Kijubi was recently invited to pitch the company to super-angel investors at the Open Angel Forum (OAF) in Boulder, CO. It was fantastic! OAF is an event where 5-6 chosen companies (out of 100+) are invited to pitch to 10+ chosen investors (from 30 or so) in a laid back, no hassle, fun, and FREE way. Yes, FREE! It’s all paid for by about 5 service providers. The first OAF took place in Los Angeles, as it is the home to Jason Calacanis, who started the concept in an effort to give entrepreneurs a way to raise capital without spending thousands of dollars in the process. What do I mean by laid back? Let’s put it this way… some of the guys pitched with a beer in hand!
OAF Boulder is mainly run by three guys – Jason Calacanis (Mahalo), David Cohen (TechStars) and Brad Feld (Foundry Group). The companies who pitched in the inaugural OAF Boulder were FaceFile, TeamSnap, Odojo, Grogger, Decasun, and Kijubi. Here is my story:
I arrived in Denver at about 10am (huge airport!), picked up my rental car and hit the road to Boulder. It took about 45 minutes to get there and I had a meeting with David to review the pitch at 3:15pm. With time to spare, I decided to have lunch at Hapa Sushi, which was actually VERY good and only a few blocks away from the TechStars office. Finished lunch, had my quick meeting with with @DavidCohen and @Jason, and went off to discover Boulder for a few hours - what an AWESOME city!
At 6 o’clock I arrived at a very nice gallery where the pitch was to take place. Some guys were walking across the street with me and one of them immediately asked me if I was going to OAF. I said yes, and he introduced himself right away – Brad Feld – what a nice guy! As people arrived, drinks were being served at an open bar and hors d’œuvre passed around – very classy. At about 6:45 all the presenters were asked to enter a room where we would stay throughout every presentation. We were not allowed to watch the other guys pitch. We all thought that was a bit odd, but it allowed us time to share ideas and relax. I was the last to pitch, so I had time to hear everyone’s reaction to the crowd. I know I felt the same way as everyone else. It was a serious group of individuals who are there to invest their money in companies with huge potential.
We had 7 minutes to pitch, which is plenty to tell your story. The Q&A session brought great questions about the business and it’s potential. They were right on. I wasn’t asked anything I couldn’t answer right away, but as Jason said: if you are asked something you don’t know the answer to, just be honest! This is a very intelligent group of people, and they can smell BS from a mile away.
All in all, it was a great experience. We had interest from some of the investors, and look forward to working with them. @BFeld (Brad) told me (and I agree) that the best way to present your company is to demo your product and speak to it. If you are going to use a PowerPoint presentation, keep the slides to a minimum.
Here is a video and photo from the event:
Check out some activities on Kijubi:
Ifly Indoor Skydiving, it’s skydiving without the plane.
Get off the beach and on the water with our jet ski rentals.
If you like sand, but water isn’t your thing, atv rentals are something you might want to try.
We also have Universal Studios Hollywood discount tickets and CityPass and GoCards for all major locations.