Southern California's
Hot tip:
VCs get lots of proposals. Develop a relationship over time. If
possible, be introduced by a professional. Have your strategy and business
plan formulated in advance as it's hard to get a second shot.
Top Five VCs in
Southern California
|
Rank
|
Firm
|
Money Available
|
Contact |
Specialty
|
|
1
|
William E. Simon
& Sons |
$1,000M
|
10990 Wilshire Blvd.,
Suite 1750
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 914-2410
Contact: Wm. E.
Simon, Jr. |
Late Stage Growth
|
|
2
|
Brentwood
Venture Capital |
$720M
|
11150
Santa Monica Blvd
Suite
1200
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 477-7678
Contact: G. Bradford Jones |
Start-up
Seed
First Round
Second Round
|
|
3
|
Domain Associates |
$500M
|
28202 Cabot Road, Suite
200
Laguna Niguel, CA 92766
(949) 347-2446
Contact: Arthur
Klausner |
Seed
First Round
|
|
4
|
Enterprise
Partners
|
$425M
|
5000 Birch St., Suite
6200
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(310) 833-3650
Contact: Thomas
N. Clancy |
Early
Start Up
|
|
5
|
Levine Leichtman
Capital Partners
|
$417M
|
335 N Maple Drive,
Suite 240
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 275-5335
Contact: Lauren
Leichtman |
Late Stage
|
Hot Tip:
These "Venture" groups are attended by other entrepreneurs like yourself, and
lots of people who provide various services. Usually there is a nominal
cost associated with the meeting to cover a dinner or lunch anchored by a
keynote speaker. There is plenty of time to network with others, which is
the real reason most people attend. One tip is to mingle with as many
people as possible, exchange business cards, and follow up with more in-depth
later over the phone or lunch. Usually everybody wears a nametag that
includes ones affiliation to help you zero in. Each group has a slightly
different orientation, but the information below will get you started.
Top Five Networking
Groups in Southern California
|
Rank
|
Group
|
Information Contact |
Meetings
|
|
1
|
Los Angeles
Venture Association
(LAVA) |
Christyne
Buteyn
e-mail:
LAVA4@aol.com
web site:
www.lava.org
(310) 450-9544 |
Brentwood
2nd Tue of month, 7:00-9:00 am
|
|
2
|
Orange Coast
Venture Group
(OCVG) |
Taira Pease
e-mail:
OCVG@aol.com
web site:
www.ocvg.org
(949) 859-3646 |
Irvine
3rd Tue of month
11:30 am-1:30
|
|
3
|
San Diego
Venture Group
(SDVG)
|
Erin Ellis
e-mail:
sdvgroup@aol.com
web site:
www.sdvg.org
(858) 272-1985 |
La Jolla
Last Wed of month
7:00-9:00 am
|
|
4
|
Tech Coast
Venture Network
(TCVN)
|
Michael Lasher
e-mail:
TCVN2@aol.com
web site:
www.tcvn.org
(714) 505-6493
|
Irvine
4th Thur of month
6:00-9:00 pm
|
|
5
|
Cal Tech/MIT
Enterprise Forum
|
Nick Nicholas
e-mail:
entfor@its.caltech.edu
web: http://www.entforum.caltech.edu/
(626) 395-3916 |
Pasadena
3rd Tue of month
5:30-9:00pm
|
Hot Tip:
If you are building a web site, here are some Southern California resources you
should know about. One is a network of Internet jocks (where some are
building their own sites, and others are looking for sites to build). The
other two resources are local Internet "incubators" that are looking for
entrepreneurs like yourself with great ideas; they provide the capital and
critical resources.
Notable Internet
Resources in Southern California
Item
|
Name
|
Type
|
Contact |
Notes
|
|
1
|
eCompanies |
Incubator |
Santa Monica, CA
www.ecompanies.com
e-mail business plans to:
bizplans@ecompanies.com
Contact: Sky Dayton
|
Well funded and looking for companies. Dayton was founder of
Earthlink Networks, Inc. |
|
2
|
Idealab! |
Incubator |
130 West Union Street
Pasadena, CA 91103
www.idealab.com
Contact: Bill Gross |
Well funded. Gross developed Lotus products and later Knowledge
Adventure with Spielberg.
|
|
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