Angels On Campus was started by the Sacramento Angels, in conjunction with the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship, in the fall of 2010. This program is one of the many programs the Center is pursuing to encourage University faculty, post-docs and graduate students to take their research and inventions out of the academic environment and create new businesses and companies. The Angels also see it as a way to promote more startup and economic activity in the region. Angels On Campus is not just for the Sacramento Angels; any Angel in the region is encouraged to participate.
How It Works
Every month, two or three University teams present their ideas, and how they to intend to commercialize those ideas in practical applications and businesses, to a group of Angels in a very informal and risk-free environment. Each team session lasts 40 to 60 minutes. The sessions are not pitch-for-investment sessions; rather they are sessions where Angels listen, ask questions, and offer advice and connections to the teams on their business ideas, markets, business models, and funding plans. Nevertheless, the teams extend their network and can begin creating interest in the investment community at a very early stage.
After each session, Angels often provide a list of items to work on for when they come back again in the future, if they choose to do so. We also encourage Angels to get involved with a team of their choosing as a mentor on an on-going basis. You can see some of the positive results in our blog.
Building On UC Davis R&D Funding
UC Davis is a tremendous school and ranked highly nationally in many categories; in science and engineering they ranked #17 nationally in 2008 R&D spending, higher even than UC Berkeley. We want to help do what several other UC schools have done, and that is building thriving startup communities in their regions.
Interested?
Any potential team candidate for Angels On Campus should submit their interest via the Center for Entrepreneurship (interested Angels can use the contact information on that page to express interest, or contact us directly).
