon Florist — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:34:08 +0000

[...] Cummings, CEO of OsoEco—whom you may remember from this year’s Angel Oregon—started the Smart-ups group. She talked to Eugene’s The Register-Guard about the [...]

By: Angel Oregon Succeeds with 3 Tracks | Techvibes Blog

Angel Oregon Succeeds with 3 Tracks | Techvibes Blog — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:51:49 +0000

[...] End//Outdoor, a sustainable footwear play, won the grand prize of a $150,000 investment. Osoeco and Revelation both won investments of $57,500. The three track system encouraged a more focused evaluation of the companies and created a wider expectation of the types of companies that would be funded. This new system should put to rest the thoughts that Angel Oregon only looks at Tech companies. [...]

By: Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 04:47:56 +0000

Steve & Steve-

I’ll echo Rick’s comment above, thank you for the insight. I’m always glad to learn more :)

And congrats, Steve A. for your win!

By: Rick Turoczy

Rick Turoczy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:35:26 +0000

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this conversation–and clarification–on Angel Oregon and Angel investments in general.

Thank you, all, for taking the time to comment and continue this conversation.

By: Steve August

Steve August — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:25:01 +0000

As one of this year’s category winners (Revelation), I can vouch that Steve Morris has it right in explaining how these things tend to work. It is an _investment_ award, meaning that it is not a grant or gift. The $$ award is actually just part of the benefit. Because the amounts of the awards themselves are not generally enough to complete a round of funding, the biggest benefit is the validation it gives a company for other investors. One of the most difficult things about the funding process is getting that first investor to jump in. Winning (or even being a finalist) at an event like Angel Oregon offers a company a good amount of validation that can get the ball rolling for others to jump in.

By: Steve Morris

Steve Morris — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:22:22 +0000

I agree with the Ryan Williams post Rick mentioned — a “convertible note” is very standard (and a 12 month term is very typical).

And it’s actually a very good financing approach for a startup for at least 3 reasons:

1. The alternative to a convertible note is to sell stock — and to sell stock you have to agree with the investor on a valuation for your company. A convertible note, on the other hand, basically says “I’ll accept the valuation of the VC-led investment that I expect to happen in the next 12 months”. In that 12 months, the valuation is likely to go up (because the company has more time to accomplish more milestones) which means the convertible note buys less of the company (a good thing for the company…)

2. The fact that the convertible note is in place will make it easier for these companies to find other investors to fill-out the round (i.e., the fact that the Angel Oregon due diligence was a thumbs-up is a good thing.) I’m tempted to talk about lemmings, but I’ll resist.

3. The 12 months terms is almost a non-issue. The Angel Oregon investment group has zero motivation to “call” the loan. If it takes a bit longer to put together a VC round (so the loan can convert to stock) there’s a lot of motivation to be patient. After all, the investment group knows that the receiving company does not have the cash to repay the loan. What the group really wants is stock. They’ll wait for it if they have too.