WAC 2010 Recap

Entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, business students and other community members gathered today for an exciting day at the second annual Willamette Angel Conference. Everyone was treated to a full day of business pitches and entrepreneur panels and speakers. After seven business pitches and four IgniteAngel pitches from terrific companies, the winner was selected: Good Clean Love, a manufacturer of all-natural, organic intimacy products which provide sustainable sexual solutions for healthy relationships.

The day began with a look back at WAC 2009. Trevor Misfeldt, the CEO of last year’s winner, CenterSpace Software, addressed the crowd. Misfeldt noted how the WAC not only gave CenterSpace a helpful monetary award but also the chance to make connections in the local business community and receive advice from other angels to help them perfect their business plan.

Keynote speaker Marshall Kirkpatrick, lead writer for technology blog ReadWriteWeb, discussed how it’s an exciting time to be working in or with start-up companies and how new opportunities exist for start-ups in social networking data, web data and sensor-based data.

After the keynote, Tim Berry, an investor from Palo Alto Software took the stage and prefaced the business pitches. Berry noted the exciting time for entrepreneurship in the Willamette Valley before Mark Frohnmayer from Arcimoto, LLC took the stage to present the company’s pitch, telling the audience and investors about Arcimoto’s commute-capable electric vehicle called the Pulse.

Steve Lazar from Delta Point, Inc. introduced the audience to Delta Point’s non-invasive, contrast-enhanced MRI imaging software that can help doctors take the guesswork out of breast cancer.

InFuez, Inc.’s founder and president Greg Martin told the audience about the surface product made from recyled materials that it manufactures to provide homes and buildings with sustainable building solutions and a better chance at gaining LEED certification.

Robert Head and Joshua Bradley from ShopDragon discussed their e-commerce software to help expand companies’ sales channels, reduce inventory risk and remove barriers to entry.

After ShopDragon’s presentation, the IgniteAngel wild card pitches were delivered. Four companies presented their three-and-a-half minute pitches to the audience and investors: Hydrovolts, Inc., Live Solutions, Ugo Furniture and Whippersnappers Studios. An audience vote via text message after the IgniteAngel pitches awarded Hydrovolts, Inc. the winner of the Ignite round, giving them the opportunity to present their full pitch after the lunch break.

During the lunch break, the investors, entrepreneurs and other audience members headed into downtown Eugene where they enjoyed lunch at one of five local restaurants and the chance to make connections with other conference attendees.

The CEO of VizMe, Dan Mayhew, showed how the company’s scalable social application could interact with existing social networks and change the way people share their passions and interests online.

Good Clean Love CEO Wendy Strgar, eventual winner of the conference, presented the company’s high quality, all-natural and organic intimacy products.

The final presenter of the conference was Hydrovolts, Inc., which won the IgniteAngel round and earned the chance to give their full presentation. Hydrovolts’ Burt Hamner explained how the company makes hydrokinetic turbines to generate renewable energy from water power.

While the angel investors deliberated their decision, a panel of entrepreneurs took the stage and discussed their experiences starting their business and working with angel investors. Linda Naerheim, CEO, President and Co-Founder of Elements Naturals; Bryan Sims, CEO of brass|MEDIA; Luke Sontag, Founder and CEO, What Stop Now; and Jeff Tunnell, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, PushButton Labs, talked with the audience about their respective businesses, what inspired them to go into business and delivered advice for entrepreneurs working to get their businesses of the ground.

Once a decision had been made by the LLC, Good Clean Love was announced as the winner of the Willamette Angel Conference 2010. Congratulations to Wendy Strgar and everyone at Good Clean Love and to all the businesses and participants at this year’s conference.

Thank you for sponsoring, supporting, investing in, applying and presenting to, and attending @WAC10! We are looking forward to seeing you at next year’s conference in Corvallis on May 12, 2011!